Family travel insurance guide

Compare family travel insurance from several insurers for some great deals.

Travelling with a family can be challenging to say the least. A family holiday can either be a fantastic experience offering a lifetime of laughs for years to come or a complete disaster, particularly if you are taking a long trip. The sad fact is that a lot of people tend not to take the whole family travelling because of the effort involved and of course the expense.

The good news is that most insurance companies offer cover specifically intended for families. Purchasing a family policy is cheaper than purchasing travel insurance for each individual travelling, so it may not be as expensive as you think.

Treating travel insurance as an after-thought or accepting what the travel agents give you, will add significant costs to your family holiday.

The key thing to consider when buying a family policy is the way a provider defines a family or a dependent as this can vary between providers. All travel insurance providers listed on our site account for two adults and up to four dependent children in a family policy. Some insurers will provide cover for up to 10 dependent children for free.

Single parent families have also been considered, with some policies offering to cover dependent children when travelling with a parent or grandparent on a single adult policy.

A dependent is defined in most policies to be your financially dependent children or grandchildren under the age of 18 years. However, the age limits vary between insurers, so if your 20 year old is unemployed, still studying, or simply a little slow to fly the nest, shop around as some insurers may class them as a dependent if living at home.

Other things to consider are the varying limits of cover for each benefit such as luggage and medical coverage. Usually the policy will have a set limit for a family travelling with dependents. Dependent children will have to be named on the policy and often have to be travelling with their parents for 100% of the journey, so if you are travelling separately from your kids you may need to buy separate policies.

With so many variables, it's a good idea to compare travel insurance policies before buying the first one you see when travelling with dependents.

Our travel insurance comparison allows you to compare a host of reputable insurers offering cheap family travel insurance.