What You Need to Know About Travel Insurance

One thing people completely forget to do before going on a trip is buying travel insurance. You may think this is just a gimmick from insurance companies to make you spend your hard earned buck on something that you don’t actually need. Personally I think travel insurance is like buying peace of mind for a very low price, insurance that can save you from paying up to a few year’s savings on something you could have easily avoided in the first place. It’s a no brainer to me.
 

Types of travel insurance

There are many types of trip insurance policies you can purchase and there’s no standard, which makes deciding on the right one a pretty tough job sometimes. Most insurance companies offer a few types of insurance packages, from the least expensive to ones that make a difference on your budget. As you’ll see the coverage differs greatly from one to another. Don’t think about travel insurance as a checkbox, as the small differences make all the difference. All cars have engines and wheels, but that’s where similarities stop, so don’t buy insurance just for the sake of being insured.

Anyway, enough with my ramblings, so let’s see what kinds of incidents are covered typically by travel insurance policies:

1. Injuries – this is one of the most known type of incident people chose to be insured when they travel. Accidents happen in every country, that’s a given and medical expenses abroad can be extremely high, especially in western countries, especially emergency related procedures. One thing you need to know is that extreme sports usually fall under a more expensive insured package, because of the higher chance of being injured if you’re skiing, rafting, scuba diving and so on. Make sure you know what kind of injuries are covered by your policy and don’t assume everything is covered.

2. Urgent health problemsand related expenses to overseas treatment, including repatriation –

another popular incident covered by insurance policies are urgent health problems. Ranging from teeth problems to a sudden disease that needs treatment there are plenty of things that can happen that don’t fall into the “injuries” category. Due to fraud, insurance companies are very careful to check facts in this case, as some people with known health problems are trying to get treatment abroad at the expense of the insurer. Sometimes, your insurance company can decide it’s cheaper for them to fly you back home than paying for the medical expenses, so don’t be surprised if that happens.

3. Lost or stolen baggages and papers – lost luggage at the airport is a nightmare, especially on your flight out of the country. It can ruin your holiday big time, that’s why some insurance policies cover this, up to a certain amount. Some even cover stolen goods. Make sure you gather supporting documents for your claims, of you won’t see a dime. Local authorities are your best bet in this case. In most cases the airline is required by law to refund you in case of lost personal effects, but if you know your stuff is worth more than their limit you may want to buy additional insurance.

4. Cancelled Trips or Flights – sometimes the weather doesn’t follow your plans, flights get cancelled, the travel agency you booked with goes bankrupt, so coverage of this kind is something you might consider. Your airline may cover sometimes the part that’s related to the flight itself, so check with them what happens if there’s a delay, or if you miss your flight and it’s not necessarily your fault. Some policies in the more expensive bracket even cover the situation where you are not admitted onboard the airplane or you you can’t leave the country.

5. Liability damage – this kind of coverage is especially useful if you’re driving in another country. I’ve seen a lot of cases where rental cars don’t come with insurance by default. It doubles the cost and doesn’t look good on the flyer you’ve just picked at the airport on your way out. If you cause an accident you will be liable to paying for the damage you cause, and since bodily harm costs can jump in the millions territory I’m guessing you don’t have this kind of cash at your disposal.

I believe I’ve covered the most important types of events covered by travel insurance policies, but you may find additional ones with the company you’re working with. If you think I’ve missed something leave a comment below so I can update this article.