abta travel insurance defaqto rating

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ABTA Travel Insurance

ABTA Travel Insurance is a high-quality travel insurance product from ABTA provided by the AXA Group. With three levels of cover to choose from for both single trip or annual travel insurance, we can provide cover that will work for you.

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ABTA Travel Insurance is a high-quality travel insurance product from ABTA and is underwritten and administered by the AXA Group.

It offers: 

• Up to £10m medical cover per person, including Covid-19 medical expenses while on holiday providing customers aren’t travelling against FCDO or medical advice*
• Up to £10,000 cancellation cover per person
• 24/7 emergency medical helpline
• Easy online medical screening process.

And ABTA Travel Insurance also provides you with a reassuring range of benefits as standard that some other insurance providers don’t or will charge extra for – including:

• Cover should your airline or other holiday suppliers go out of business
• Free access to an online English speaking doctor via the Doctor Please app
• Missed connections cover
• Cruise cover
• Gadget cover
• Over 120 sports and activities covered.

Other reasons to choose ABTA Travel Insurance

• There is no upper age limit for single trip cover.
• You get free access to a travel companion app, which includes a medical translator, hospital locator, emergency numbers, medical assistance and lots more.
• There is no reduction on the value of claims for lost/stolen items because of wear and tear.
• You have the option to speak to someone over the phone from start to finish should you need to. 
• The policy wording is straightforward, clear and easy to understand.

* This is providing an accurate medical screening is in place. Terms and conditions apply.

Travelling during Covid

ABTA Travel Insurance will cover you to travel to destinations worldwide, providing there is no advice in place from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) advising against all travel or all but essential travel. However, our policies will not cover cancellation of your trip due to government restriction on travel due to Coronavirus or any future pandemic (for example the FCDO advising against all travel or all but essential travel to your destination or your flights being cancelled).

For full details of cover, please review our Coronavirus FAQ webpage or policy wording.

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ABTA Travel Insurance   Reviews

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Reviews 4.4.

Most relevant

So special to speak to a real person…

I have used the services of ABTA travel Insurance since my Bank cover ceased when I reached 80.I really appreciate speaking to a real person who patiently goes through all the necessary details / who deals with any queries I may have and we always seem to share a sense of humour. Many thanks.

Date of experience : March 04, 2024

Reply from ABTA Travel Insurance

Many thanks for your great review - The ABTA Travel Insurance team

The lady who I spoke to was very…

The lady who I spoke to was very polite. I had to ask her to repeat certain things she was saying.

Date of experience : March 25, 2024

Helpful staff.…

Had a query regarding a medical question so phoned and clarified how I should answer. Staff very helpful in their responses and ended saving me over £100. One piece of advice, when paying make sure you have any pop-up or cookie blockers turned off.

Date of experience : February 09, 2024

Dear ABTA Travel Insurance,

Dear ABTA Travel Insurance, I arranged Insurance from you by telephone on 22 January 2024: Policy PF-AB-24-0189140. I was told that my Policy documents would arrive by post at my house (25 Almoners Avenue Cambridge CB1 8NZ "WITHIN 3 TO 5 WORKING DAYS" It is now 6 February, and the documents have not yet arrived. I am not impressed by your performance. C. R. CALLADINE

Date of experience : January 22, 2024

Many thanks for your great review - Apologies that the documents have not arrived, we will give AXA a chase who administer the policy on our behalf. - The ABTA Travel Insurance team

Affordable cover

Having recently had to retake put beauty insurance for a number of days a year I looked at my options and ABT offered me the most appropriate cover again. Megan sorted me out in a professional and quick manner.

Date of experience : February 22, 2024

Using again in May :)

The process was quick (quote and going through to payment). I am going away again in May, I will be taking the ABTA insurance for this holiday as well.

Date of experience : February 05, 2024

Sound recommendations all round.

Following a recommendation from Martyn Lewis, I decided to book my insurance with ABTA. Everything was so easy and straightforward. I am 87 and not that tech.savvy, so I appreciated this. I also welcomed the recommendation of ABTA to get a Global health insurance card - something I never knew about but which sounded worth having. Thank you.

Date of experience : January 02, 2024

Old sailor goes foreign happily insured

My son in law talked me through the questions which were straight forward and logical. I’m old but relatively healthy and feel happy to be insured by your company , thanks

Date of experience : January 21, 2024

Very easy to buy policy

Very easy to buy policy. Documents sent out speedily haven’t been on holiday yet or made a claim so can’t comment on how good they are.

Date of experience : February 01, 2024

online Glitchy, and overall impersonal system.

online booking glitch refused my partner addition - cancelled the resulting error policy - rang to correct it - had to cancel, that part went OK - New police sorted with much formulaic stumbling through script, when 90% the answers were sitting there on the policy just cancelled... and now - my new policy hasn't arrived and all your emails are "do not reply"

Date of experience : February 15, 2024

Thank you for your review, we are sorry that your experience, has not been good. We have passed this review onto AXA who administer the scheme on our behalf. The ABTA travel insurance team.

Curtailment Cover

I was looking for a policy that covered for disruption of travel costs. Some others pretend to cover it by hiding it in 'curtailment' cover (not the same). ABTA answered my questions unambiguously - but at time of review I have yet to actually use the annual cover and hopefully won't need it!

Date of experience : December 18, 2023

A very straightforward application form

A very straightforward application form, everything seemed open & honest, the real test would be if you sadly had to make a claim. Luckily that's not me. The paperwork was sent quickly with all contact points clearly identified. All things considered, I'm pleased I chose ABTA Travel insurance.

Date of experience : September 26, 2023

Many thanks for your great review - The ABTA Travel Insurance team.

Refuse to send a copy to an addresss on…

Refuse to send a copy to an addresss on the policy, despite: "If you wish to receive a printed copy of your documentation, please call " Weve got 2 families on the policy, one old and more comfortable with paper, living some 6 hours apart. What these guys aim to achieve by offering to do this and then not is quite beyond me.

Date of experience : February 21, 2024

Thank you for your review, we are sorry that your experience, has not been good. We have passed this review onto AXA who administer the scheme on our behalf to look into this. The ABTA travel insurance team.

As for a booklet to be sent weeks ago…

As for a booklet to be sent weeks ago and still not received it. Looking to book 2 Europe holidays but will l use ABTA again - Not this time

Thank you for your review, we are sorry that you are having difficulty regard to documents being sent. We have passed this review onto AXA who administer the scheme on our behalf. The ABTA travel insurance team

Quotation for Travel Insurance

Quotation for Travel Insurance I found ABTA Travel Insurance premium very competitive. The application form was easy to follow. I asked ABTA to send me the Insurance documents by post which they did very promptly. I have not yet travelled.

Date of experience : November 19, 2023

Travel Insurance

I was by sent by email the travel insurance policy that I asked for but I did not need to use it.

Date of experience : March 07, 2024

Many thanks for your kind review - The ABTA Travel Insurance team

Easy to apply

Very easy to apply for on line. A fair price for medical conditions, but of course the proof is if I am unfortunate enough to need their services. Not due to go away yet, so far, so good.

Date of experience : January 04, 2024

Easy to apply for, never had to use.

Easy to apply for. I've never had to claim though so can't review that. It looks to be good cover and is recommended on the MSE website. It would be helpful if the medical section was pre-filled from the previous time when you sign in to your account so that you just have to amend it rather than start again. Easy to access the documents.

Date of experience : October 04, 2023

Website was a little confusing on how…

Website was a little confusing on how to renew. It should have clearly explained that you need to go through the whole process, which actually does make sense. I phoned up the centre and spoke to a lovely lady who was very patient and clearly explained what I need to do and waited until I had achieved what I needed to do.

Date of experience : October 12, 2023

I booked travel and did my insurance…

I booked travel and did my insurance last week and I was very happy with the cost, plus everyone was very helpful

Date of experience : February 13, 2024

What is a Defaqto Rating?

Tommy has over 15 years experience within the insurance industry, and his primary focus is helping travellers find the right cover for their medical conditions.

Defaqto is a service that enables you to easily compare a range of financial products from different providers. 

As you’d probably expect, this includes everything from credit cards and mortgages to pensions and investments - but it also has a part to play when comparing medical travel insurance policies. 

So, if you’re here to compare cover, then it’s definitely worth having a read. Here we’re going to explore everything there is to know about Defaqto - and how you can use it to help you compare travel insurance across different providers.  

Specialist Medical Cover

We only work with providers who specialise in covering pre-existing conditions.

No discounts. No pressure. We’ll always show you the best prices from providers.

Who are Defaqto and are they independent?

Yes, Defaqto is an independent service and is used by financial advisors, banks, insurance brokers and comparison sites just like Medical Travel Compared. Although Defaqto are used and trusted by more than 250 different brands, they operate impartially with no bias or affiliation towards any companies or third parties. 

Defaqto is made up of a team of expert analysts who gather the most up to date information about financial products, such as travel insurance. 

This impartial information can then be used to give a comprehensive overview of the market, enabling providers to tailor their offerings responsively and support customers when making purchase decisions. 

Ultimately, the aim is to provide customers with an unbiased rating, designed to help them make wiser choices when comparing things... such as travel insurance!

What do the Defaqto stars mean?

A Defaqto rating is a trusted industry benchmark for the quality of a policy based on a star rating system. Without getting too technical, Defaqto analysts take an unbiased approach to gathering the data around each particular financial product and assign a star rating based on their findings. They will look at the terms and conditions of policies alongside  the quality and comprehensiveness of features and benefits that they provide.

The star rating reflects quality across one to five stars. A one-star rating indicates a basic product with very few features or benefits, whereas a five-star rating is reserved for the highest quality financial offering. 

In simple terms, the star rating system is designed to be a quick way to assess the quality of a proposition at a glance - without a focus on price or provider.

What are the criteria for Defaqto stars?

According to Defaqto themselves, they select the most important features and benefits for each product area to produce the star rating. This in-depth assessment could review anywhere between 40-100 different elements, which are each individually scored - and then subsequently used to calculate the overall score. 

Defaqto keeps its criteria vague, but essentially - these are the things that the customer is likely to deem important as they make a decision whether or not to buy.

Defaqto vs Trustpilot

Defaqto and Trustpilot have one key difference. 

Defaqto is an impartial, independent organisation made up of expert financial analysts. 

On the other hand, Trustpilot is a platform for user-generated customer reviews. 

These reviews are all based on independent experience and can have a big say on how online shoppers behave when making financial decisions. 

Trustpilot, therefore, is arguably just as (if not more) influential than Defaqto. However, rather than using both in isolation, financial organisations can provide better information for their customers by using the two together.

So, if you combine the industry-standard star rating, with real customer reviews you'll get the perfect blend of information that will help you choose the right travel insurance for you.

Is Defaqto reliable?

Can you trust Defaqto ratings?

Provided you’re satisfied with the way in which Defaqto operates - particularly in terms of the methods they use to assess the quality of any given financial product, then you should generally find their ratings pretty useful. 

However, while these ratings are drawn from impartial and intelligent insights, it doesn’t mean they’re always 100% correct. 

When you compare travel insurance Defaqto is great, it does all the hard work for you reviewing all the technical information, and giving you the top options.

Why does Defaqto matter for me?

When it comes to travel insurance, Defaqto ratings are generally seen as an important part of the experience when comparing cover across a range of different providers.

The star rating is great because it helps you compare products based on their inclusions and not just the price.

Having the input of a trusted service like Defaqto gives you the peace of mind and assurance that your cover has been matched against criteria highlighting the most important features of medical travel insurance .

Is a low Defaqto rating always a bad thing?

A low rating is not always necessarily a bad thing. 

Let’s not forget - Defaqto ratings don’t take cost, or value for money into account. So, if you’re particularly conscious about price and don’t mind spending less, you probably won’t need to pay as much attention to the rating when shopping around. 

Ultimately, it depends on how much cover you need. You’ll find that the policies with less cover and fewer features will cost less, while the more comprehensive policies (likely to have a higher rating) will be more expensive.

When it comes to travel insurance, our advice would always be to favour cover over cost - particularly if you need specialist cover for pre-existing medical conditions . 

We use Defaqto ratings to help you make the best possible decision when comparing cover from over 30 specialist travel insurance providers if you'd like to give it a go, click the button below!

Rated Excellent

Trusted by thousands of people like you who've reviewed us on Trustpilot.

No phone calls or paperwork. Join millions who've sorted cover online in minutes.

A pre-existing is any medical condition for which medical advice, diagnosis, care, or treatment was recommended or received before applying for a travel insurance policy. For some conditions, we'll need to know if they have ever been present, whilst for others if they occurred within a certain period.

Single Trip insurance is for one-off, individual trips and will cover your specified travel dates. This is usually up to 45 days; however, some insurance providers can cover up to 94 days. If you’re not a frequent traveller, single trip cover is a great option and will likely be cheaper than an annual multi-trip cover .

If you travel 2 or more times a year, annual trip cover may very well save you money. The maximum duration of any trip will always be specified and will vary by provider. But don't worry, when you get a quote, we'll ask you what your maximum trip length is and only show you quotes that match!

No. We can search for travel insurance quotes for all ages. However, the number of annual multi-trip quotes for older travellers may be limited due to age restrictions imposed by the providers that we search. If you are unable to get an annual trip quote, try a single trip quote instead.

Provided you have the right cover, you can claim against any expenses, including medical bills, you incur following a medical emergency in a country whilst on holiday.

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Admiral insurance, hastings direct, insurefor.com.

Defaqto   Reviews

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Reviews 1.6.

Most relevant

Very poor service with O2

Very poor service with O2. I phoned up to look at an upgrade and someone promised to call me back at 2pm. No call. I also needed to change my name to my married name, took 2 phone calls and passed to 6 people, still not sorted or received the link to upload my documents. Looking at moving networks now, shocking service

Date of experience : 21 February 2024

Paid for ratings?

I didn't ask for the 'Defaqto' ratings when comparing car insurance or breakdown cover but they always seem to be there like some qualified endorsement of a provider. The 'sales@...' email address on their website might have been a clue. Their high rating of Rescumycar.com was far from my own experience - nothing more than decoration, as it turns out.

Date of experience : 27 October 2023

MISLEADING INDEED

MISLEADING? IN NO WAY DOES IT SAY IT MEASURES THE CUSTOMER SERVICE PROVIDED BY THE BUSINESS. The defaqto star rating only measures the promised content of whoevers policy you are reading about. BUYER BEWARE!

Date of experience : 28 November 2023

Do not trust Defaqto as a mark of quality for insurance companies

Please do not accept this companys ratings as assurance an insurance company is good, they are clearly not reliable. I am with Esure and Defaqto give them a 5 star rating even though on all other sites they have a low rating and hundreds of disgruntled customers. We have tried to sort out a non fault claim with Esure since March and we are regularly on the phone for two hours and then they just cut it off. If you look on their social media this happens with most people and there are countless problems which are clearly genuine complaints. There is no way this company is excellent and Defaqto has given it 5 stars

Date of experience : 20 August 2023

I have recently had dealings with two…

I have recently had dealings with two large companies who had high Defaqto ratings and I was totally amazed by their exceptionally poor service. So much so that I wouldn’t trust this rating system at all. Both companies have admitted that their service was not up to standard and offered us apologies and compensation. The companies were Flow Insurance and Purely Pets.

Date of experience : 21 June 2023

Don’t trust defacto, do your research

Admiral given defacto 5 star. Thought I could rely on this. Cracked windscreen not covered which is hardly class as excellent overall cover. Defacto won’t state what makes up different levels of cover meaning it’s a general assessment and you still need to check in detail.

Date of experience : 14 December 2022

Do not base purchases on Defaqto alone

I choose insurance taking these ratings in to consideration as how good a product is but if the company behind the product is useless then you suffer. As with the post from Claire I bought Homeprotect( Avanti) house insurance who appointed Graham High group as loss adjusters. They screw every penny out of you and don't sort things properly. Avoid if possible

Date of experience : 22 June 2021

Defaqto, Mini & BMW are are a joke!

Defaqto rate Mapfre who provide Cosmetic Insurance cover for MINI and BMW as good but they are an absolute joke. They ignore all emails, they do not answer the phone and as you’ve paid upfront they are just hoping you give up with the claim. Complained to MINI and BMW who sold the insurance and they say it’s nothing to do with them - REALLY????

Date of experience : 13 October 2020

Defaqto meaningless rating. Currently my wife trying to resolve a…

Currently my wife trying to resolve a no fault claim. Our insurers LV 5 star defaqto rated, reality, they palm out all claims to a third party claim handler. This experience is one of the worst experiences in over 40 years of driving, still ongoing and not even my wife’s fault (she was T boned) Defaqto meaningless, LV not worth one star. Starting to understand why over 2 million drivers are uninsured, the premiums are a waste of money, I pay LV for a service and have an incompetent third party giving me the runaround. If you reply do not ask me to phone you, I am not going to sit listening to musak for 30 minutes waiting to be fobbed off!

Date of experience : 15 September 2022

What's the point of defaqto

What's the point of defaqto? The car insurance comparison tools give you their rating but then to expand on the reasons why that rating the defaqto website doesn't show any information about it! Useless

Date of experience : 28 August 2023

Defaqto does not rate on company's ethics!

Defaqto rating system is very limited. They do not rate ... Regulatory - Ethical - Legal aspects when assessing a company. They do not research the company to ensure that it is adhering to FCA guidelines, or consider how the company treats its customers. They rate only on policy features! A company can also BUY a 5 star rating! When i pointed out the problem for consumers when choosing a company based on the features of a policy alone (Vitality health insurance) i was informed by Tom Whelan; "we are not planning to expand our product reviews." Defaqto needs to update and revise its archaic rating system...and stop selling 5 star ratings!

Date of experience : 21 July 2020

Their rating’s are worthless!

Over the years I’ve trusted the experience and opinions of others, including slick looking reviewers like Defaqto. On more than one occasion I’ve had very poor experiences with companies rated highly by them. On one such occasion I contacted them to share my experience and was told that their criteria for judging things are not, I think, what a normal person values. So, be careful and don’t place much trust in their ratings!

Date of experience : 18 April 2023

This is the biggest con ever

This is the biggest con ever ! Do not take any notice of these ratings. I have been selecting insurance providers on these ratings and often paying more due to the higher rating. I selected Home Protect (avoid like the plaque/COVID) for buildings insurance on a second home. I experienced a burst pipe in October and it is now January and I am still nowhere near having it sorted. I don't even know the process/status and they keep getting things wrong (like not assessing the correct room). I called DEFAQTO as I wanted to feedback on this experience only to find out it is nothing to do with customer - they have criteria and look at what the companies offer/do nothing to do with how they actually execute it.

Date of experience : 05 January 2021

Beware - not a consumer rating

Beware, this isnt a consumer rating, most consumer dont get to contribute to the score. It's nothing like TrustPilot where consumers contribute to the rating. I have asked several time for a link to add my feedback but have never been given one.

Date of experience : 20 February 2023

Reply from Defaqto

Thank you for posting this review. Our Star Ratings provide an at-a-glance expert assessment of the quality and comprehensiveness of financial products and policies. We rate the product or policy, not the provider. We consider several factors, including product changes and market developments, examine any compliance or regulatory impact and hold open discussions with the industry. We then use our research to select the most important criteria to assess, score and give a financial product or proposition a Star Rating of 1 to 5, depending on the features it offers. As we rate the product and not the provider, we do not consider customer service or satisfaction in our scoring criteria.

What is Defacto?

What is Defacto? What it is not is a rating on price or service. There are plenty of websites that say what it is not but no one is saying what it is. So question what to do measure? they measure "core" something. They update on 1st Feb every year. They do everything EXCEPT tell you what they actually measure . What an absolute con. This is just in industry marketing.

Date of experience : 25 April 2023

They don’t deserve even a 1 star rating…

Defaqto.com don’t deserve even a 1 star rating however it is required to make a review. The reason for this is that, Defaqto is backing GoGirl insurance company to support their scam tactics! They need to look into all these negative feedback from angry customers and understand their frustration with GoGirl insurance! GoGirl is a scam and a fraudulent company operating online only to lure people into buying insurance policies by using big companies as a back up to cover their scam side! Customers be warned don’t be fooled with the star rating from this particular company! Do your research and cover your backs prior to buying any insurance policy. Do not trust star ratings from this company at all!!

Date of experience : 13 June 2021

First Central insurance limited took…

First Central insurance limited took out money from my account without my consent and carried on a policy which was never renewed with them. I noticed their debits and got back in contact with them. They never refunded me my payments which have been taken out of my account and charged me £100 for cancellation fee for me to be able to cancel the policy despite the car insured by another insurer. First Central is one of the worse companies which I have to deal with. They are dishonest, very uncooperative and have a terrible portal which does not even let you log into the account. I will never recommend them to anyone. DISHONEST AND LEAST COOPERATIVE CAR INSURANCE COMPANY!!

Date of experience : 13 June 2022

Poor ratings system

I recently was looking for pet insurance through various comparison sites and found one company that had a 5 star Defaqto review which I thought was good, however when I got a quotation I found it to be more than double that of any other company. I contacted Defaqto and they said they did not base their rating on cost at all, only service. I would therefore not trust ratings from Defaqto as their ratings seem to be somewhat poor as they don't look at a very important feature cost!

Date of experience : 09 September 2019

Ratings are worthless don't trust defaqto

Ratings are worthless, leads you to trust a brand which behave in an underhand manner to bleed you of your money.

Date of experience : 02 April 2023

is this simply a stitch up

you know you see Defaqto 5* and think "oh that should be good" well think again here is a little story. Aviva insured our vehicles 4/5 for last 12 years and proudly charged us healthy sums but then ofc we have Defaqto 5* rated cover. My wife had a no fault collision on the motorway and escaped within a whisker of death with a lot of luck, divine intervention and character. this was 10 days ago. We do not yet know if car is a write off [hit by 40 foot arctic and push along the carriageway] here is the rub NO ONE IS TALKING TO US FROM AVIVA and there is a massive conflict of interest because they insured the driver who is at fault. We have legal cover but only if we use their appointed solicitors who will be the same for the guilty party. My wife now has no car to continue doing her job as a key worker during this pandemic Aviva know this but do not do anything they have called once and that was to ask me to get my wife out of bed to speak to them about giving me authority to discuss the claim [yes i am on the policy as a named driver] DEFAQTO YOU NEED TO REDUCE THE AVIVA STARS AND GET REAL THIS CAR INSURANCE BUSINESS IS BECOMING LEGALISED THEFT

Date of experience : 04 November 2020