source:SEIATravel Insurance is the insurance that most people overlook. It seems like a waste of money to many but the premiums for travel insurance are low and you need piece of mind if your bags are lost, your flights are delayed or cancelled or if you are injured whilst abroad. Over 20,000 cases involving Australians in difficulty overseas occur each year. These difficulties often lead to a long-term financial burden if the trip is not properly covered.
Travel insurance varies widely as some travel insurance is very basic whereas other policies cover adventure sports and travel to locations recognised as dangerous. To help you here are three secrets that will ensure you get the right travel insurance. Otherwise you might end up not being covered.
Recognise how you travel
This is vitally important. If you are travelling around the world for a year, you will need to demonstrate this to your insurance provider. Your perceived risk increases the longer you travel and the more countries you travel. As an example, if you are going on holiday for a week to another country the chances of you making a claim are far smaller than if you are visiting 10 countries over the course of the year. The more detailed you are in your travel plan the better the cover you can receive. Purchase a multi-trip insurance policy which will save you money.
Make sure your activities are covered
If you are travelling to a location designated as dangerous or on a government watch-list make sure that your travel insurance provider knows this and can cover you. If they don’t you may not be covered as you are deemed to have deliberately caused a problem situation for yourself. This is also the case for dangerous sports. Most standard travel insurance won’t cover skiing accidents let alone parachute jumps and bungee jumps. Naturally, danger cover comes at a cost, however the cost is miniscule compared to the amounts you would have to cover yourself. Medical costs abroad can be very expensive with hospitalisation in the USA costing an average of $100,000 for a stranded tourist but can be much more.
Make sure you get enough luggage cover
Most airlines on give you enough luggage cover to pay for the bag lost. Anything inside it will be lost. If you get standard travel insurance your luggage cover may be limited. If you have a laptop it may not be covered as there may be a computer hardware limit. If you have an expensive music player that may not be covered either. Extend your travel insurance to fully cover your luggage in the event of loss. Also, recognise that if you are on a business trip and you lose a fair amount of business items your standard travel insurance will not cover it and you would have needed business insurance that covers extensive travelling.
Those are three secrets that the insurance companies seem to fail to tell you about when you need insurance. You want to be able to make a valid claim if occasion arises. With accidents or illness often unavoidable, proper travel insurance is very important. 'if you can't afford travel insurance, you can't afford to travel
