If you have read our guide about the best travel and backpacker insurance, you know that if you travel over a long period of time you should not leave without a good coverage. On this page we will talk about SafetyWing insurance, which is a brand new product on the travel insurance market (since 2018) and which specializes in Digital Nomad like us (but which is also very suitable for backpackers and long-term travelers as you will see)
Who are the people behind SafetyWing?
SafetyWing is first and foremost the story of 3 Norwegian friends, all digital nomads, who could not find a travel insurance that met their needs as nomads at an affordable price. As they could not find a solution and seeing the rise of the digital nomad movement, they decided to create it!
Their ultimate goal is to try to create a whole network of insurance products specially designed for nomads and freelancers. They therefore decided to start with a travel and medical insurance with the following features:
- Reliability (the foundation for travel insurance)
- Flexibility (you don’t need to know how long you will travel in advance, you can subscribe while traveling)
- Cheap
- Worldwide coverage and partial coverage in your home country (even digital nomads go home sometime 😉 )
- …
After a stay in the famous Startup incubator Y Combinator, SafetyWing was launched as the first travel and medical insurance for digital nomads.
SafetyWing: How does it work?
There are a few things that differentiate SafetyWing insurance from more traditional coverage such as ACS globe partner, Chapka Cap aventure or AVI Marco Polo.
- The coverage works like a subscription that is renewed every 28 days from the date of departure. So you don’t really need to know in advance how long your trip will last
- It is possible to subscribe to SafetyWing from abroad even if the trip has already started.
- SafetyWing includes partial coverage in your home country for max 30 days every 90 days. Very useful for nomads who sometimes return home or if you return to your country of origin once in a while.
- Each subscription also includes a child under 10 years old… which makes SafetyWing VERY attractive for families travelling with young children.
- This coverage is very competitive in terms of price: $37 / 28 days.
But as I told you earlier, SafetyWing (even if it is branded for digital nomads) is also very suitable for backpackers and long-term travellers because it meets all the important criteria for a travel insurance. You can easily compare all the guarantees and different coverage limits of the best insurances for a round-the-world trip in our interactive travel insurance comparison table (which also includes SafetyWing).
To register for SafetyWing, it’s easy, just go to their website (which is still only in English for the moment) and fill out a short form that takes 30 seconds to complete.
And if you’re wondering if you can trust SafetyWing despite its young age, know that they actually work with Tokio Marine, one of the world’s largest insurance companies (which are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in case of problems during your trips). In addition, this famous Startup accelerator Y Combinator from which SafetyWing was born has also seen the birth of companies such as AirBnb, Dropbox and many others. You can be sure that they are serious.
Other coverage from SafetyWing
SafetyWing has just released a new and very innovative product called Remote Health. Traditionally, health insurances have always been tied to where you live. But with the rise of nomadic lifestyles and 100% remote companies, there was a growing need for health insurance coverage that was not tied to your residency. So whether you’re a nomad, an entrepreneur, or just travel a lot, with Remote Health, you’ll have comprehensive health insurance that covers you anywhere in the world!
Check out remote health on SafetyWing
The little plus of SafetyWing
SafetyWing is a resolutely young company, with a strong presence on social networks and also organizes events around the world to try to create a small community. We really do find the family spirit that is often present among digital nomads and that’s really nice.
Our opinion about SafetyWing
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Negative |
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A company that brings a new energy to the slightly aging world of travel insurance and offers comprehensive coverage at a very attractive price. Honestly, we are looking forward to see what SafetyWing has in store for us in the future.
Useful links
- A very useful FAQ that should answer most of the questions you have about SafetyWing
- Don’t forget to read the terms and conditions linked from the footer of their site
My experience with SafetyWing was the same as with every other company: they simply disappeared as soon as something actually happened while I was abroad, and ended up having to spend more than 1000 euros from my own pocket. Don’t trust them. Don’t keep the slightest hope that they will be there when you need them. They won’t.
Hey Eugenia,
Sad to hear about you bad experience with SafetyWing 🙁 Do you mind sharing with us what happened and why did you had to pay 1000€?
Yep, I was kidnapped in Ghana.
Two men with machetes appeared in the middle of a forest and took me and a girl that was with me and kept us hostage until we basically gave them everything we had.
SafetyWing claims to cover express kidnapping (even without a limit) but after literally 2 months of emails every couple of days (only one third of which were answered with things like “sorry for the delay, it is strange that you didn’t have any answer yet, could you please send your claim to xxx@xxx.xx instead? you’ll probably get an aswer soon!”) I still don’t see my claim in my client zone, I never got any definite answer and I am sure they will very very soon use the “but your insurance ended more than 60 days ago, so we cannot do anything about it now” excuse.
Basically, because of the kidnapping:
– I couldn’t work as volunteer, which is what I went to do in Ghana
– I had to pay for a new passport (close to 120 euros)
– I had to pay for a new visa (50 euros)
– I had to pay for a new ID card and driving licence (40 euros)
– I found myself without any of the valuables I had brought to the trip (worth around 300 euros)
– I had to borrow money because they took all my cash (close to 200 euros) PLUS my credit card in order to stay for 2 weeks more there trying to solve my problems in the embassy
– I had to pay for a new flight ticket back (almost 400 euros) because since I couldn’t work (lack of passport + lack of visa + delays in the paperwork) there was no point in staying in Ghana for several months doing basically nothing.
So that’s the story. And what did they do? Absolutely nothing.
UPDATE: I did get my money in the end, took exactly 9 weeks and 17 emails after filing my claim. Insisting was annoying, but they did cover a bit more than I expected. One interesting fact: they answered immediately after I posted bad reviews everywhere. Coincidence?
My recent (12/21) check of the SW site says cover for ages 10-39 is $42, not $37, then rises systematically every 10 years to $144.76, an increase of 244% by age 60 based solely on the traveler’s age. At age 70, SW simply stops offering insurance to travelers. SW asserts that it costs more to insure older travelers, but declines to substantiate its claim, so it appears to be blatant age-based discrimination, which is a problem throughout much of the travel insurance industry. However there are better policies available at equal or less cost if you are willing to do a careful search.
Hi David,
I know it’s crazy how the price of travel insurances increase for Seniors… I have to admit we didn’t do as much research for the best travel insurance (quality price ratio) for older travelers. But you could still check out this page if it’s not already done (https://www.novo-monde.com/en/best-backpacker-insurance-comparison/). I think AVI travel insurance have a special offer for seniors.
If I might ask, which insurance company did you choose for you particular case?
I am currently insured by World Trips. Ample coverage, reasonable rates. Though you never know how good your policy is until you file a claim.