not many straight insurance policies provide proper cover for independent travellers and the "free" insurance offered with cards and bank accounts is often worse than one of those policies. I take it you need to protect prepaid accomodation/transfer costs?

Hi,

Accommodation and car hire costs are both within cancellation within 48 hours of arrival.

Wanted some protection against this.. I am struggling with the cost of the holiday and would be heart broken if it goes wrong.

Best regards

Barry

I know the problem. I try to only book hotels that can be cancelled on the day. Just to compare I've just checked Axa's terms for their Independent cover and they also have a £100 per person excess (so a single person and a couple would lose different amounts on the same car/appartment!) but they mention a maximum £200 excess for a family on a family policy. Saga also do cover but I take it you're not old enough (50).

I use Sainsburys insurance (not the free card one) and add the independent traveller cover on. They also cover scheduled airline failure as standard. Then I reduce the excess to zero.

Sunaddict

Approximately how much is the Sainsburys one costing. I am looking for the type of cover that would be for private villa hire and booking flights direct with the airline ? Would the one you take be suitable for this kind of arrangement ?

Thanks, Doe

Hi doe

We also book flights and villa independently. We have never had to claim for anything related to the independent traveller cover thankfully e.g ash cloud scenario and flights cancelled. I did check with them about the ash cloud and they said they would have covered it provided the independent traveller option had been taken.

We have made a couple of largish claims for cancellation of DIY holiday and hospitalisation and they were really good.
I suggest you do a quick quote as they have two different levels of cover and obviously it depends on where you want the cover for, ages etc.
http://www.sainsburysbank.co.uk/insuring/ins_travelinsurance_trv_skip.shtml

Many thanks sunaddict, very useful

Hi,

I went for a yearly Axadirect in the end. £85 for a family of 4 in Europe.

I went for this one as it's got Volcano cover....

Best regards

Barry