Travel insurance providers are the least trusted in general insurance, according to a poll of 10,000 consumers. The Fairer Finance Trust in Insurance Index, found that some of the smaller and specialist travel insurance brands such as insurefor.com, Leisure Guard, Puffin Insurance and Multitrip.com were ranked poorly by customers.

Santander came out top in the current ratings followed by M&S, Post Office, Saga, and Aviva. Santander – whose travel insurance is underwritten by Chubb – has topped the table in terms of customer trust since 2020 when it overtook the Post Office in the rankings.

Tracking consumers’ views twice yearly over the last six years, the Fairer Finance index monitors levels of trust across home, car, travel and pet insurance. It has found that while consumer trust in all four sectors has risen in the last six years, in more recent times (since 2020), travel insurance providers have proven to be the least trusted (50.9 %), lagging behind the other insurance sectors (including car insurance at 56.3%), and rates lower today than banking (60.6%) and credit card providers (54%).

James Daley, Managing Director at Fairer Finance, said: “Travel insurance is one of the most complex financial products – and also one of the cheapest. Most consumers struggle to understand the small print, and this leads to thousands of complaints and unhappy customers every year. The pandemic was a tipping point for the sector, with many more people finding they weren’t covered at a time they felt they needed their insurer the most.

“While trust in other insurance sectors has continued to grow, consumers are now relatively more wary of travel insurers. It’s crucial that the FCA works with the industry to close the expectation gap between what customers think they are buying – and what they actually get.”

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