Wondering what to look for in travel insurance ahead of your next big trip? It’s an important thing to get right. After all, nobody wants to spend three weeks out on a beautiful Bahamian island, sad because they broke their iPad on day one, right?
But what should you be getting from your insurance? Is a budget travel insurance package really worth it? And what’s really covered by your policy?
Here, we bring you three of our favorite travel insurance tips so you can make the right call with your policy.
Don’t Go in Unprepared
Before we get started: remember that Bahamian Island from our introduction? That’s a real place; know more from Cruise Hive.
The best defense against scam or overloaded travel insurance is knowing what you actually want before getting it. If all you want is to pay next to nothing for your insurance, you may as well not get any. $12.50 a week sounds great until you find out the $312 excess and single item, $186 limit means your iPad won’t be covered. So what was the point?
If you want to know how to choose travel insurance that works for you, research is crucial. You want medical expenses, baggage, and belongings, and cancelations all covered in a meaningful way. Anything less than $1,800 on your iPad, for instance, isn’t going to cut it.
Really Consider the Excesses
When learning what to look for when buying travel insurance, the question of excesses is also bound to come up. Excess is the amount the insured party has to pay out for any given claim. File an $800 claim with $150 in excess, and your insurer pays $650, total.
Some travelers opt to set the excess high in order to keep the policy low. This can quickly negate the value of your policy, however.
Keep in mind, as well, that many policies feature excesses based on each benefit section. If your room burns down on holiday, you could be charged an excess for loss of property claim.
Then another excess for any trips to the hospital. Then another when you have to cancel or postpone your flight home and pay out of pocket.
A one-excess-per-claim policy may be a rare find sometimes, but it can save you tons in the long run.
Find out What You Already Have Covered
If you have a home policy, you may have forgotten all the nitty-gritty details of what it does and doesn’t cover. It can be easy to assume you’re not covered for damage or loss while you’re away, but many home policies have at least a few options for this.
Check to see if yours covers insurance on personal property when you’re away. This means you can tick “none” on luggage cover when buying your ticket.
Even cheap family travel insurance is too expensive if you already have coverage. Find out what you actually have before committing to anything new.
What to Look for in Travel Insurance
It’s a big world with a lot to see and do. But that also means a lot of opportunities for things to go wrong, stuff to go missing, and accidents to happen. This is why we buy travel insurance: so that we never regret taking that big trip.
Hopefully, with the use of today’s article, you’ll have everything you need to find travel coverage that fits your needs.
Looking for more great travel tips for destinations around the world? Want to know what to look for in travel insurance as well as the rest of your trip? Check out some of our other great blog content today!
