Top insurance providers compared

About Top insurance providers compared

This ranking pulls 580 insurance brands into a single order, and the trade-off running through the list is straightforward: what a policy costs against what it actually pays out when a claim is made. Prices here start low and climb steeply. The median entry premium across the ranking is €7.95, with €2.66 at the lower quartile and €26.75 at the upper, and premiums recorded for this category run €0 to €3,431.08. A policy that looks cheap can still be narrow, so the shape of the cover matters as much as its price. The ranking also separates the kinds of company behind a policy. An insurer carries the risk on its own books, a broker places it with someone else, and a comparison site only helps the reader shop. Those models behave very differently at claim time, which is why the list opens with brands run as monthly accounts, moves through brokers, and closes with the comparison sites. One warning carries across every money product, insurance included: the median retail loss is 70.15%, with 65.75% at the lower end of the range and 74.5% at the upper.

How we picked

Every position in this list falls out of a scoring model with three weights. Trust carries 40% of the score, cost carries 35%, and the breadth and usefulness of what is on offer carries 25%. Trust does the heavy lifting, which is why the ranking rewards a named legal entity, a clear statement of what a policy pays, and a support channel a customer can actually reach. Cost counts, but a cheap premium with a low cap is not treated as a bargain. The figures behind each brand come from published material: product and plan pages, terms and conditions, legal notices, regulatory documents, help centres and app listings. A price is only used when it appears with its currency and the account type it belongs to, and a protection scheme is only described when the published material states what it covers. The statistic values quoted beside each criterion come from the same records behind the list, which is why the medians here match the brand cards. The order is settled before any copy is written. Partner brands are listed ahead of the rest, in the order the model produces, followed by the remaining brands. A label appears only where the score produces one, and a blank label means no claim was made, so the position and the evidence beside it carry the whole argument.

Our top picks

1. 7. Linxea

   Linxea is where life cover itself becomes the product in this ranking, arranged through a broker, LINXEA SAS, founded in 2001 and based in FR. The premium from is €25 on a low-fee model, monthly payments are available, and the audience is expats with a minimum age in place. The step up from bunq Spain above sits in the handling of a claim: claims run on phone, email and post, and support adds a community alongside phone and a help centre. Against Oney Préstamos ES below, Linxea concentrates on life cover while Oney spreads across health, life and gadget policies.

   • Minimum deposit: €100
   • Markets: Funds, Bonds
   • Regulators: ORIAS

   Pros

   • Entry premiums from €25 with monthly payments supported for gradual saving
   • Ongoing account cost at €0 with 0% entry fee on Linxea Avenir 2 on Linxea Avenir cover
   • Easy access structure via easy access linked to variable pricing at 3%
   • Support across phone, help centre and community with phone plus help centre and community resources

   Cons

   • Starting deposit of €100 sits above free entry at XTB at €0
   • Stocks are not among its markets (funds and bonds), while DKB covers stocks, ETFs and bonds
   • Cover centres on life life policies, which limits choice if you want health or travel add ons

What to look for

What the policy costs

The median entry premium in this ranking is €7.95, and the spread is wide: €2.66 at the lower quartile and €26.75 at the upper. Price on its own says little, so pair it with what the premium buys and whether it can be paid monthly.

Paying monthly

89% of the policies in this ranking can be paid in monthly instalments, which turns an annual outlay into a manageable one. The brands near the top of the list all offer monthly payments; the insurer further down does not.

Who carries the risk

41.7% of the ranking is made up of insurers that keep the risk on their own books, with brokers and comparison sites making up the rest. An insurer pays a claim from its own reserves, while a broker places the cover with an underwriter and you deal with that underwriter at claim time.

The length of the cover

Terms in this ranking run a median of 60 months, with 48 at the lower quartile and 89.5 at the upper. Short terms suit a single trip or a year of cover, while long terms suit a life policy that should outlast a mortgage.

Getting hold of someone

Phone support is the most common channel in this ranking at 88.4%, with a help centre on 75.8% and email on 73.2%. A claim is a poor moment to discover that support runs on one side only.

What can be claimed for

Car cover is the most common policy type here at 57.6%, followed by home at 53.1% and travel at 52.2%. Read the stated limit before buying, because a policy can be fairly priced and still cap out low.

Frequently asked questions

Top insurance providers compared by country

• Australia
• Austria
• Brazil
• Canada
• China
• France
• Germany
• India
• Italy
• Japan
• Mexico
• South Korea
• Spain
• United Kingdom
• United States

Providers compared head to head

• MyPhysicianPlan vs HanseMerkur Reiseversicherung AT
• Polizza Vita con Bonus vs HanseMerkur Reiseversicherung AT

The data behind this ranking

All data and the CSV