Travel insurance coverage helps to protect you against unexpected costs that may arise before or during a holiday, such as medical bills, lost luggage, or delays. You can typically choose between travel insurance for a single trip or an annual policy that protects all your trips for 12 months.

There are different types of cover to choose from, so picking the best travel insurance for you will depend on where you're going and the activities you'll be doing while you're there. So a trip to the USA would need worldwide travel insurance, and going skiing would need to have winter sports cover added to the travel insurance policy.

We all want our holidays to be great fun and give us nothing but happy memories, but there's always a chance that something could go wrong. Travel insurance helps you to put those things right and reduce any worries you might have.

Luggage can go missing, wallet can get stolen, flights get delayed and more - all can lead to extra costs if you're not covered by travel insurance – without it, you can be left seriously out of pocket.

Additionally, if you were injured or fell ill while on holiday without travel insurance, you'd have to pay all the costs yourself, which could get very expensive. Travel insurance is there to help you cover medical costs and give you peace of mind that you’ll be supported if you do get into an accident.

You can choose between Value, Premium and Superior cover with our travel insurance, each of which covers you for the same types of incidents but gives you different amounts you can claim for. These incidents include:

• Abandoning your trip
• Accommodation cover
• Cancelling and cutting short your holiday
• Delayed departure
• Hospital benefit
• Legal expenses
• Medical and other expenses
• Passport and travel documents
• Personal accident, including loss of limbs or sight, permanently disabled and death benefit
• Personal belongings and baggage
• Personal liability
• Personal money

You can find out exactly what you’re covered for in the policy wording documents, as well as how much each level of cover will give you towards each item of coverage.

If you have a pre-existing medical condition, then you’ll need to let us know when you take out a policy. Usually, we can do a medical screening and add you existing condition onto your policy, sometimes with an additional charge depending on the condition. We consider all pre-existing conditions and will try out best to create a policy which is tailored to your specific needs.

You should aim to take out your holiday travel insurance when you book your holiday, or as soon as possible, in order to get the maximum benefits from certain items of cover, such as cancellation.

However, if you’re taking out an annual travel insurance policy then you may want to wait until a little bit closer to your trip in order to maximise how long your policy will be valid for.

Depending on where you’ll be visiting on your holiday, you can choose how many countries you want to be included under your policy. You can choose how wide you want your coverage to be, from UK only cover all the way up to worldwide travel insurance including the USA, Canada, and Caribbean, and your policy will be valid for travelling to any of these countries.

Should the unfortunate happen and you’re ill or injured while away (outside the home area you live in or the final country of your journey if you are on a one-way trip), we’re here to help you.

We’re here 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. If you are in the USA and need to see a doctor, be sure to contact us on the number above and we’ll help set things up for you using our local network of walk-in centres, urgent care clinics, house-calls and available telemedicine. 

In serious emergencies, seek medical attention at your nearest public healthcare facility before you or someone on your behalf contacts us. Please refer to the ‘What to do - Medical and other emergencies’ section of your policy documents for more details.

You can contact us on the following numbers:

If you bought your policy before 9th November 2021:

Emergency phone number: +44 (0)208 712 1303

Emergency fax number: +353 91 501619

If you bought your policy after 9th November 2021:

Emergency phone number: +44 (0)203 467 4124

When you contact us you will need to provide the following information:

• Your name and address
• Your policy number shown on your validation certificate
• Your phone number abroad
• The date you left and the date you are due to come back
  You should also refer to page 12 of your policy documents for further details.

For policies bought before 24th November 2021:

Registering a new claim

Travel Claims Services no longer manages new claims on behalf of MAPFRE Asistencia.

Charles Taylor is the claims administrator appointed by MAPFRE Asistencia to manage new claims on its behalf.

To register a new claim, please call Charles Taylor on 01243 219 595 and their contact centre will guide you through the process.

Existing claims with travel claims services

If you have an existing claim for which you have been given a claim number by Travel Claims Services, don’t worry, you can still contact us via:

• Email: enquiries@travelclaimsservices.com
• Call us on: 0207 748 0061.

For policies bought after 7th December 2021:

To claim online: www.submitaclaim.co.uk/AS
Or call us for a claim form on +44 (0)800 479 8704

Please have your claim number to hand to enable us to locate your claim more quickly.

For policies bought via MoneySupermarket.com:

To claim online: https://www.submit-claim.com/asda1
Or call us for a claim form on 01420 259 057

Please have your claim number to hand to enable us to locate your claim more quickly. Please also refer to 'What to do - Claims information' on page 9 of your policy wording booklet for further details. 

The peace of mind which travel insurance can give you for your upcoming trip is hard to put a price on, but the amount that you pay for cover is considerably lower than how much you can potentially get out of it if something does go wrong.

The price of travel insurance will vary from person-to-person, based on a number of criteria like age, the destination or destinations you intend on visiting, and level of cover you’re looking for.

Much like travel insurance for an individual person, the price of family travel insurance can be influenced by the age of each family member, the destination they’re heading to, and the number of family members who’ll be travelling. 

However, the price of one family travel insurance policy can be much more cost effective than taking out individual travel insurance for each family member, as well as saving the time and effort it would take doing individual policies.

Standard family travel insurance policies can cover up to one adult with three children or two adults with six children, so they can provide fantastic cover for your trip, including replacing the possessions of any family member, any medical treatment, flight cancellations and legal cover if required.

Every travel insurance policy provider is slightly different in terms of what a policy will and will not cover, as well as offering different amounts of cover for different things. It’s worth checking yours carefully to understand what’s covered within it, as some don’t cover as much as others.

As an example, Asda travel insurance won’t cover:

• Leaving belonging unattended which are then lost or stolen
• Claims for undeclared medical conditions
• Engaging in reckless activities or behaviour which result in any form of claim
• Participating in extreme sports or activities outside of named ones in your policy (e.g. skiing and snowboarding, if you haven't paid for winter sports cover)
• Violating local road or driving rules
• Changing your mind about going away on your trip

The best way to secure a cheap travel insurance policy is to give as much information as you can to your insurer and be accurate.

If you’re only planning on taking £1,000 worth of items and baggage with you, then you won’t need cover up to £5,000 within your insurance policy.

Avoiding travel insurance sold along with your trip can also allow you to find a travel insurance policy which is more tailored to your specific needs and details.

Make sure to declare any medical conditions you might have to your insurer to ensure you’ll be able to claim if you do end up falling ill overseas. If you don’t let your insurance provider know about your condition, they won’t be able to cover the costs and you could be landed with a large bill you’ll have to foot yourself.

Don't forget, as tempting as it might be to go for the cheapest option, make sure you're not overlooking the quality of a policy over the price. The lowest product tiers cover many of the same benefits but the price limits you can claim for might not cover the amount you may require for all the people on your policy. 

Also, be cautious of some policies which seem substantially cheaper than the average, as chances are they won’t provide you with the same level of cover that reputable travel insurance providers can. Sometimes key types of cover will be missing, or they’ll only offer low amounts of financial assistance for certain things, so be sure to check the policy details carefully.