A lot of people don’t get travel insurance and then wish they had when things go wrong!
You should always get travel insurance and I am going to explain why.
As always, coverage and amounts they pay out vary between companies, so always check their policy wording and compare different policies.
Some companies that I highly recommend who I have also used myself in the past are Cedar Tree, CoverForYou and Medical Travel Insurance. These have great policies and good customer service.
Single trip or annual
There are two types of travel insurance. Single trip and annual.
If you are only planning to go away once in a year, then single trip is for you. But if you may do more than one trip, annual is much better value. Often the price difference isn’t that dramatic either.
With single trip insurance, you must give your travel dates when booking, but with annual you don’t need to do that as you can travel when you want.
Both have a limit of a certain amount of days per trip, so make sure when booking that you are not travelling for more days in one trip, than the insurance covers.
They usually also have different levels of cover such as basic, premium etc. Each has a different level of coverage, so always check each policy level.
Medical cover
If you get ill whilst overseas, this will cover your medical bill. I have experienced this, and if I hadn’t of had travel insurance, it would have cost me over £15,000 for a few hours in emergency in the USA. This was a lifesaver.
I honestly think for this reason alone, you should have travel insurance.
Cancellation cover
If you ever need to cancel a trip for whatever reason, this will cover you for cancellation. Normally most things such as flights, are non-refundable, so you would need to claim via travel insurance if you can no longer go on vacation.
Cutting short your trip
Many policies cover you if you need to cut your trip short due reasons such as family emergency or Covid etc.
Lost or stolen baggage
If your baggage gets lost or stolen, you will be able to make a claim on your insurance.
Always report any issues asap. Don’t wait.
Money
If you have money stolen, you are usually out of luck, but if you have money cover on your travel insurance, they will cover a certain amount so you can claim on your travel insurance.
Missed departure
If you miss your departure, this is on you and airlines will charge you for a new ticket. But if you have travel insurance, you can claim for missed departure.
Personal liability
This will cover any personal liability fees such as damage to a hotel or an injury to someone.
Accidental damage
If you damage some of your items accidentally while on your trip, this will cover you.
24/7 medical assistance
This will give you a phone number you can call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for medical support. If you need to go to a hospital, they will tell you wish one to go to.
Pre-existing conditions
If you have any conditions or have been treated for something, you need to declare this as a pre-existing condition. Each company has a different rule such as “declare any conditions within the last 2 years“, so you need to check for their specific rules, but you must declare the conditions otherwise you can invalidate your entire travel insurance policy!
Always declare any conditions no matter what they are or how much it may increase your policy. Better than invalidating your policy.
I have a detailed blog post on pre-existing travel insurance here.
Covid-19
Many policies now cover for Covid, so if you have to cancel your trip due to Covid, you will be covered.
This wasn’t a thing during the pandemic, but now the pandemic is over, many companies have added cover to polices.
Do not travel with Covid! You could be infecting thousands of people, including those with autoimmune conditions, which could kill them!
Travel delays
If your trip gets delayed, you can claim for delay. This won’t apply if it is an “act of god”, unless you have travel disruption cover.
Travel disruption
This covers things that normally won’t be covered such as “acts of god” such as hurricane or volcano. This is often an add on with some travel insurance policies, but I personally always get it as it usually doesn’t cost much more and gives you peace of mind.
Activity or sports cover
If you are going skiing, climbing, or some kind of sport activity that has a higher risk, you should get the extra coverage which is usually an add on due to the higher risk.
Expensive items
Every policy has different limits and they also have single item limits, meaning that they only pay a certain amount for a single item. If you have valuable items such as an expensive camera, laptop etc, you would need a policy that pays out more for a single item.
If you still have any questions, add them in the comments and I can update the post to address and specific questions.