- Nearly two out five take more than £500 in cash on trips abroad
- But most major travel insurers won’t cover loss or theft of the whole amount
Holidaymakers heading abroad for Easter are risking their spending money by relying on cash which will not be covered by their travel insurance, research¹ from banking and insurance research experts Consumer Intelligence (CI) shows.
Its study shows nearly two out of five (38%) take more than £500 of cash on holiday – but analysis² of leading travel insurance policies found most only provide cover for lost or stolen cash to a maximum of £250 and have excesses of up to £100.
|
Provider |
Policy |
Cash limit |
Excess |
|
Post Office |
Standard |
£250 |
£100 |
|
Marks & Spencer |
Multi-trip |
£250 |
£50 per person |
|
Direct Line |
Multi-trip |
£500 (£250 per insured adult) |
£50 |
|
Tesco Bank |
Standard Multi-trip |
£200 |
£60 |
|
Insure & Go |
Silver Multi-trip |
£200 (beach limit £100) |
£60 |
More than two million³ people are expected to be heading overseas for the Easter holidays and Consumer Intelligence believes they should look at alternatives such as pre-paid travel cards which will cost holidaymakers less if they are lost or stolen.
Andy Buller, Consumer Intelligence travel money expert said: “I’m constantly surprised by the amount of cash holidaymakers still choose to take out of the country given the decline in the use of cash at home.
“Most travellers carry far more cash than their insurers would ever pay out on, if they were to lose it or have it stolen and there are safer ways to take money abroad.
“Travel money providers - especially those who also offer travel insurance, could use this as an opportunity to create loyalty by advising customers on other ways to take money abroad, or by offering additions to travel policies that would cover the additional cash.”
Customers who lose pre-paid cards will generally not lose money stored on them if they report the loss to providers – they may have to pay for a replacement card however.
Ends
Notes to Editors
1 Research conducted online for Consumer Intelligence by Viewsbank among 1,096 adults who had bought foreign curency in the last six months
3 Consumer Intelligence Research, February 2018
3https://abta.com/about-us/press/the-great-easter-bank-holiday-getaway-2017
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