Last updated: September 2026
Confused.com reviews for travel insurance carry one thing GoCompare and MoneySuperMarket can’t claim: this is the site that started UK price comparison in the first place. It launched in 2001 as the UK’s first car insurance comparison site, years before either rival existed. It compares 45 Defaqto star-rated travel insurance providers, with quotes from £3.50, and pays out a £5 reward if you buy through it. It doesn’t underwrite anything itself. This guide checks its evidence and its regulatory setup, and looks hard at one claim on its own site.
| What you get | The detail |
|---|---|
| What it is | A comparison site, not an insurer |
| Panel size | 45 UK providers |
| Trustpilot score | 4.5/5 from around 15,000 reviews |
| If you buy | Protection sits with the insurer, not Confused.com |
Confused.com reviews: the short answer
Solid, but not the strongest of the four comparison sites this site has now checked. Confused.com’s Trustpilot score sits at 4.5 out of 5 from roughly 15,000 write-ups, still rated “Excellent” by Trustpilot’s own banding, but lower than Compare the Market (4.9), MoneySuperMarket (4.8) and GoCompare (4.7), all checked in the same session for a like-for-like comparison. Confused.com replies to 98% of negative feedback, typically within 24 hours, though it discloses it may use AI assistance to do so. None of this is disqualifying. It’s evidence worth weighing alongside the panel and the price, not instead of them.
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Checking the evidence beyond Trustpilot
One rating, even a strong one, isn’t the whole picture. Smart Money People, an independent UK financial-services review site used elsewhere on this site to check other insurers, has no dedicated listing for Confused.com at all, so there’s nothing to weigh against Trustpilot there. Fairer Finance mentions Confused.com across several articles but doesn’t carry a dedicated, star-rated brand page for it either, at least not one this review could find. Rather than guess at a figure, this guide leans on the comparative Trustpilot context and the company’s own regulatory history instead.
| Site | Trustpilot score | Review count |
|---|---|---|
| Compare the Market | 4.9/5 | |
| MoneySuperMarket | 4.8/5 | |
| GoCompare | 4.7/5 | |
| Confused.com | 4.5/5 |
None of these four scores is travel-insurance-specific. Trustpilot blends every product a comparison site handles, car, home, energy and travel alike, into one number, so a strong score doesn’t confirm the travel arm is the strongest part of the business. It’s still the best publicly available signal, and Confused.com’s, while the lowest of the four, is still a genuinely strong “Excellent” band score by Trustpilot’s own scale.
Is your money protected if you buy through Confused.com?
Yes, but the protection comes from whichever insurer you choose, not from Confused.com itself. Its travel insurance is arranged by theidol.com, part of the Legal & General group and authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. It’s the same panel operator behind GoCompare’s travel insurance, so the two won’t necessarily turn up different quotes. If your insurer ever failed, the Financial Services Compensation Scheme would cover 90% of a valid claim with no upper limit, the same safety net that stands behind Staysure, Avanti and Holiday Extras.
Confused.com launched in 2001 as the UK’s first car insurance comparison site, years before Go.Compare, MoneySuperMarket or Compare the Market entered the market. It was part of Admiral Group, the FTSE 100 insurer, until Admiral sold it to RVU on 30 May 2021. It’s now operated by RVU Services Limited.
“Confused.com being the oldest name in UK price comparison doesn’t make it the best today, and it isn’t claiming to be. Its Trustpilot score is the lowest of the four sites we’ve checked, and the firm that arranges its cover, theidol.com, sits inside the Legal & General group. Neither fact makes it the wrong choice. It means checking the panel and the price like any other comparison site, not taking ‘independent’ at face value.”
Kate Acaster, Chief Editor, Flight Tribe
The 45-provider panel, checked
Confused.com names Big Blue Cover, Coverwise, MultiTrip.com, Outbacker, Post Office, RIAS, Tesco and Virgin Money among the 45 providers on its travel panel, all Defaqto star rated. Defaqto independently rates policy strength, not just price. What the panel list doesn’t spell out on the page itself is that theidol.com runs the whole comparison behind the scenes. Comparing Confused.com against GoCompare is still worth doing on price, since the ranking Confused.com shows you can differ from GoCompare’s, but it isn’t two fully independent shots at the market.
UK insurers paid out £472 million across more than 500,000 travel insurance claims in 2024, according to the Association of British Insurers. Medical costs made up over a third of that total, averaging £1,528 a claim. That’s the real-world reason a £3.50 headline price shouldn’t be the only thing that decides which quote you pick, regardless of which comparison site found it.
Pre-existing medical conditions
You can still get cover, but declare every condition accurately when you get your quote. Confused.com’s panel includes providers built for different risk levels, and a mainstream policy can load the premium heavily or decline a serious condition outright where a specialist insurer wouldn’t. Declaring a condition usually raises the price. Failing to declare one can invalidate the whole policy, not just the part connected to it, regardless of which comparison site you quoted through.
Is Confused.com really independent?
Confused.com’s own site states: “we’re not owned by an insurance company, so we’ll show you our best travel insurance deals based on your details, not who they’re from.” That’s accurate today. RVU, which bought the business from Admiral in 2021, is a comparison-site group, not an insurer.
But the firm that actually arranges its travel insurance, theidol.com, is part of the Legal & General group, one of the UK’s largest insurers. Both facts are true at once. Whether that changes how much weight you put on the “independent” claim is a judgement call worth making with the full picture, not just the headline.
Should you use Confused.com for travel insurance?
Consider it if you want a wide, Defaqto-rated panel from the UK’s original comparison site, backed by a regulatory track record going back to 2001. The trade-off is twofold: its Trustpilot score is the lowest of the four comparison sites checked here, and the firm that arranges its travel insurance sits inside an insurance group despite Confused.com’s own “not owned by an insurance company” framing. Use the comparison to find the field, then check the individual insurer on its own terms once a quote actually wins. To compare current quotes, visit Confused.com directly.
Frequently asked questions
Is Confused.com good for travel insurance?
Solid, on the evidence, though its Trustpilot score of 4.5 out of 5 is the lowest of the four comparison sites this site has checked. It’s still rated “Excellent” by Trustpilot’s own banding, and it compares 45 Defaqto-rated providers with quotes from £3.50.
Does Confused.com sell its own travel insurance?
No. It compares quotes from 45 UK providers and you buy directly from whichever one you choose. Confused.com doesn’t underwrite or pay out on any policy itself.
Is Confused.com regulated?
Yes. Its travel insurance is provided by theidol.com, a trading style of Investment Discounts On-Line Ltd, authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. It doesn’t carry the risk on any policy sold through it, so your protection if an insurer fails comes from the underwriter you picked, not from Confused.com.
How many insurers does Confused.com compare for travel insurance?
45, according to Confused.com’s own published figure, all Defaqto star rated. Named providers include Big Blue Cover, Coverwise, MultiTrip.com, Outbacker, Post Office, RIAS, Tesco and Virgin Money, alongside other named and smaller specialist insurers.
Can I get travel insurance through Confused.com with a pre-existing medical condition?
Yes, if you declare it accurately when you get your quote. Confused.com’s panel includes insurers built to cover more serious or complex conditions, though the premium and terms depend on the condition itself.
Does travel insurance bought through Confused.com cover COVID-19?
Only if the specific policy you choose from the panel includes it, since Confused.com doesn’t set policy terms itself. Check the individual policy wording for COVID-19 and pandemic exclusions before you buy.
Is Confused.com really independent?
Independently owned, yes, by RVU rather than an insurer. But the firm that arranges its travel insurance, theidol.com, is part of the Legal & General group, an insurer, so weigh the “independent” framing with that in mind.
More on travel insurance and your trip
For comparison sites with their own travel insurance review scores, see MoneySuperMarket and GoCompare, which runs on the same underlying panel operator as Confused.com. For a direct insurer, see Staysure, its cruise-focused sister brand Avanti, Goodtogoinsurance for serious or complex medical histories, or Holiday Extras, the only one of the four with gadget cover as standard. Checking whether your airline’s own bundled cover is worth it instead? See our guides on Ryanair’s travel insurance, easyJet’s travel insurance, TUI’s travel insurance or Virgin Atlantic’s travel insurance. For the wider picture, see our guide to UK travel insurance providers.
Kate Acaster is Chief Editor at Flight Tribe. She writes about practical travel planning, budget airlines, baggage rules, city breaks, beach holidays and good hotels that do not cost daft money.
Kate has travelled through Europe, South America and beyond, usually with a notebook, a half-formed plan and a strong opinion on airport snacks. At Flight Tribe, her work focuses on helping UK travellers understand what is included, what costs extra, and whether a trip is worth booking at the price shown.
How Kate works
Kate checks the details that can change the value of a trip, including cabin-bag rules, airline fees, hotel location, seasonality, travel dates and booking conditions. She is especially interested in offers that look useful on the surface but need a proper reader-first check before they are worth recommending.
Editorial standards
Flight Tribe covers deals and travel advice for readers first. Affiliate links do not decide whether an offer is worth writing about.
