Travel insurance rates are poised to spike – increases of more than 20 percent might even happen. According to travel insurance company P J Hayman, look for other changes, too, like restrictions on age and details around medical conditions. Says Peter Hayman, of the company that bears his name:
“With the summer holidays now over, travel insurers are now revising and renewing their schemes. This is likely to impact consumers as a combination of currency disadvantages on claims costs and accumulated large losses have ensured that insurers are pushing up costs for scheme holders and brokers.”
This follows three years of travel insurance rate declines, because of comparison websites, tougher negotiations and “prices and age limits that do not make underwriting sense.”
Prices are set to jump, according to Hayman, because of low interest rates, claims accumulation and pressure on travel insurance companies to meet financial objectives.
Hayman tells Postonline:
“These changes will take some time to filter through to the public. Many will coincide with the increase in insurance premium tax on travel insurance from 17.5% to 20% on the 4th January 2011; a rate that will be 14% higher than for other types of insurance such as motor and household.”
[photo by Tracy O via Flickr]