Travel Insurance advice:

Travel insurance is a must when going on any holiday. Whether you are going on a weeks holiday to France, or a month snowboarding in the alps, there are a huge number of options to make sure are included when choosing your travel insurance. Most travel insurance policies include several things as standard, but remember to read the small print, as there are often conditions such as higher premiums, and lower payouts and cover on cheaper policies.

The first thing to decide on when looking at travel insurance policies is between single trip travel insurance and annual travel insurance Choosing between these two largely depends on how often you are going to travel in a year, so is pretty easy to work out. An annual policy will generally cover between 30 and 60 days in a year. Trips are counted as number of whole days spent abroad, or 2 consecutive days in the UK. As a guideline, if you go away more than twice in a year, it is probably worth paying for a yearly policy, if you are travelling any less, it probably isn’t. This applies to most countries in the world, but one exception is the USA. Because the US has expensive health insurance, and how the annual cover is worked out, it is often much better value to look at annual travel cover in the US.

Each travel insurance package will come with its own list of what is covered and how much it is covered for. The following is a checklist of specific things to make sure is included, and what to watch out for.

Medical Expenses
Most travel insurance will offer basic travel insurance that will cover your medical expenses should you have any type of accident. It is important to check how much you are covered as costs in foreign hospitals can go up to the thousands very easily. If you have any type of medical conditions, make sure that you mention it to the insurer. Common examples include diabetes and asthma. Remember when travelling in Europe to apply for your EHIC (European Health Insurance Card). Previously known as the E111, this card provides limited discounts and sometimes free health insurance in Europe. Those included include all members of the EU as well as Switzerland, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. For all others, extra travel insurance will need to be provided. It is also worth checking whether costs are paid for expenses. Should you be a victim of an accident in which you are stuck in a foreign hospital, as well as your own personal costs, further costs may be incurred through your family flying out. This is often covered, but may not be.

Loss /Theft of Property
Wherever you are travelling to, the possibility of both being a victim of theft, and losing valuable items is all too realistic. Most travel insurance will cover you in some respects, up to certain amount. Things worth checking for include whether there is an excess, what types of items are insured, how much each individual item is insured for, and the total amount you are covered for.

Cancelled or delayed Flights
What level of cover is given to cancelled flights is extremely important. Cancelled and delayed flights are commonplace, and can severely disrupt your plans. Some insurance policies will put you up in a hotel, and pay for meals, others will do very little. It is particularly worth paying attention to this, when travelling on budget airlines, as these offer little compensation when their flights are cancelled as opposed to standard airlines which offer varying levels of cover.

Cutting your holiday short
Known as ‘curtailment’, if due to unforeseen circumstances you are forced to cut your holiday short, there are often significant costs to be made in arranging alternative travel arrangements – some travel insurance may include this.

Legal Assistance
Should you be accused of a crime abroad, or are involved in any type of legal action (this could include damage to rented vehicles), someone will be responsible for the legal costs. To make sure you are covered, take out travel insurance and make sure this is included.

Adventurous Activities
There are a number of common holiday activities that are specified by travel insurance companies as risk activities. If you are planning some kind of activity which may be classified as dangerous such as swimming with sharks, base jumping, winter sports alongside many more, you will likely have to take out a specialist insurance. Check with your travel insurance provider, to see what is and isn’t covered.

Dangerous Countries
Certain countries are not generally insured on travel insurance policies. Should you choose to travel to area’s threatened by war or natural disaster or otherwise classified as high risk, you may have to take out specialist insurance.