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Should You Buy Single-Trip or Annual Multi-Trip Travel Insurance?
Once you’ve decided to buy travel insurance, the next logical question is should you buy a single or multi-trip policy? There are a number of factors to consider, but the primary factor is the frequency with which you travel. We’ll discuss that and other factors to consider such as destination, extras like winter sports and convenience, to help you decide which is the most economical route for you.
How Many Times a Year do You Travel?
On average, if you travel more than once a year then an annual, multi-trip policy will save you money on your insurance premium. This is because while multi-trip policies used to cost on average 2X the cost of a 7-day single-trip policy, nowadays the prices have converged, as you can see in the chart below. The frequency of your trips is no longer the largest deciding factor when comparing single and multi-trip policies—now it usually makes sense to go for the annual cover.
If you're sure you'll only travel once in a year, then a single trip policy may save you some money—but in most cases, it's more economical to go for an annual, multitrip policy.
Where do you Go?
While on average, travelling twice a year is more economical on a multi-tip policy than buying two single-trip policies, the break-even analysis can change a bit when destinations are taken into account. For example, if you're heading to more medically-expensive destinations like America or the Caribbean then be sure to check prices for single trips and compare these to annual policies. With some insurers, there may be more variation between single trip and annual cover.
Should You Buy Single or Multi-Trip? Depends on the Length of Your Trip
Interestingly, if you are taking only one trip in a year but it is on the longer side, say 20-30 days, then it may come out cheaper to buy an annual multi-trip policy than a single-trip policy.
When it comes to pricing single-trip policies, insurers typically charge according to trip duration—the longer the trip, the higher the premium. This type of pricing is quite logical, because the longer you are away, the more likely you are to have an incident and make a claim.
In fact, prices on single-trip policies increase so dramatically that a 20-day single trip can cost exceed the cost of an annual policy in some cases.
Top Tip: Just be sure to check the maximum trip length allowed under an annual policy before you buy it, to be sure it will cover the length of your trip. Your entire trip must not exceed the max trip length. If the max trip length is 21 days but you're going for 24 days, it's not the case that the first 21 days are covered and the last three aren't—by exceeding the max trip length you invalidate cover for the entire trip.
Extras like Winter Sports
Usually, the add-on cost of travel insurance extras is lower for a single-trip policy than an annual multi-trip policy. The is one major exception is Winter Sports. Our research has found that adding winter sports to your travel insurance typically costs less on an annual policy. There is a bit of inconsistency in how insurers price the winter sports add on, so be sure to check both single and multi-trip policies before you decide—even if you’re only travelling once in the year.
The average cost of travel insurance in the UK varies significantly by these factors (e.g., frequency of travel, destination and extras) so be sure to consider which features you need, and which you don't.