Travel Insurance – Laid Bare

We can all recall that at some point or other someone has recommended we take out some form of cover when we travel. Indeed you may have read one of the many articles in abundance on the subject. I myself have written many articles on the topic of travel insurance, including guides and coverage of news items worthy of interest. However, it suddenly dawned on me that I had failed to examine perhaps the most fundamental part of travel insurance; this being the cover it has to offer. I’ve maybe touched on it in earlier articles and made brief reference to levels of cover to aim for. Yet, I haven’t evaluated each aspect of cover and how this relates to you the potential purchaser.

The key features of the majority of holiday insurance policies are as follows;

1: Medical cover; this feature will cover the costs of hospitalisation and medical treatment you receive whilst on your holiday. If you are travelling in the E.U you will benefit from a European health card as this will cover initial emergency treatment, your insurance policy will pay out for treatment over and above this. Whilst travelling in Europe you should seek at least £1 million in medical cover. The cost of treatment in the U.S.A is likely to bankrupt the average person so here this cover is essential and a figure of £2 million in protection should be sought. It is important to remember to volunteer any health problems you suffer from, however minor they may seem, to your insurer. Failure to do so could result in voiding of the policy.

2: Personal baggage; this feature will cover you baggage if it is lost or stolen and also cover the cost of temporarily replacing items if it is delayed by several days. Under this feature you personal belongings will also be covered, subject to a maximum individual item limit and an overall policy limit. Failure to adequately look after you luggage and personal items could result in the travel insurance not provider paying out. The standard level of cover should be set to around £1500 but this varies greatly between policies.

3: Theft cover; Although this feature comes under the same branch as personal baggage cover it is important to distinguish the fact that you will normally receive protection on your holiday cash and items such as camera’s when you are on your holiday. You should seek to have a minimum cover level of £250 for your cash, and ensure you split your spending money into several different forms such as; cash, traveller’s cheques and credit or debit card. This will help ensure you have a back up if you are to have one method of payment stolen. Remember never to take all your money out with you and make use of a safe if provided in the accommodation.

4: Cancellation cover; this is a very important feature as it will usually protect you in the event your holiday is cancelled by the tour operator or yourself as long as the situation meets certain criteria (these vary from one insurer to the next, a typical exclusion would be the knowledge that you were likely to cancel your holiday at the time of taking out the cover). Usually covered are; illness, death (usually a close family member) and redundancy. You can expect anywhere up to and over £3000 as a standard and certainly recommended level of cover.

5: last but not least we come to Personal liability cover; this can be important as it protects you if you are sued by a third party due to accidentally causing injury or damage to themselves or their property. You should aim to have a minimum cover of £1 million in this area as it can be especially important in the current compensation culture.

Ensure that you have the above 5 features included on your travel insurance policy at the recommended levels and you should be all set for your holiday safe in the knowledge you are covered for these eventualities.