Make sure with travel insurance!

We all love to get away for our Summer Holidays, or increasingly, away for frequent short breaks abroad; but one often neglected and vital aspect of our holidays or short breaks is Travel Insurance. Now of course, the reason that many people omit this vital ingredient of their holiday is that it is an extra expense to be paid out for which cuts into their spending money; but looked at another way, the consequences of not taking out Travel Insurance could easily cost far more than a Travel Insurance premium would have done.

The good news is that the latest figures have revealed that Travel Insurance has, on average, come down in price compared to last year, so now there is even more incentive (if any were required), to take out that all important policy before you go. As always, it generally pays to shop around in order to get the best deals but additionally, here are some further sage words of advice gleaned from some of our readers who kindly shared the benefit of their practical experience.

• Although you will usually get the best Travel Insurance bargains by shopping around and not just accepting the Travel Insurance that is offered by your travel agent, there are certain exceptions where this might not necessarily hold true. These exceptions will usually be in regards to certain high end or quality packages to far off, out of the way exotic locations or on adventure/sporting holidays. In these circumstances it might well be worth paying a slightly higher premium and going with the tour operators Insurance because the whole organisation of these companies is geared to action things much more swiftly if you hold Travel Insurance with them or one of their affiliated companies. In an emergency, this could prove invaluable!
• If you anticipate travelling several times over the course of a year, it can often work out vastly cheaper to take out a 1 year Travel Insurance policy in advance; that way you will be covered for all your journeys in advance…even impromptu ones.
• If you are travelling with your partner, it may work out considerably cheaper to take out a joint Travel Insurance policy. Be careful to read the terms and conditions though: many companies have different definitions as to what constitutes a partner…read the small print to ensure that you are not caught out.
• Ensure that the Travel Insurance policy that you buy covers the correct region that you are travelling to (defined by many companies in several ways e.g. Europe & Med/North America/Worldwide/ Australia and New Zeeland). Check before you buy and specifically state your destination to the seller to make doubly sure.
• Ensure that your likely activities are covered within the terms of our Travel Insurance policy. This advice is not just for mountaineers and bungee jumpers…you will be amazed at the seemingly harmless activities that are often not covered!
• And the previous point leads nicely onto our final point…READ THE FINE PRINT OF YOUR TRAVEL INSURANCE POLICY! I know it’s a pain, I know that its time consuming BUT; if you ever do this just once you will always do so in the future. You will be truly amazed at the exclusions often stated…exclusions that can render your policy ‘unfit for purpose’. So don’t get caught out…read the policy!
  

By noting the above points, you should get the best value Travel Insurance to suit your specific purpose, but there are just two further tips that I myself would like to add. Firstly, ensure that the level of cover that you have is adequate; it is hard to know just how much might be enough but a generally accepted yardstick is; £2 million for medical cover, £1 million for personal liability, £3,000 for cancellation cover and £1,500 for baggage cover. Secondly, get yourself a European Health Insurance Card (EHIC). This will give you free or greatly reduced cost medical treatment within Europe…but this is NOT a substitute for Travel Insurance…it’s just handy to have as a back up.

We hope that this guide has been interesting as well as helpful, coming as it does from readers’ practical experiences. Wherever it is that you are planning to travel to though; we wish you a very happy and safe journey.