In general, everything you need to know about travel insurance
Travel insurance: a guide to what you need to know?
Travel insurance covers the costs of a trip if something bad happens, like having to cancel or cut it short. It also pays for medical bills, lost or damaged items, and delays in transportation.
Every year, millions of people who travel or go on vacation buy some kind of insurance, but few people really know what it is and how to define it. If you know what is covered and what isn't, you can make the most of your coverage and get a fair amount of money back.
Travel insurance falls into four main types:
- Reasons about health and medicine
Emergency evacuation: This guarantees emergency transportation to a local hospital if the traveller can't get there on their own, or back to a hospital near the traveler's home town. If members of the same family are covered by the same policy, they can also go home.
Reasons related to health: This pays for emergency medical and dental care. Almost all vacation insurance plans work by giving the traveller money back after they have paid for care in the country they are visiting. Most claims are paid within 7 to 10 business days. Most policies cover medical conditions that were there before the traveller bought the policy, as long as the policy is bought within 21 days of when the traveller made their first payment or deposit.
- Delays, cancellations, and shortening
Cancellation: If a traveller has booked and paid for a trip but can't go because of illness, injury, death (of the traveller or a family member), bad weather, transportation strikes, terrorism, bankruptcy, sudden unemployment, jury duty, or serious damage to their home that makes it uninhabitable due to fire or flooding, they can get their money back.
Delay: This pays for hotel, food, or clothing costs if a flight is late. Some plans also cover the cost of catching up with a cruise if a traveller misses embarkation because of another delay.
Interruption: Insurance companies pay money to policyholders who have to cut short their trip abroad because of illness, death (of the traveller or a family member), terrorism, bad weather, airline strikes, bankruptcy, sudden unemployment, or other bad events that are out of the traveler's control.
- Death:
Accidental death protects you if you die or lose a body part at any time during your trip. Due to a higher risk, usually gives the least amount of coverage.
Accident on a flight: This only applies if someone dies or gets hurt on a flight. Due to the low chance of this happening, this usually guarantees the most coverage.
Common carrier Covers death or loss of a body part while using public transportation, like an aeroplane, ferry, train, bus, or taxi.
- Damage or loss of property:
Baggage loss reimburses travellers for lost, stolen or damaged personal items. Usually, this coverage only lasts for the length of the trip and does not cover baggage that is damaged or lost by the airline. There are two types of policy limits: the total claim limit and the per-item limit. Some policies also limit the types of things you can make a claim for, like jewellery, laptops, and sports equipment.
Hire Car damage This gives travellers money back if they damage or lose a rental car. It is made so that travellers can turn down the collision damage waiver (CDW) coverage that car rental companies offer. Still, you need to buy liability insurance from the car rental company. Rental Car Damage Coverage is often included with the credit card used to pay for the car rental, and it often matches the coverage in the policy.
Assistance services guarantees that travellers can get help and advice by phone 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. A traveller can use this service whenever they need help. Make sure you keep multiple copies of this number in your bags or on your person as you move around.
