Why Is It Important To Get Travel Insurance?
Travel insurance, it’s something your travel agent, your bank, your health insurance, even the post office will always offer you. Is it worth it though?
Why Should I Get Travel Insurance?
In short, travel insurance, like any other insurance is there to protect you in the worst case scenario. You hope you will never need it but if you do, you will be so glad you have it. You will be paying a little amount every year or every trip, depending on your policy, but in the long run it can save you thousands if something happens while travelling. Most of all it offers peace of mind that if anything happens you have trained professionals looking out for you.
What Does Travel Insurance Cover?
This will depend on your travel insurance provider and the plan you have with them so make sure you read all the terms and conditions when choosing travel insurance and ask any questions you have. But in general these are the types of things travel insurances cover:
Travel Insurance covers health care– If you need medical attention for a non pre-existing medical condition then this will be covered under travel. This is really important if you’re visiting places like the USA where any visit to the ER can cost thousands of dollars. Anything from an insect bite, or flu could send you to the ER, not just serious accidents. Depending on your insurance provider they could have an excess you have to pay or sometimes cover everything for you. Having this can stop you from being one of the cases on national news where crowdfunding is started to bring someone home after an accident.
Travel insurance covers any travel cancellations – If you need to cancel your holiday because you are sick and can no longer travel or you are pregnant and not allowed to travel then travel insurance will cover the non-refundable amounts of your trip. If there is civil unrest or disease in the country you are travelling to and the government warns against travel then that is usually covered too. In some cases you will also be covered if a family member becomes ill and you need to cancel your trip or come back early if you are overseas. In most cases they won’t cover if you simply change your mind or can’t find a babysitter but if you have a valid reason then you will be covered.
Travel insurance covers travel disruptions – If your flights are delayed by a certain amount or you are rebooked for a day or two later travel insurance will cover for any cost incurred in the travel insurance if you haven’t already been refunded and compensated by the airline. Depending on your policy additional hotel stays, meals, and refunds on missed hotel nights or tours can also be covered.
Travel insurance covers lost or stolen property – Travel insurance will cover your possessions up to a certain amount while travelling. This means if your bags go missing or something is stolen at a bar or from your hotel room you will be covered. Generally they will cover up to a certain amount so if you are travelling with an expensive phone, laptop, or camera you will need to increase that amount to ensure that belonging is covered. Cash is often included in the cover as well on most policies. You will need to present your travel insurance agency with a police report for the items or some proof from the airline to make a claim.
Travel insurance covers excess on car hire – Not all travel insurance will cover this, but a lot will cover it or offer it as an option. This means you won’t be out of pocket if you are involved in an accident involving a rental car. You will of course need to be a named driver on the vehicle as travel insurance won’t cover you if you were doing something illegal or against the car rental policy.
What Should I Look For In Travel Insurance?
Don’t just take the travel insurance offered by your travel agent or bank without questioning it. You need to find a travel insurance that will work for you so it is important to shop around. Often annual policies will work out best price if you travel more than 3 times in a year but if you are doing one city break trip, one cruise, and one ski or adventure trip then your needs will be extremely different on each trip and it’ll be pricey to get something to cover all of your needs on those three trips.
Sit down with a pen and paper and work out what the most important things to get covered. Are you going skydiving, or skiing, or competing in a sport while you’re away? If so that is priority number one. Will you be renting a car or moped while you are away? Make sure to check what you get covered for on those. Are you going somewhere with expensive medical care? If so make sure you have health care coverage up to a good amount for your destination. Does your travel insurance repatriate you if you are ill overseas? Will they pay for a family member to be flown out and accommodated if you are stuck in a foreign hospital for a while? Will they fly your body back if you are unfortunate enough to die overseas? These are all things to keep in mind while choosing travel insurance. By prioritising what you want covered and what you don’t you can make sure you get the most cost effective policy for your needs.
Another thing to look at is the fine print of travel insurance, will it cover acts of god if a tsunami hits or a volcano erupts before or during your holiday? Will it cover you if you need to cancel your trip because an epidemic has broken out in your destination and the government doesn’t advise travel? Another big one is a lot of travel insurance won’t cover people if they are injured and have alcohol in their system. If you are planning a trip with friends where you are going to vineyards or plan on going for a nice dinner and having a glass of wine with every meal, or a stag or hen to Vegas, that will be an important thing to look out for.
If you are over a certain age or have pre-existing medical conditions travel insurance can end up becoming really costly. In this case it might be worth looking at specialist travel insurance agencies for your age group or medical condition. For example a lot of travel insurance agencies won’t cover people who have been diagnosed with a mental illness, if you consider the anxiety and depression statistics, that is a lot of people who could have their travel insurance voided. This is why it is always important to read the terms of your travel insurance before you purchase it.
Read the small print and make sure you are 100% happy with the terms and conditions of your travel insurance. A lot of them will offer a cooling off period so you have plenty of time to consider it and discuss it with your friends or family to ensure you have the best travel insurance for your needs.
Have you got some more travel insurance tips or want to share your experience with us? Leave us a comment below.