Flexicover Travel Insurance Review

Your dependents who are under the age of 18, living at home with you or in full time education

At time of purchase:-

Aged 85 for single trip.

Aged 85 for Multi Trip.

Aged 75 for Longstay.

Aged 45 for Backpacker(Young Traveller).

Aged 65 if Wintersports is added.

Annual Multi-Trip

• 50 days for each insured person up to and including 65 years of age. This is extendable up to 100 days upon payment of an additional premium.
• 35 days for each insured person aged between 66 and 75 years of age inclusive. This is extendable to 50 days upon payment of an additional premium.
• 35 days for each insured person aged between 76 and 85 years of age inclusive. This is not extendable.
• Winter Sports cover may be included up to 17 days during the period of insurance for each insured person aged up to and including 65 years of age upon payment of the appropriate premium.

Single Trip

Bronze cover: 31 days for each insured person up to 85 years of age.
Silver, Gold and Platinum cover: For each insured person aged 75 years and under, the maximum trip duration is 100 days. For each insured person aged between 76 and 85 years, the maximum trip duration is 31 days.

Long Stay
Maximum duration shall not exceed 18 months.
Note: In the event that you return temporarily, and not exceeding 14 days, to your home during the period of insurance, the cover under the policy will cease upon your arrival home and not be re-instated until departure from your home. Any claim occurring during your stay within your home area will not be covered.

Winter Sports cover may be included on Annual Multi Trip Insurance up to 17 days during the period of insurance for each insured person aged up to and including 65 years of age upon payment of the appropriate premium.

Winter Sports cover can be added on a Single Trip Policy up to 100 days.

28 wintersport activities automatically covered.

Group - no limit on the number of individuals that can take out a policy. Although there is no premium discount for more than one individual insuring themselves under the same policy.

Family means “means up to two adults and any number of their children, step children, foster children or grandchildren aged under 18. Each insured person is covered to travel independently.”

EHIC strongly advised but not mandatory if travelling to the EU. If you are travelling to Australia and you require medical treatment you should enrol with a local Medicare office.

There is a list of over 100 activities covered as standard. Additional activities can be covered after payment of the appropriate additional premium. Some activities are * starred as excluding Personal Liability and Personal Accident.

It is important that you check the list of activities before purchasing your travel insurance to ensure you are covered.  If you are unsure, it’s a good tip to gain approval in writing from your insurance provider.

Policy states the Insurer shall not be responsible for claims where “You drinking too much alcohol (a blood alcohol level that exceeds 0.19% - approximately 4 pints or 4 glasses of wine) resulting in a claim. Wilful, self inflicted injury (except where it is to save human life), suicide, drug use or solvent abuse. “

Scheduled airline failure cover and hijack is included free of charge. Cover level varies depending on the policy.

Flexicover travel insurance with pre existing medical conditions

There is standard cover provided for over 300 medical conditions and optional cover on over 2000 conditions which can now be underwritten online in most cases, without the need to make a phone call.

Any pre-existing medical condition that has not been declared and accepted in writing by the insurer will not be covered.

You are not covered in the event of a failure to obtain any recommended vaccines, inoculations or medications prior to your trip departure.

Flexicover travel insurance pregnancy

“Policies include emergency medical expenses cover for pregnancy and childbirth from week 0 to week 28 inclusive whilst you are away. From the start of week 29 to week 40 of the pregnancy, there is no cover for claims relating to normal pregnancy and normal childbirth or cancellation, however, medical expenses and cancellation cover will be provided if any of the following complications arise:

Toxaemia, Gestational diabetes, Gestational hypertension, Ectopic pregnancy, Post-partum haemorrhage, Pre-eclampsia, Molar pregnancy or hydatidiform mole, Retained placenta membrane, Placental abruption, Hyperemesis gravidarum, Placenta praevia, Stillbirth, Miscarriage, Emergency Caesarean, A termination needed for medical reasons, Premature birth more than 12 weeks (or 16 weeks if you know you are having more than one baby) before the expected delivery date.”

The policy excludes manual labour described as the lifting or carrying of heavy items in excess of 25kg, work at a higher level than two storeys, or any work underground.

The Insurer will provide cover for manual labour that is voluntary, for a registered charity and where you will not earn any money. In these situations, you will not be covered for work that involves installing, putting together, maintaining, repairing or using heavy electrical, mechanical or hydraulic machinery.

You will not be covered when you are working more than two storeys above the ground, and cover for personal accident and personal liability is not included. If you injure yourself during voluntary work, the policy excess under Section 2 (Emergency Medical and other expenses) will be increased to £250.

Work, such as Bar Work, Fruit Picking and Administrative or Clerical Work is covered under activities, though some are * starred as excluding Personal Liability and Personal Accident.

We would recommend that anyone planning to work obtains written permission from their Insurance Provider that it is covered under their policy.

Proof of ownership is required for items that you are claiming for.  Proof of ownership and/or purchase consists of receipts for the items claimed or if receipts cannot be provided alternative forms of proof, such as bank statements, guarantees, instruction manuals, insurance valuation certificates or photographs will suffice.

We strongly recommend that it would be sensible to keep receipts of any new clothes/property purchased for your holiday; and additionally, any valuation for items that are of value, but you don’t have an original receipt. If in doubt as to whether you have cover for a specific item, please contact the Insurance Provider for clarification prior to taking out insurance.

You are not covered in respect of any claim that happens as a result of war risks, civil commotion and terrorism ? cover for these events is only provided under Section 2 ? Emergency medical and other expenses, Section 3 ? Hospital benefit and Section 4 ? Personal accident (unless caused by nuclear, chemical or biological attack) ? Please see paragraph 1. in the ‘General exclusions - applicable to all sections of the policy’ in the policy wording for full details

Not Covered under policies as standard, but comprehensive travel disruption cover available as an optional extra.

This insurance is available to current United Kingdom, Channel Islands, European Union and BFPO residents who have been living in their country of residence for at least 6 months prior to the date of purchase, and registered with a doctor there.

Cruise cover is available as an option under all four levels of cover. The levels of cover are the same for each and covers, missed port expenses, compensation for change of itinerary, cabin confinement and unused excursions, as well as missed connections.

Gadget cover can be added to all four levels of cover (subject to payment of an additional premium) and provides insurance for up to five gadgets up to a maximum total value of £2,000.

Note that any gadget purchased under a private sale is not covered and any settlement will take into account wear and tear of the item.

You must be able to provide proof of ownership.

All the Citybond travel policies are similar in design and layout. 62 pages with a good table of benefits, to allow easy comparison of cover, an index to assist you in finding your way through the policy and well labelled sections of cover.

The policy wording is easy to read and understand.

Flexicover Travel Insurance feature on both CompareTheMarket and MoneySupermarket.

Labelled as Economy, Standard and Premier cover, the sums insured are the same on both sites and the levels of cover and excess on the policies offered by the comparison sites, are inferior to the policies being offered direct by Flexicover.

Flexicover has received 830 reviews on Trust Pilot with an overall rating of 8.9 out of 10. The vast majority of customers appear satisfied with the service. Some of the low ratings are for confusion between the comparison website policies and their own direct policies and the rest relate to claims being declined or slow processing.

FeeFo has received 1460 reviews and awards Flexicover 4.6 out of 5. The majority of the low scores relate to declaration of medical conditions and difficulty in renewing travel insurance.

Flexicover is a division of Citybond Travel Insurance, who have been trading since 1983 and have insured over 3 million travellers. Over that time frame you would expect to find some customers who have had a problem.

The most important factor to take into account is how Flexicover deal with any issues and it appears that Flexicover take customer service seriously. Where a problem has occurred they always follow up the complaint to try and resolve it as quickly as possible.

The Platinum policy in particular has excellent levels of cover.