Cheap Travel Insurance in Nigeria: What to Watch For

Wanting to pay less is reasonable. Travel insurance is one more cost on top of a ticket and a visa fee, and nobody enjoys buying something they hope never to use. The problem is that a policy can be made cheaper in ways that are invisible at the point of sale and extremely visible at the point of claim.

This guide shows you exactly where the money comes out of a cheap policy, so you can tell the difference between good value and false economy. Our own limits and excesses are published on the travel insurance page if you want to compare as you read.

The three levers that make a policy cheap

There are only three, and every cheap policy pulls at least one of them.

• A lower limit. The ceiling on what the insurer will pay. A smaller medical limit is a cheaper policy and a smaller payout.
• A higher excess. The first part of any claim you fund yourself. This is the lever that hides best, because it does not appear in the headline.
• Fewer benefits. Removing evacuation, document cover or delay cover reduces the premium and the protection at the same time.

None of these is dishonest. They are legitimate ways to build a cheaper product. The problem is only that a price comparison that ignores all three tells you nothing useful.

What to put side by side

When you compare two policies, write down these for each one. If a provider will not tell you, that is itself the answer.

A policy with half the medical limit and twice the excess is not half the price of protection. It is considerably less than half. You can check ours line by line before paying.

The real cost of underinsuring

An emergency medical limit is not a target, it is a ceiling. If treatment costs more than the limit, the balance is yours. In a country where you have no residency and no national scheme, that balance is charged at full private rates.

This is why the medical limit deserves more weight than the premium when you choose. The gap between a low limit and an adequate one is small in premium and potentially enormous in exposure, which is why we publish the limit with the price.

When cheap is genuinely fine

Not every saving is a trap. A shorter trip genuinely costs less to cover because there is less time in which something can happen. A younger traveller genuinely prices lower. A Schengen trip prices differently from a worldwide one because the cover itself is different.

Those are real reasons for a lower number. What should make you pause is a price that is lower than comparable cover for the same trip, same dates and same ages. Something has been removed, and it is worth finding out what before you need it.

Cover you may already have, and its limits

Some cards and some employers include travel cover. It is worth checking rather than assuming, in both directions.

• Check the medical limit. Incidental cover attached to a card is often modest, and modest is the problem.
• Check it meets any visa requirement. A Schengen application needs at least EUR 30,000.
• Check the dates and the destinations. Cover tied to a card may depend on how the trip was paid for.
• Check whose name it is in. A policy that does not name you is not a certificate you can submit.

If existing cover genuinely meets your needs, use it. We would rather tell you that than sell you a duplicate. If it does not, price the gap rather than travelling short.

What should end the conversation

• Anyone who says insurance will secure your visa. It does not, and the claim tells you what kind of seller you are dealing with.
• No written schedule of limits and excesses before payment.
• No named underwriter.
• A certificate offered before payment, or backdated to a date that has passed.
• Payment into a personal account rather than a company channel.
• Pressure to decide immediately.

A price that only looks good while nobody explains it is not a price worth taking. Ours is published alongside the full schedule for exactly that reason.