Bad Travel Insurance Companies: Our Controversial Opinion

Are bad travel insurance companies all that is out there?

And if so, what are traveller supposed to do, if they want to be covered on their adventures? (Because you never know when you’ll wear the wrong shoes, slip and break your leg, right?) (Yes, we know, that escalated quickly.😬)

Our opinion on this is quite… controversial (on the bad travel insurance companies, not the shoes).

But we’ll share it with you here, because this is our space on the Internet where we share the true us – the weird hacks, the crazy travel habits and the raw confessions.

So.

Bad travel insurance companies.

What’s the truth?

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Here’s a little bit about our journey, if you are new here! If you know us, feel free to skip this part.

After leaving our old life in Scotland in March 2022 (it rains too much there), we travelled full-time for almost 2 years. Sounds fancy, doesn’t it? Well, it was. If you think that carrying overpacked backpacks in 45°C heat around streets that aren’t even on Google Maps is fancy. And that’s just 1% of all the fun we had! 😆

During the 2 years we volunteered in Italy and Bulgaria (free travel while learning new skills, anyone?), explored other amazing European countries and backpacked Southeast Asia. Even our secret wedding was more of an expedition than a wedding. 😅

And, of course, we researched and planned everything ourselves, because you gotta keep the budget low, right? If you are like us, you’ve come to the right place, because we want to share all the useful tips and info with you!

Excited? Good. Let’s get into it so you can go on your own adventures too!

A little note: We are not financial advisors, and none of this is financial advice. This is our personal opinion and experience. As always with our posts, we are hoping to give you a different perspective and things to consider, so you can make your own informed decision.

Are travel insurance companies bad?

Look anywhere – at travel blogs, insurance companies’ reviews or social media pages like Reddit, and you’ll see plenty of people sharing their experience with “bad travel insurance companies”.

The stories usually revolve around the same problem:

The insurance provider not paying back when the person needed it.

Now, we aren’t saying these people are lying.

But we do think that what they are saying is just one part of the whole story.

Let us explain.

Our controversial opinion on bad travel insurance companies

First, a little disclaimer.

We are not taking the side of travel insurance providers here.

If you know us, you know that we always try to stay fair (unless it comes to Spanish cities, in that case, we totally resort to favouritism and always pick Barcelona).

What’s fair in these situations, when people feel like they are dealing with bad travel insurance companies?

Thinking about the full story.

The truth

The thing we’ve noticed?

A travel insurance company not reimbursing a claim is often justified.

Ahhhhh, we’ve said it and now we’ll be burned on the social media stake.

But hear us out.

What people often forget about

We get it. Buying insurance of any kind sucks.

• There are a lot of boring documents, full of industry jargon, to read.
• You can never find anything that suits you 100%.
• You’ve got to be dealing with it when you have a million other things going on, such as planning a holiday AND actually living your life.
• And all in all, insurance is about paying (often a lot of) money for something that you might never need = ouch, that does hurt (can we claim back for that pain??).

So what do many people do?

They don’t bother spending too much time on choosing a travel insurance provider.

Maybe they do a quick Google search.

Or just see who their favourite travel influencer is recommending.

A few clicks later – yay, they are covered for their upcoming trip!

But they totally forget (or just plain ignore) the most important thing.

Actually checking what they are paying for.

Why do you have to read the boring stuff?

The thing many don’t seem to realise is that travel insurance companies are businesses.

Shocking as it may seem, their main goal is to make a profit, not to make sure you get paid for falling into the canal in Venice and getting an ear infection as a result.

How do they make money?

• By betting that most travellers won’t need to make a claim – they’ll earn more from selling policies than they’ll lose paying out for injuries, theft, cancellations, etc.
• By knowing that a lot of people don’t read the fine print, so they end up buying policies that don’t actually cover what they need and when their claim gets denied, the company keeps the money.

At the end of the day, it’s your responsibility (and in your best interest) to know what you are buying.

To make sure you understand what is and isn’t covered by your insurance.

What about the bad reviews?

We are not saying that all the reviews about bad travel insurance companies are only the fault of the customers. 

But many times, it is the case.

Read a few reviews, especially the ones where the travel insurance provider replied, and you’ll notice a pattern:

😡 Angry customer: You are a-holes, because this happened to me, and you didn’t pay.

😬 Travel insurance provider: Actually, we did tell you this won’t be covered in T&Cs – remember how you clicked “I accept” on that when you bought the insurance? 

Okay, don’t go for sassy providers like that, unless that’s your vibe, but you get the point! 

Travel insurance is a contract.

You have your rights and obligations.

And the insurance provider has theirs.

Each side has to hold up their end of the bargain.

If you agreed to something, and now your claim has been denied as a result of it?

It might suck, but it’s fair (and kinda your fault).

Of course, in situations where the travel insurance provider is shady and not willing to honour a valid claim, by all means, do all you can: challenge it, fight your case and give them a bad review too.

We are not here picking on Lauren, this was just the very first review for World Nomads on Google that illustrates our point exactly – if something isn’t covered by T&Cs and you agreed to such terms, the travel insurance company is in their right when they reject the claim

Are all travel insurance companies good?

Aha, now we would never say that all travel insurance providers are good, and the victims in these situations.

The thing is, there are plenty of bad travel insurance companies – offering crappy deals and deliberately misleadingly worded terms and conditions.

This is exactly why we did thorough research when choosing travel insurance for our full-time adventures.

We looked at 23 different companies. Yup, it was as painful and boring as it sounds.

The thing is, it was worth it.

Because from the pile of bad travel insurance companies, we have managed to unearth two decent ones.

Decent as in:

• They passed our 11-question test – make sure to check this out before buying travel insurance.
• The one time we did have to make a claim, the experience was totally mindblowing – in a good way. We shared the story in this post, because it’s totally unbelievable.

Which travel insurance do we trust?

The 2 companies we rely on for our travels?

True Traveller and SafetyWing.

We have used both, for different trips, and that’s exactly the point.

Not every travel insurance will suit everyone in every situation.

You’ve got to make your own decision.

And if you want to make sure it’s the right one and you won’t end up with one of the bad travel insurance companies?

Here are a few tips.

Tips for avoiding bad travel insurance companies

We’ve said it before, but we are not financial advisors.

Neither do we have a crystal ball that would be able to tell us the future (sadly).

If you are also in the same situation and not one of the Halliwell sisters from Charmed, you can do this:

• Compare multiple travel insurance providers. Don’t just go for World Nomads because that’s who all travel bloggers are pushing (unless their travel insurance really does suit you the most).
• Use the companies that are well-rated, such as True Traveller or SafetyWing, as a benchmark – compare others against them to speed up the process.
• Check out the 11 questions you should be asking before you buy from a travel insurance provider.
• Read the T&Cs of your shortlisted companies before you commit. Yes, it’s boring. Yes, you’ll be wishing you could be doing anything else, even cleaning the toilet after a house party is better than reading insurance T&Cs. But persevere. It’s better than being shocked later when your £5,423 claim gets denied.
• Pro tip: If you are struggling to understand something in the T&Cs, contact the insurance provider and ask. If they don’t reply or reply in a way that sucks? (e.g. slow response, unhelpful, vague etc.) Drop them from your list. If they can’t even treat you with respect now, when they should be trying to win you over as a customer, imagine how they’ll treat you when they have to pay you money for your claim! We talk all about this in this post.
• Btw, T&Cs are also a good indication of whether you are dealing with one of the bad travel insurance companies. This was another reason we were happy to go with True Traveller and SafetyWing – their T&Cs were actually okay to read. Don’t expect the next novel from Dan Brown, but expect a document that an average person can get through and understand (which sounds like the bare minimum, but really isn’t when it comes to insurance).
• If you want to chat about travel insurance (or anything else travel!), you can book a private call with us – we are here to help!

We are curious.

Do you think our opinion on bad travel insurance companies is controversial?

And do you agree or disagree with it?

Let us know in the comments below. 

We’ll be brave and even link our Instagram here, in case you wanted to voice your controversial opinions privately. 😉