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Get a quote'Why has our travel insurer dumped us?'
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My wife and I have been Nationwide FlexPlus Account holders for more than 15 years, and have made use of its excellent travel insurance.
As it has recently changed the travel insurance provider to Aviva, I was asked to contact them to give them our details.
I was most upset to be told that they would no longer cover my wife due to a medical condition – one that the previous underwriter, UK Insurance, was only too happy to cover.
Surely I’m not the only FlexPlus customer caught out by this change?
Giles from Suffolk
'A specialist insurer may be able to help'
Simon Dicey, Which? Money expert, says...
Several members have contacted us about Nationwide switching their insurer and this resulting in them no longer being covered.
Another issue that has been raised is that policyholders taking trips longer than the 31-day maximum must now pay an additional premium for the whole duration of the trip to be covered, rather than just paying for the extra days.
Furthermore, the monthly price of the account rose from £13 to £18 a month in December.
As specialist insurers better understand the risks, they may prove cheaper
Nationwide FlexPlus remains our only Best Buy packaged account, despite these changes.
It’s still one of the cheaper packaged accounts; its travel insurance is highly rated and the maximum age limit (above which you previously had to pay a supplement) has been removed, making it a competitively priced option for older travellers.
Even so, this understandably will provide little comfort to you. You used our online guidance to identify alternative providers, but with a considerably higher premium.
We’d recommend using the directories of specialist insurers for people with pre-existing medical conditions. As these insurers better understand the risks, they may prove cheaper.
Try the government's MoneyHelper website and the British Insurance Brokers Association and compare with comparison site quotes, if you haven't already collected them.
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