travel insurance

FirstAssist has been providing travel insurance cover for over 30 years. Our good value assistance service helpline which is staffed with UK customer managers able to help you replace lost or stolen passport, luggage or prescription medications. We are also on hand if your trip is cancelled, delayed or cut short, or if you have a medical emergency.

Our travel policies are underwritten by Great Lakes Reinsurance (UK) PLC. Both FirstAssist and Great Lakes are authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.

Cover will be for the dates specified by you when you take out the policy up to a maximum of 183 days.

If you've taken out an annual policy with us and mid-term realise that you now need to add further cover for example, ski- cover, or Worldwide USA cover, you can call us on 0845 026 0084 to upgrade your cover.

We've put together a table which includes those activities that are covered, those that are covered if they are professionally organised and supervised and a list of activities that are not covered. If the activity you are doing is not on the list, please call us on 0845 026 0084 and we will advise you if it's covered

We can provide cover for ski-ing along with your annual trip policy, or as a ski specific single trip policy. In fact, when you select our Winter Sports upgrade, it will cover you for any of the following winter sports; ski-ing, snowboarding, sleigh riding as a passenger as part of an organised trip. Please ensure that when you get a quote from us that you select the Winter Sports upgrade if you want it included. For more information please see Winter Sports

Whilst our annual cover does include golf as an activity, our Golf Cover policy is specifically designed for people whose sole purpose for the trip is taking a golfing break. So for example, if you have pre-booked your tee-off times and then are unable to make that time because your flight is delayed for more than 12 hours, we will cover the cost of any non-refundable green fees. Or if you arrive at your destination but your clubs do not, or they are delayed, then we will pay up to £35 per day for you to hire replacement clubs. For more information please see Golf Cover

Business travel insurance is an optional upgrade and covers you, your business equipment, your business money and any samples you may need for attending a meeting. If you are travelling on business and want to make sure that your laptop, for example, is covered while you are away, then you would need business cover. For more information please see Business Travel Cover

The choice of taking out baggage cover is up to you and will depend on what you are taking on holiday with you. For example, if your household insurance policy covers a specific valuable item(s) outside of your home (under the "Personal belongings" section) then you may not need to cover these items again on your travel insurance policy. However, if you do not have cover for specific items away from home, or do want to cover clothing that you are taking with you then this option will cover the cost of replacing your personal baggage if it is lost, stolen or damaged, up to £2,500 on Premier cover or £1,500 on Standard cover. Please note that there is a single article limit on the policy which is £300 with premier cover and £150 with standard cover. In addition there is a valuables limit of £500 (premier) or £300 (standard).

Yes, you and your partner may travel independently on family cover. However, please be aware that your children are only covered when travelling with an insured adult/parent under this policy.

As a UK resident, the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC), which replaced the E111 form, entitles you to free or reduced cost, state-provided medical treatment should you have an accident or become ill while travelling within the European Economic Area (EEA). However, you should be aware that only state-provided emergency treatment is covered, it does not generally cover private treatment.

We are able to provide cover for many pre-existing medical conditions. Simply go through our online screening process to check that your condition is covered. There may be an additional cost to your premium but you may be surprised at how little this is. If you cover your condition(s), it means that should you suffer any illness due to your medical condition while travelling, you will be able to claim on your policy and have full use of our assistance and services. So you can travel with complete peace of mind.

We operate an Emergency Assistance Service, so if you have a medical emergency, you should call the helpline +44 (0) 208 763 4844. Your call will be answered by an experienced assistance co-ordinator who will help you with your problem. Please quote your travel policy number when you call.

If you require medical assistance we will ensure that where appropriate:

• Hospitals or clinics will be contacted and any necessary fees guaranteed
• Doctors and hospitals abroad will be contacted in their own language, where necessary
• FirstAssist Assistance medical advisors are consulted at an early stage on the possibility of arranging for the sick or injured person to be returned home and the best method of transportation to be adopted. Specially equipped air ambulances are available for critical cases. Whenever necessary the patient will be escorted by a medical attendant. Assistance will be provided upon arrival in the United Kingdom where medically necessary.

You must contact us before incurring any medical expenses over £500. For emergency medical expenses under £500 which do not require the assistance of FirstAssist please pay your costs directly and contact the claims line on 0845 072 0723 within 14 days of returning home from your trip.

For all claims requiring medical assistance of that are over £500, please contact us on 0845 072 0723. The notification must be made within 31 days or as soon as possible thereafter following any bodily injury, illness, disease, incident, event, redundancy or the discovery of any loss, theft or damage which may give rise to a claim under this policy.

For all legal expense claims please call 0208 652 1313

The getMY.com site uses 128 bit SSL encryption on the payment pages. This is the highest level of protection possible and therefore the one used by all sites where financial transactions occur.

getMY.com has also implemented 3D Secure for Maestro cards. 3D Secure is the online capability developed by MasterCard for their cardholders. It is designed to make Internet transactions safer by creating a virtual 'card present' environment. You may be more familiar with this capability as MasterCard SecureCode.

How does it work?

When purchasing products online with your Maestro card you are asked to enter your card number on the payment page. At this point in the purchase, you will be re-directed to your issuing bank and asked to enter the password for your card. In this way, it acts almost like entering your pin number at a shop till.

If the password is correct then your payment will be authorised. You will have 3 attempts to type in the correct password – just as you do your pin number.

If this insurance is not suitable, please telephone or write to us within 14 days of receipt of your policy documents. We will cancel the policy and refund your premium in full provided that you have not already taken your trip or made a claim. We cannot refund your premium after this date.

Your personalised documents are securely saved online. Once your purchase is complete we will email you to let you know where and how to access them. To protect your security, we will provide you with a unique username and password. You can view and/or print out your documents, whichever you prefer.

You'll need Adobe Reader to view your documents. And if you haven't got it, click here for a free copy.

If you accidentally delete the email telling you how to access your documents, you can call our Customer Services Team on 0845 026 0084 and we will re-send the email.

The documentation that you can access online will be in a printable format. However, if you are unable to print your documents or prefer to receive a paper copy from us, please call our Customer Services Team on 0845 026 0084.

We are committed to meeting the needs of all our customers. For visually impaired customers, we can provide documents in large print, Braille or on audio cassette. Simply call our Customer Services Team on 0845 026 0084 (lines open Mon-Fri 8am-8pm, Sat 9am-5pm) and we will arrange to send the documents in a format that suits you.

In addition, if you have a hearing or speech impairment, you can use Typetalk whenever you contact us, or contact us using Textphone on 0800 316 0775 (lines open Mon-Fri 8am-8pm, Sat 9am-5pm).

Your insurance documentation will be accessible for the duration of your policy. If you need to access your documentation after this time please call our Customer Services Team on 0845 026 0084.

All customer information, including your personal and medical information, is stored securely on our systems just as it would be through a normal paper or telephone based sale. The link we give you allows you to access our system. We provide you with a unique password and will ask you a security question to access your data that only you will know.

We use 128 bit SSL encryption on the secure link. 128 bit SSL encryption is the highest level of protection possible and therefore the one used by all sites where financial transactions occur.