Guide to Travel Insurance
1) You could save yourself a fortuneLets imagine for a moment that there has been an unpredictable incident on holiday. You’re in Spain and you’ve had a heart attack. You didn’t take travel insurance out because it was never going to happen to you. But it has. And now you’re paying £35,000 because you didn’t bother to get insurance which would have cost you £25. You never know when it’ll be you or a member of your family. Accidents always happen and most just can’t be foreseen.
2) The cheapest isn’t always the bestAlthough it seems sensible to just go for the cheapest insurance you can, this doesn’t necessarily mean you’re getting the best deal. You can’t get anything for free and this is just as true when it comes to insurance. That’s why you should always…
3) READ THE SMALL PRINT!You always promise you will but it’s so easy to just rush through something like travel insurance and then find when something actually happens that you’re not covered for a host of things. Check, for example, how many claims you can make? It may be you need to make a few for separate treatments, but your policy may only cover you for one.
4) Shop around for family dealsIf you are going away with your family, it’s worth looking at deals for insurance. Often, getting group family insurance is considerably cheaper and effectively allows the children to go free. Particularly look for good deal family insurance if you have a large family, as some insurers will offer the same price regardless of how many children you have.
5) Look for deals for the over 65sOften, it gets harder to find an affordable deal the older you are. However, there are still offers there if you look. Although you may not get the cheapest deal, instead compare similar priced offers and get as much as you can. Benefits which may not be offered to younger travelers are increased medical expenses (sometimes up to 8 million pounds more!) as well as cover for features such as late departures and cancellation.
6) Annual or single travel insurance?If you are just going away once per year, take out single travel insurance, as this just covers one trip. However, if you are going away multiple times, it is often worth taking out annual travel insurance. This can save you huge amounts as annual travel insurance can be as cheap as just over double the amount of a single payment. Furthermore, once you’ve paid it you can forget about it for the rest of the year, instead of having to repeat the process multiple times.
7) Insurance for those with pre-existing conditionsIt is, of course, harder to find a good price for insurance when you have a pre-existing medical condition. The most important rule is NEVER to lie. If you do so, and then something occurs on holiday related to your condition, you will inevitably be found out and the insurer will not pay out. Think about it, that bit of money you lose in the short term by telling the truth will more than make up for the huge amount you save if it does all go wrong. When travelling to Spain, get an EHIC card as this allows you to get cheaper medical treatment when in a ‘European Economic Area’. If you can agree a deal with your insurer whereby your travel insurance includes all but your existing medical condition, then this is particularly beneficial to own should anything happen related to your illness. This way, although you’ll still have to pay out, it should be vastly more affordable.
http://www.moneysupermarket.com/travel-insurance/guide/1
Date posted: 22 September 2011
