‘No age limit’ travel insurance TV advert banned as misleading 

A travel insurance supplier has been sanctioned by the advertising watchdog for misleading customers by claiming ‘no age limit’ on policies.

A Staysure TV advert was banned by the Advertising Standards Authority after a consumer complained about only being offered cover for a limited number of days a year when they reached the age of 76.

The advert, seen in August showing older couples on holiday, carried a voice-over saying: “We specialise in cover for over 50s with pre-existing medical conditions, and there’s no age limit.”      

At that point, small on-screen text appeared at the bottom of the screen and stated ‘Terms and exclusions apply’.

Staysure told the ASA that the claim ‘there’s no age limit’ was not materially misleading, nor likely to mislead customers because there was no maximum age limit to purchase travel insurance.

The company confirmed that trip duration periods did decrease as age increased, as the complainant had outlined. 

But Staysure maintained that the claim ‘no age limit’ was factually correct as customers of any age could obtain travel insurance cover for up to 104 days of travel or up to 35 days for any one trip for annual multi-trip policies. 

In response to receiving the complaint, Staysure said it had reviewed the response on its website to the frequently asked question “Are there any age limits to buying a policy?” and concluded that the answer could be improved to better support consumer understanding.

Upholding the complaint, the ASA said: “We acknowledged that there was no upper limit to purchasing an insurance policy with Staysure, and that customers of any age could obtain cover. 

“However, the extent of that insurance cover varied by age. We understood that the length of trip durations reduced with age; for example, under-65s could travel for up to 18 months worldwide, those aged 66–70 could travel for up to 12 months in Europe (six months to some destinations and nine months elsewhere), and those aged 71–75 could travel for up to 12 months in Europe (four months to some destinations and six months elsewhere). We further understood that customers over 75 could not obtain long-stay cover and would not be insured for trips longer than three months.

“We considered those were significant limitations that applied because of the age of the applicant. We also considered that the qualification ‘terms and exclusions apply’, shown in small on-screen text when the voice-over stated ‘there’s no age limit’, did not explain the nature or extent of the age-related restrictions and contradicted, rather than clarified, the absolute claim ‘there’s no age limit’.

“Because the ad implied that there were no age-related limits on the availability or extent of cover, when that was not the case, and because the ad did not make clear the nature or extent of those restrictions, we concluded that the ad was misleading. 

“We told Staysure Travel Insurance not to mislead consumers by claiming that there was ‘no age limit’ to their holiday insurance. We told them to ensure that their qualifications did not contradict the claim they qualified.”