Travel insurance Top Tips Page

Travel Insurance Top Tips

Don't book your insurance with your tour operator - Typically the cost of insuring a family of 4 for a week in Europe via the tour operator is in excess of £65.00, separate cover can be purchased from as little as £10.00.

Consider buying a Annual Multi-trip policy - If you travel more than twice a year then its likely that a annual policy will work out cheaper for you than buying separate policies.

When in Europe carry and EHIC card - This will get you immediate access to a doctor should you need medical treatment and more importantly many insurers will waive the medical excess fee payable if you present this at the time of treatment.  Although useful, the EHIC is never a full alternative to travel insurance.

Read your policy documents before you travel - The levels of cover provided can vary greatly by policy so to avoid any nasty surprises should you need to claim.

Be aware that certain items may not be fully covered on your policy - For example most comprehensive policies will have a baggage limit of £3,000, however within this there is typically an individual item limit of around £150 - £200, so an expensive piece of jewellery or camera may not be fully covered, so make sure that its either fully covered under a separate policy or your home insurance allows for items outside the home.

Declare any pre-existing medical conditions - Failure to do this after you have bought the policy could invalidate any medical claim you may make.

Adventure Sports - Pay attention to the clauses in your policy concerning these.  Generally most travel insurance policies will include scuba diving and some more tamer sports however anything more daring such as bungee jumping, parasailing and the like will very likely be excluded and you’ll have to pay a subsidy to include these.

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2009-06-10 10:20:04 © Moneyextra.com