Travel Insurance: What does it cover?
Imagine embarking on your annual holiday, the trip you have been saving up for all year and planning eagerly for months, only to find there are severe delays at the airport that you have to cancel the trip altogether?
While the emotional cost cannot be fixed, if you have bought travel insurance you can at least claim back the financial costs of the trip. And this is just one of the reasons it's smart to take out travel insurance, which also covers a wide variety of other scenarios that can cause loss on a trip. The following guide gives you an insight.
What does it cover?
While other insurance policies might cover for events such as lost luggage (home contents insurance) or – in very extreme cases – accidental death (life insurance) there are plenty of circumstances they do not cater for. Likewise, few policies cover events that happen in different geographical locations.
With extreme sports and adventure trips becoming increasingly popular, having a good travel insurance policy when you are abroad is becoming more essential. But it's still important to ensure you can afford to pay for more practical situations, such as using health services abroad, too.
Travel insurance can cover the following:
- Financial loss incurred if your trip or holiday is cancelled or delayed because of unavoidable circumstances.
- Expenses sustained because of delays or cancellations to the departure journey.
- Theft or loss of money and theft, loss or damage to any personal belongings including passports.
- Emergency medical treatment or expenses incurred if you become ill or are injured in an accident.
- Compensation if you die or are permanently disabled during a trip.
- Legal expenses and cover for personal liability (causing damage or an accident to other people or their possessions).
There are many different kinds of trips and holidays on the market and there are specialist insurance policies covering the range. You can take out insurance for skiing and other winter sport trips, extreme sporting holidays, backpacker excursions and gap year travels. There are also policies covering school groups, women travelling alone and families.
Are you a golfer? Well, you can get insurance to cover your golfing trips. Business travellers can get specific insurance to meet their travel needs, over 65s can take out tailored policies. Or, if you enjoy spending your annual holiday white water rafting, bungee jumping or scuba diving – there is an insurance policy out there for you.
And of course, you can get general holiday insurance for all those lazy seaside excursions.