Review: Explorer Travel Insurance

Dan Woolley By

In summary

A travel insurance specialist, Explorer offers single trip and annual policies. A number of Explorer's Travel Insurance policies have been positively reviewed by various impartial financial reviewers.

You can get a quote for travel insurance at the Explorer website.

We've partnered with Explorer to offer a range of discounts on travel insurance options such as skiing and backpacking.

In this article:

Overview of the cover provided by Explorer travel insurance policies

Having removed its lower-cost policies from the market following a strategic review, Explorer appears to be focusing on the higher-value end of the travel insurance market – offering polices with good levels of cover and low excess fees. So while Explorer might not be topping the price comparison tables anytime soon, it would be a good option for any travellers who want the extra peace of mind that comes with higher levels of cover.

Explorer offers a variety of travel insurance policies: Single Trip, Annual Multi Trip, Winter Sports (single trip), Cruise and Backpacker. Its single trip policies do not have a maximum age limit, with the exception of a policy including Winter Sports cover that is available to those 70 or under. The maximum age for annual trip policies is 79 and Backpacker policies are available to customers aged 44 and under.

Does Explorer offer travel insurance for pre-existing medical conditions?

Yes. Explorer has two policies that offer cover for a number of pre-existing medical conditions: Platinum and Platinum MediPlus.

It can be difficult to find reasonable travel insurance if you have a medical condition. You should always check whether a travel insurer will cover certain medical conditions. Sometimes, insurance companies will require you to call and provide more information before they can offer you cover.

In some cases, with some insurers, you may not be able to find cover at all. However, there are a few travel insurers that will provide medical conditions travel insurance. See our article on the best travel insurance cover for medical conditions for more information.

How much does travel insurance from Explorer cost?

For a 35-year-old man travelling for 14 days to Spain, travel insurance would cost £7.35 on Explorer's Gold policy. Its Gold Plus policy would cost £8.67. These prices were obtained without any additional extras. Optional cover will increase the price of the premium.

Bear in mind that the above quote will vary depending on a number of factors, including the number of people travelling, their age(s), the destination(s) of travel and the duration of stay. As such it should be taken as an indication only. These prices are accurate as of December 2017.

Explorer’s policies don’t appear at the top of price comparison tables – does this mean it's poor value?

Not necessarily. Some policies top the price comparison tables with low prices, but this can be because of the level of cover they actually provide when making a claim. For example, some of Explorer’s competitors offer ‘economy’ policies that have a cancellation limit of £500 and an excess of £300. To illustrate the impact of this here are two example results of a claim made against that competitor’s policy:

  • Cancellation claim for a holiday costing £250 – this is less than the £500 cancellation limit so at a glance you might expect a pay out. However the £300 excess means the customer pays the first £300 of any claim. So in this case, the customer covers the £250 claim and the policy would not pay out.

  • Cancellation claim for a holiday costing £600 – again the customer pays the excess of £300. This leaves another £300 of claim remaining which is below the £500 of cover purchased, so the policy pays out £300.

  • Cancellation claim for a holiday costing £1,000 – again the customer pays the £300 excess leaving £700 of claim. The policy pays out the next £500 but then stops as its cancellation limit has been reached. The remaining £200 is covered by the customer.

By comparison, Explorer’s Gold policy (their cheapest policy) has a £1,500 cancellation limit and £100 excess. So in keeping with the examples above:

  • For a cancellation claim on a holiday costing £250, the policy would pay out £150 (versus £0 above).

  • For a holiday costing £600, the policy would pay out £500 (versus £300).

  • For a holiday costing £1000, the policy would pay out £900 (versus £500).

These stark differences in pay out illustrate why it is important to review limits when buying travel insurance.

What we say about Explorer's travel insurance policies

We have chosen to work with Explorer for several of our exclusive group offers, as we believe it offers a comprehensive and competitive, especially for long stay, skiing and backpacking policies (click the link to join the group).

Explorer's policies are underwritten by Travel Insurance Facilitties and insured by Union Reiseversicherung AG, UK. Union Reiseversicherung AG is authorised by BaFin.

What the expert reviews say

Independent researcher Defaqto has rated Explorer's Platinum travel insurance policy as 4 Stars. Its Gold, Gold Plus and Platinum Lite products are all ranked as 3 Stars.

A Star Rating indicates where a product or proposition sits in the market based on the quality and comprehensiveness of the features it offers.

This article on Explorer Travel Insurance is part of a series of reviews we are featuring on different travel insurance companies and the policies they offer.
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