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How to pay less for your holiday essentials
Summer means million of us will be jetting off on summer holidays. But don't pay a fortune for your travel essentials. A little planning can save a lot of money.
Top travel insurance
Remarkably, one in four Brits that get into trouble abroad don't have travel insurance. Frankly, this is crazy, as it's easy to find great cover at competitive prices.
The trick is never to buy travel insurance from travel agents or tour operators, whose policies can cost several times as much as the best buys. By shopping around for single- or multi-trip travel insurance, you should be able to find five-star cover for far less than you think. Don't leave home without it.
[Compare travel insurance policies]
Cheaper parking
If you're driving to the airport or port, make sure you shop around in plenty of time. There are also usually plenty of discount codes on voucher sites such as Vouchercodes.co.uk, Vouchercloud and My Voucher Codes.
Inexpensive holiday money
Finding the right provider for foreign currency can be like crossing a minefield. Choosing the wrong supplier can reduce what you get for your money by 5% to 10%.
When choosing where to get your travel cash, you need to weigh up a bewildering array of costs, including varying exchange rates, commission fees, delivery charges, card charges and so on. Having conducted many currency surveys over the past decade, I have found ordering online for later collection to be the cheapest route, as this avoids delivery charges.
In the past, we've found these providers offer consistently good value for money: ICE (branches across London), Moneycorp, Asda and Travelex (its website only, not bureaux de change).
Don't buy your money at the airport as you'll get an inferior exchange rate and you will probably have to pay high fees.
The right plastic
It's almost always a big mistake to take your everyday debit or credit card abroad for overseas spending. This is because all but a handful of cards charge steep fees for processing payments in foreign currencies (typically, 3% of the transaction value) and for cash withdrawals overseas.
Taking the wrong plastic on holiday could mean paying surcharges exceeding 5% of the cost of your goods. In effect, this adds £50 to every £1,000 you spend.
If you want to take a debit card, Metro Bank, Norwich & Peterborough and Cumberland Building Society offer bank accounts with debit cards that offer fee-free withdrawals and purchases abroad, although Metro has limited its free usage to Europe only now. If you just want to withdraw cash, the new M&S Current Account offers fee-free ATM withdrawals anywhere in the world.
Some high street banks, such as Barclays and Santander, do offer fee-free withdrawals in certain countries (for example there's no charge for Santander customers to withdraw cash from Santander ATMs in Spain). Check with your bank before you travel.
Meanwhile, if you prefer a credit card these are all best buys to take abroad.
Credit card | Cash fee/ Minimum charge | Foreign use charges (EU/World) |
Halifax Clarity MasterCard | 0%/£0* | 0%/0% |
2%/£2 | 0%/0% | |
2.5%/£3 | 0%/0% | |
3%/£3 | 0%/0% | |
3%/£3 | 0%/0% |
*No interest-free period on cash withdrawals so you need to pay them off straightaway
**Only available to people aged 50 or over
If you have a less than perfect credit rating, the aqua Advance MasterCard and Capital One Classic Extra could be good options, although as each has a representative APR of 34.9% you'll pay hefty interest charges if you don't pay off your balance in full.
Try to avoid withdrawing money from ATMs or buying currency using your credit card on your holidays as most cards charge you a fee and start charging you interest from the moment the money's in your hands.
If you prefer to withdraw money from an ATM so you know exactly how much you're spending, you might want to opt for a pre-paid card.
These cards allow you to 'load' money onto them, which you can then withdraw later from cashpoints.
The Travelex Cash Passport Euro and dollar versions are good options if you're heading to the Eurozone or US. They're free to use, so long as you're aware of inactivity fees if you don't use your card for a certain period. The exchange rate is slightly lower than some of its competitors, but it might be a price worth paying if you want the convenience of being able to withdraw smaller amounts of cash as and when you like with no fees.
For other destinations, the Caxton FX Global Traveller only charges a 'mark-up' on foreign transactions. However, you might be better off with one of the credit cards listed above, particularly if you don't plan to spend much hard cash.
[Compare credit cards for use abroad]
Sun cream
The most expensive sun creams aren't always the best. In fact, a recent Which? test claimed that some Piz Buin, Malibu and Hawaiian Tropic creams provided less protection than stated on the bottle.
In fact, the cheapest cream tested, a 250ml bottle of Calypso Sun Lotion costing £3, did exactly what it should. Aldi's sun lotion also passed with flying colours. So shop around and remember that a bigger name doesn't always equal better. And be aware that 'half-price' or 'buy one, get one' deals may not be cheaper than buying elsewhere.
