Surf's up, gran! But don't get wiped out by that insurance bill

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As a population, we are living and staying healthy longer. So, unsurprisingly, older people are travelling in ever-growing numbers, using the freedom and time that comes with retirement to explore the world.

But grey-haired globetrotters are often presented with an obstacle to their wanderlust dreams – how to get their trips insured at a reasonable cost.

Many insurers inflate premiums on policies when we reach a particular age. Historically this has been 65, but providers have started pushing up premiums for those as young as 45 or 50.

Silver surfers: Finding travel insurance as holidaymakers reach 65 or over can prove expensive

To make matters worse, many will refuse outright to insure travellers over a certain age, which can be as low as 65 – even if they are in rude health.

It’s to do with risk. Common sense suggests a 79 year old may be more inclined than a 19 year old to look after their possessions and be more cautious.

But all that matters to insurance providers are medical claims – potentially their costliest outlay.

They say the older you are the more likely you will fall ill or have an accident, and that treatment for oldies works out more expensive, with longer recuperation time needed in hospital. 

Which means finding affordable and suitable travel insurance can be frustrating. Here are some strategies to help.

Specialist insurers

A number of insurers specialise in providing travel insurance to older travellers. These include Saga (saga.co.uk), which offers single-trip and annual multi-trip policies tailored to those aged 50 or over, with no upper age limit. 

The policies are among the highest rated by the consumer organisation Which? and include as standard a wide range of adventurous activities such as surfing.

Staysure (staysure.co.uk) is another specialist for over-50s. There are no upper age limits on its single-trip policies, and it can insure most pre-existing medical conditions – often the sticking point with other insurers.

Shop around

Don’t assume that insurers specialising in covering older people offer the most competitively priced premiums. 

Have a look at options on price-comparison websites. The range of quotes can be vast: for a fortnight in the US for a healthy 83 year old on gocompare.com, I was given quotes from £118 to £358.

Not all insurers appear on the price-comparison websites. One that doesn’t is Holidaysafe (holidaysafe.co.uk); its premiums for older travellers are often the cheapest, and it has no upper age cut-off on single-trip policies.

Annual or single-trip?

Multi-trip annual insurance should be ideal for retired folk with time for lots of holidays. 

But many insurers offer this type of cover only to those under 75, and the annual policies that are available to the elderly can be very expensive, particularly for worldwide cover. So compare the cost against taking out several single-trip policies.

Which destination?

The highest premiums are for the US, Canada (above) and the Caribbean, reveals the expert

The cost of medical treatment varies by country, reflected in insurance premiums – particularly for older travellers. 

The highest premiums are for the US, Canada and Caribbean and you can reduce significantly the cost of an annual worldwide policy by excluding these areas. 

If you limit your travels to Europe, prices for annual and single-trip cover are much lower, though premiums are often dearer for Spain than for other European countries.

Quotes provided by Saga for a healthy 73 year old illustrate the differences. For a fortnight’s cover: Portugal £38; Spain £59; South Africa £90; USA £139. For a multi-trip annual policy: Europe £121; worldwide excluding the US, Canada and the Caribbean £202; worldwide including the USA, Canada and the Caribbean £287.