Home / Guides / Europ Assistance review

Europ Assistance Schengen insurance review

Last updated: September 13, 2026 · By Benzi Peleg, licensed insurance agent (Israel)

Europ Assistance's pitch is simple: pay a bit more and get double the required medical cover, backed by one of the continent's largest insurance groups. Here's when that trade-off is worth it.

What it actually is

Europ Assistance is the travel insurance arm of Generali, offering a Schengen-specific certificate that satisfies the Article 15 requirements at the €30,000 base tier. Its distinguishing feature is Schengen Plus, a higher tier that doubles the medical cover to €60,000, well above the legal minimum, with a 24/7 emergency line and repatriation explicitly stated on the certificate.

Where it wins

Double cover for a modest premium. Schengen Plus raises cover from €30,000 to €60,000 for roughly €2 more per day than the base plan, a small price for a certificate that reads more conservatively at a consulate's desk.

Backed by Generali. Europ Assistance is part of Generali Group, one of Europe's largest insurers, which gives its certificates the same kind of institutional recognition that AXA's carry.

24/7 emergency line. Support is available around the clock, and repatriation is stated explicitly rather than buried in the policy wording, one less thing for a visa officer to question.

Schengen Plus adds real trip-disruption extras. Beyond the higher medical cover, Schengen Plus includes benefits the base plan doesn't: up to €100/day (max €500, max 5 nights) for an extended hotel stay, a companion's return ticket (up to €500) if you're repatriated or hospitalized, companion lodging on the same terms as the extended hotel stay, a ticket (up to €500) for accompanying minors or disabled travelers home, and €130 toward trip cancellation if it's COVID-19-related. These are genuine differentiators most budget providers don't offer at all.

Where it falls short

1.3 "Bad" on Trustpilot, the lowest score of any provider we cover. From 219 reviews, Europ Assistance sits well below every other insurer on this comparison table (Heymondo and SafetyWing are both at 4.3, AXA at 3.3). Trustpilot's own AI-generated summary of the reviews describes support as "extremely frustrating" to reach and claims processing taking months with repeated requests for extra paperwork. The certificate itself still meets the legal visa requirement regardless of this score, but it's a real signal if you think you might actually need to file a claim, not just get the document.

7-day waiting period for sudden illness. If you buy Europ Assistance, no claim can be paid for sudden illness or accidental bodily injury that occurs within the first 7 days after purchase. This is a small risk for most visa applicants, but worth noting if you're buying insurance the same day as an appointment or when dealing with a pre-existing condition that suddenly flares.

Age cutoff at 74. You need to be 74 or younger at the moment of purchase. If you turn 75 after buying, you stay covered for that trip, but you can't purchase a new policy once past 74. Worth checking against AXA or Heymondo if you're insuring an older traveler near that threshold.

4-month cap per individual trip. The policy itself can run up to 365 days and cover multiple trips, but no single trip within it can exceed 4 months, which matters if you're planning one continuous long stay rather than several shorter ones.

Some countries excluded. Not available to residents of Belarus, Crimea, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Donetsk, Luhansk, Iran, North Korea, Syria, or Russia, with limitations for Cuba and Venezuela.

Fewer plan tiers. Europ Assistance offers just the base and Schengen Plus tiers, compared to the wider range some competitors (like AXA) offer for travelers who want more granular options.

Not the cheapest. Like AXA, you're paying a premium over budget options for the recognition and higher cover: from about €3/day at the base tier, or around €5/day for the €60,000 Schengen Plus plan.

Trustpilot score verified directly on trustpilot.com/review/europ-assistance.com, 2026-09-13.

Who it's actually for

Europ Assistance makes the most sense for applicants heading to consulates with a reputation for stricter scrutiny (Germany and France are the two most commonly cited), where a €60,000 certificate can remove one potential point of friction. It's also a solid pick if you specifically want the reassurance of a large, recognizable underwriter without shopping around plan tiers.

How we scored this: 3.4/5

We score every provider we review on the same five weighted criteria, built from the facts in our provider table — this isn't an average of customer reviews.

Europ Assistance has confirmed EU regulation (verified against its own policy document, not just claimed) and the strongest refusal-refund wording of the six providers we cover, but its Trustpilot score of 1.3 out of 5 — "Bad" — is the lowest on the site by a wide margin. The sample is small (219 reviews), but it's not a number to ignore.

Scoring methodology, weights and every provider's score: Policy/providers.json (internal). Computed 2026-09-21 from the facts and sources cited above.

Bottom line

Not a budget option, and it doesn't try to be. The Generali-backed certificate satisfies the visa requirement without issue, but the 1.3 Trustpilot score is hard to ignore if service quality matters to you beyond the document itself — worth weighing against AXA's stronger review record at a similar price point. Check the full comparison table to see how it stacks up against the other five providers.

Frequently asked questions