Who: The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) and Howserv Ltd t/a Staysure Travel
Where: United Kingdom
When: 24 December 2025
Law stated as at: 10 February 2026
What happened
A TV ad for Staysure Travel claimed that there was “no age limit” on its travel insurance cover. The ad described Staysure as specialising in travel insurance cover for over 50s and included clips of older people enjoying holidays in various worldwide destinations. The complainant challenged the claim on the basis that the ad was misleading, as they were only offered travel insurance for a limited number of days per year upon reaching the age of 76.
Staysure contended that the claim was not misleading because, although the duration of travel with insurance cover decreased with age, customers of any age could obtain travel insurance cover. In addition, on-screen text qualified the voice-over claim that “there’s no age limit” by displaying the text “Terms and exclusions apply”. Customers would also receive this information from call centre agents for offline sales or in “help text” when receiving their online quote and when provided with relevant documentation before and after online purchase. In response to the complaint, Staysure updated its FAQ response to “Are there any age limits to buying a policy?” on its website to clarify that “max trip durations apply and vary dependent on age”.
Clearcast was satisfied that it had received adequate substantiation from Staysure that the company did not refuse travel insurance on the grounds of age alone and did not impose any upper age limits on insurance. Clearcast also believed that viewers would be aware that insurance would be based on specific circumstances, including age, and that the disclaimer “Terms and exclusions apply” was sufficient to qualify the claim.
The ASA, however, upheld the complaint. The ASA considered that, within the context of the ad, the claim “there’s no age limit” would be understood to mean that a customers’ age would not limit the availability or extent of their cover and that viewers would expect older customers to be able to obtain cover on materially similar terms to younger customers.
While there was no upper age limit, the extent of cover did vary by age, such that trip durations reduced with age (for example, under 65s could travel for up to 18 months worldwide while customers over 75 could not obtain long-stay cover or be insured for trips longer than three months). The ASA concluded that these were significant limitations that applied due to the age of the applicant. It also considered that the small on-screen text stating that “Terms and exclusions apply” failed to explain the nature or extent of the age-related restrictions and contradicted the “no age limit” voice-over claim, as opposed to clarifying it.
Why this matters
The ASA ruled that Staysure’s “no age limit” claim was misleading because, although there was no upper age limit for purchasing cover, the ad implied that there were no age-related limits on the availability or extent of cover at all, which was not the case. A generic qualifier (such as “Terms and exclusions apply”) in small text was held to contradict, rather than clarify, the bold headline claim. Marketers should note that key limitations and material conditions cannot be buried in fine print or disclosed later in the purchasing journey.
