IPT will hit travel cover

The impending rise in Insurance Premium Tax (IPT) on travel insurance from 17.5% to 20% could lead people to cut corners and opt for the ‘free’ insurance offered by their credit or debit card company, warns PJ Hayman.

The specialist travel insurance provider believes that this could leave travellers without the necessary levels of cover and prove to be costly in the long term.

According to research by P J Hayman, 5% of people use the travel insurance that they receive as part of a package from financial service providers rather than taking out more comprehensive cover.

This means that as many as 2.9 million trips are made each year without adequate cover. Peter Hayman, director at PJ Hayman, expects these numbers to rise as more and more people use ‘free’ cover as the cost of IPT increases.

Peter Hayman said: “Although the low-cost approach can seem to be the easiest option, it is important that people look into the level of cover offered and think twice about whether or not it will provide them with adequate cover. Indeed, we believe that those who are most likely to look to economise in this way are those who are most vulnerable – adventurous young travellers, large families with several children or older travellers.

“These groups can ill-afford to pay thousands of pounds when they find out that their ‘free’ travel insurance policy does not offer them the protection they expected. Therefore, we suggest that before people ‘cut-back’ and rely on ‘free’ travel insurance that they receive as part of a package from a credit or debit card provider, they read the terms and conditions of the policy to ensure that they are covered.”