Insured trip cost
For comprehensive cover, prepaid non-refundable cost drives the cancellation component. Refundable bookings should generally be left out.
Travel Insurance Cost Calculator: Estimate Your Trip Premium
This calculator estimates the cost of UK single-trip comprehensive or medical-only travel insurance from trip cost, dates, destinations, individual ages and cover choices. Comprehensive policies are often benchmarked internationally at about 4%–10% of prepaid, non-refundable trip cost, but UK sold-policy data can be lower and you still need insurer quotes for an actual price.
Educational estimate — not a quote. The range is for budgeting and is not advice, an offer, or a prediction of what any insurer will charge. Compare quotes and policy wording; medical declarations can change eligibility and price substantially.
Your trip and cover
marks a required field. Defaults are neutral model assumptions, not recommendations.
Estimated cost
Standard comprehensive single-trip estimate
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Likely budgeting range: —
Per traveller
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Per trip day
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% of trip cost
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Trip length
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Enter your trip details to compare the estimate with a useful benchmark.
Main price drivers
- Trip details have not been calculated yet.
Detailed breakdown
| Component | Assumption | Amount / factor |
|---|
Unrounded values are used internally; displayed money is rounded to the nearest pound. The CSV preserves pennies.
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What affects travel insurance cost?
Every traveller's age
The calculator prices each age separately. Children receive a lower medical factor; factors rise in later age bands to reflect UK market patterns.
Destination
The highest-cost destination sets the medical and evacuation zone. USA and Canada use the largest model factor because care can be expensive.
Duration
Daily exposure is linear for the first 31 days, with explicit long-stay loadings after 31, 90 and 180 days. Real policies may impose lower trip limits.
Policy type and limits
Comprehensive cover includes cancellation and non-medical benefits; medical-only does not. Higher benefit limits and lower excess assumptions cost more.
Medical declarations
Conditions can change price, exclusions or eligibility after screening. The model applies a 40% medical-component loading and widens uncertainty, but cannot reproduce underwriting.
Activities and cruise cover
Winter sports, adventure activities and cruises use separate medical loadings. Always check named activities, altitude or depth limits and cruise-specific benefits.
Optional benefits and excess
More baggage, delay and liability cover and a lower excess raise the scenario rate. An excess is what you pay toward a claim; an excess waiver is the opposite and usually costs more.
Methodology and complete equation
Scope: UK residents, GBP, one trip of 1–365 inclusive days, 1–10 travellers aged 0–100. Model and source review: 15 July 2026; data version: July 2026. Expected error is shown as a range, normally ±30% to ±35%, widened as far as ±60% for older ages, medical declarations, cruises or higher-risk activities.
Equations
Medical component: Σ(daily rate × days × each age factor) × group factor × destination factor × duration factor × activity factor × cruise factor × medical-declaration factor.
Comprehensive cancellation component: insured trip cost × cancellation share × scenario trip-cost rate × age adjustment × destination adjustment. Medical-only sets this component to £0.
Total: (medical component + cancellation component) × (1 + IPT rate). The low/high range is total × (1 − uncertainty) to total × (1 + uncertainty).
| Factor | Values | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Scenario trip-cost rate | Basic 2.0%; Standard 3.0%; Enhanced 4.5% (pre-IPT) | Starlight calibration |
| Daily medical rate | Comprehensive: £0.40 / £0.60 / £0.85; medical-only: £0.75 / £1.05 / £1.40 for Basic / Standard / Enhanced | Starlight calibration |
| Age | 0–17: 0.65; 18–34: 1.00; 35–49: 1.12; 50–59: 1.35; 60–64: 1.60; 65–69: 1.95; 70–74: 2.45; 75–79: 3.15; 80–84: 4.00; 85–100: 5.25 | Starlight factors shaped to UK June 2026 sold-policy age-price bands |
| Destination | UK 0.75; Europe 1.00; nearby non-Europe 1.20; worldwide excluding USA/Canada 1.35; USA/Canada 1.90 | Starlight calibration |
| Long-stay duration | 1–31 days 1.00; 32–90 1.08; 91–180 1.18; 181–365 1.35 | Starlight assumption |
| Group | 1 traveller 1.00; 2 travellers 0.95; 3–4 travellers 0.90; 5–10 travellers 0.86 | Starlight factor shaped to UK group-price data |
| Activities | Standard 1.00; winter sports 1.35; adventure / higher risk 1.65 | Starlight assumption, medical component only |
| Cruise | No 1.00; yes 1.30 | Starlight assumption, medical component only |
| Medical declaration | No 1.00; yes 1.40 | Illustrative Starlight assumption, not medical screening |
| Cancellation age adjustment | max(1, 1 + (average age factor − 1) × 0.20) | Starlight assumption |
| Cancellation destination adjustment | 1 + (destination factor − 1) × 0.10 | Starlight assumption |
| UK tax | 20% higher-rate Insurance Premium Tax | HMRC rate |
| Uncertainty | Basic ±35%; Standard ±30%; Enhanced ±35%; +10 points if oldest age is 70+, +15 for a medical declaration, +5 for cruise/winter/adventure; maximum ±60% | Starlight judgement |
| Rounding | Calculate to floating-point pennies; display to nearest whole pound; CSV to two decimals | Starlight rule |
Calibration and limitations
The UK market cross-check uses MoneySuperMarket's page current in July 2026 and its underlying June 2026 policies sold through the comparison site, reported by policy type, destination, age, traveller count and add-on. Its published average single-trip price was £19.58, with large differences by destination and age. The 4%–10% trip-cost benchmark comes from Squaremouth international policies purchased from 1 July 2025 to 1 July 2026; it is used only as a broad comprehensive-cover comparison because it is not UK-only data. The factors above are Starlight's reproducible interpolation, not insurer rates.
Real quotes can fall outside the range because this tool does not model postcode, exact medical answers, insurer eligibility, claims history, sales channel, discounts, destination advisories, benefit sub-limits or policy exclusions. Medical-only pricing is deliberately separated from insured trip cost.
Worked calculation
For one 27-year-old taking an 8-day European trip costing £1,000 with Standard comprehensive cover and no add-ons: cancellation is £1,000 × 100% × 3.0% × 1.00 × 1.00 = £30.00; medical is £0.60 × 8 × 1.00 × 1.00 × 1.00 = £4.80. Subtotal £34.80 plus 20% IPT (£6.96) gives £41.76, displayed as £42, with a £29–£54 uncertainty range.
Sources
- MoneySuperMarket travel insurance statistics, page current July 2026 — June 2026 UK sold-policy averages and methodology by policy type, destination, age, party size and add-on.
- Squaremouth International Travel Insurance Cost Data Report, 2026 — anonymised international purchase data and the 4%–10% comprehensive benchmark.
- HM Revenue & Customs: Insurance Premium Tax — 20% higher rate for travel insurance.
- MoneyHelper: what a good travel insurance policy looks like — consumer guidance for medical, repatriation, cancellation, delay, baggage and liability limits.
- MoneyHelper: what is travel insurance? — excesses, medical declarations, policy types and buying guidance.
Reproducible travel insurance cost examples
| Example | Inputs | Estimated total | Per person | % of trip cost | Major drivers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Young solo traveller in Europe | Age 27; France; 8 days; £1,000 trip; Standard comprehensive; no add-ons | £42 | £42 | 4.2% | Cancellation amount, Standard benefits |
| Family travelling to the USA | Ages 42, 40, 12, 8; USA; 14 days; £6,000 trip; Standard comprehensive; no add-ons | £296 | £74 | 4.9% | £6,000 cancellation amount, USA medical zone, four travellers |
| Older traveller taking a cruise | Age 72; Greece; 14 days; £3,000 trip; Enhanced comprehensive; cruise cover | £254 | £254 | 8.5% | Age 70–74 factor, cruise loading, Enhanced benefits |
Examples use the equation and 20% IPT above, then round only the displayed result.
Editorial and review information
Methodology owner and author: Starlight Tools Editorial Team
Technical reviewer: Starlight Robotics QA
Last reviewed: 15 July 2026
Data version: July 2026
Editorial method: We separate sourced benchmarks from our assumptions, publish every factor and equation, test the worked examples against the browser model, and flag uncertainty instead of presenting an estimate as a quote.
Frequently asked questions
Is this a formal insurance quote?
No. This is an educational UK cost estimate, not advice, a quote, or an offer to arrange insurance. Get quotes from authorised insurers or brokers and compare the policy wording.
How much does travel insurance usually cost?
UK prices vary widely. MoneySuperMarket reported a £19.58 average single-trip price on its July 2026 page using June 2026 sold-policy data, while an international comprehensive-policy benchmark is about 4% to 10% of prepaid, non-refundable trip cost. Age, destination, duration, cover and medical declarations can move a quote far outside either benchmark.
What counts as insured trip cost?
Use prepaid travel and accommodation costs that you would lose if you had to cancel and could not recover elsewhere, such as non-refundable flights, hotels, tours and cruise payments. Enter the amount for the whole travelling party.
Should I include refundable bookings?
Usually no. If a supplier, card provider or another protection scheme will refund a booking, that amount is not normally an insurable cancellation loss. Check an insurer's definition before buying.
Why does age change the estimate?
Medical and cancellation claim risk generally rises with age, so insurers price each traveller's age. This model uses published UK age-band price patterns but real insurers use their own bands and screening rules.
What is the difference between medical-only and comprehensive cover?
Medical-only cover is modelled mainly from ages, trip length, destination, medical limit and add-ons. Comprehensive cover adds cancellation, baggage, delay and liability assumptions, so insured trip cost becomes a major price driver.
How do pre-existing medical conditions affect travel insurance?
You must answer an insurer's medical questions accurately. A condition may have no effect, increase the price, create an exclusion or require a specialist policy; this calculator's loading is only an uncertainty-aware budgeting assumption.
What is an excess?
An excess is the amount you pay towards a covered claim. Travel policies may apply it per person and per policy section, so a cheaper premium with a higher excess can cost more when several sections are claimed.
Do I need cruise or winter-sports cover?
Standard policies often exclude cruise-specific events and winter or higher-risk activities. Select the relevant add-on for budgeting, then check the insurer's activity list, limits and exclusions.
Is credit-card travel insurance enough?
It might overlap with cancellation, delay or baggage protection, but benefits and eligibility vary and medical cover may be limited or absent. Compare every card benefit and limit against the trip before relying on it.
When may annual multi-trip cover be cheaper?
MoneyHelper says annual cover is typically more cost-effective when you take more than two holidays in a year. Compare annual and single-trip quotes because age, destinations, maximum trip length and add-ons can change the break-even point.
Do you store my inputs?
No. Inputs and calculations stay in your browser. A CSV is created only when you choose to download it.
Why will real quotes differ?
Insurers use detailed underwriting, medical screening, exact destinations, claims experience, eligibility rules, sales discounts and policy-specific limits. The displayed range is an uncertainty guide, not a guaranteed quote interval.