Comprehensive Travel Insurance
Pack Your Bags! Get Some Travel Insurance With Me
I’m looking for good cheap travel insurance. I have a week before I leave for my holiday and I need to get a policy quick! I’m going to write about my experience trying to find a policy that will cover 2 adults for a 36 day trip. It’s a long holiday I know! If you ever have to look for insurance I hope that you can refer to this article and learn from my experience.
For every trip that I take I spend quite a bit of time organizing. I usually do a bit of pre-holiday shopping, get a haircut so I will look good on the beach and make a list of the items I need to pack. Before I start packing I get my travel insurance!
I am going overseas for an extended period of time and I’m hunting for comprehensive travel insurance package to keep me covered for any nasty eventualities on my trip. I like to start the process by writing down a few of the problems I am most worried about on my travel. This can vary on the type of trip that you are doing and the destination that you are going on.
If I was taking a ski holiday I might priorities cover for personal injury or damage to my ski equipment. This trip isn’t an action filled holiday, I might do a bit of snorkeling but my main concerns are:
1- Making sure I get to my destinations and home again in one piece (with all my luggage).
2- Cover for health/accident related problems that might occur.
3 -Having cover for any theft, loss or damage to my possessions while I’m away. Travelling for a month
means that I have a lot of luggage. I don’t want to worry about my precious laptop and camera!
Now that I have a few priorities I’m going to start my search.
Internet comparison websites really do make life a lot easier. I’ve carried out a couple of searches on Confused.com and MoneySuperMarket.com. The lowest prices for a travelling couple on a holiday longer than 30 days is about £40 pounds up to a maximum of £230 pounds for luxury travel insurance! I’m not going to consider the policies as I can see that the luggage cover values are too low.
Later I’ll need to check out the maximum single item cover limit for baggage as expensive single items such as laptops and camera might fall outside of some of these policies.
I’ve decided to use quotes from Confused.com only as I am pushed for time and they offer the largest comparison of insurers at the moment. If I had more time I would look at hitting up MoneySupermarket and others comparison sites as then I could get a larger comparison.
So here are my chosen runners -
TRAVEL INSURER Premium Medical Cancellation Baggage Excess
Travel Insurance Genie £57.20 £10 Mill £2K £1.5K £65
Travel Plan Online £57.50 £10 Mill £5K £1K £100
Swift Cover £62.19 £10 Mill £2K £2K £75
Direct Travel Insurance £72 £10 Mill £3K £1.5K £50
There is a £15 difference between the most expensive and least expensive policies. Looking at them closely it is going to be interesting to see what I can get for my money’s worth.
MEDICAL COVER
Medical cover for all the policies is pretty similar at £10 million. You might think that this is a lot of money but you have to keep in mind that it can be expensive paying for doctors and hospitals when abroad. Just as you don’t get to go to the Grand Canyon for free the US aren’t going to pay for your stay at the local hospital. Breaking your leg in other part so the Continent can be very expensive especially if you have to abandon your holiday and pay for alternative transport home.
CANCELLATIONS
UK weather has been pretty temperamental recently. I am not counting on a nice day for my departure so I’m keeping one eye on the forecast in case I have to set out a few hours early to make it to the airport. I haven’t noticed too many news items about flight cancellations but another bout of snow and ice could make trains and buses a trial. To be sure I want a decent amount of cover for cancellations.
Travel Plan Online has the largest provision for cancellations of the four with £5000. The first leg of our trip London to LA and I don’t think that a replacement flight would cost more that £2000. If you are planning on travelling business or first class you would need to have a higher cover amount for cancellations. For my purposes £2000 is just fine as my flights for the whole trip didn’t cost that much!
So looking at the competition so far the policies are level pegging, price aside.
BAGGAGE
It is difficult making a figure for the value of your suitcase contents…especially when I haven’t packed yet! Having written a list of what I will pack I think that if I lost all of my clothes, toiletries, camera, laptop and other gadgets I would be looking at over a £1000 to replace everything. The policies under investigation cover between £1000 and £2000 for baggage. So at the baggage hurdle Travel Plan Online has tripped up and fallen out of the race!
As Travel Plan Online didn’t provide a high enough value on baggage I am casting them aside. Interestingly enough Travel Plan Online had the highest excess £25 -£50 more than their competitors. If a customer have to make a claim for contents over £1000 the maximum pay out would amount to only £900!
Something to keep in mind for later is whether the survivors provide cover as new for old or 2nd hand value.
EXCESS
So the competition is down 3 insurers now with excesses ranging between £50 and £75. At this early stage I’m not swayed towards any one company so I’ll consider excess later in the piece if the running is close between contenders.
JUDGEMENT SO FAR
Here is my competition table after looking at the basic offers from comparison tables.
TRAVEL INSURER Premium Medical Cancellation Baggage Excess
Travel Insurance Genie £57.20 £10 Mill £2K £1.5K £65
Swift Cover £62.19 £10 Mill £2K £2K £75
Direct Travel Insurance £72 £10 Mill £3K £1.5K £50
I’ve considered price and checked if my basic requirements for travel insurance would be covered.
Travel Plan Online has been crossed out of the competition as in hindsight they would not be able to cover the whole value of my baggage.
If I had to pick a winner at this point it would be Travel Insurance Genie. Based on the bare facts their price is good, they offer a decent amount of medical cover, pretty good cancellation and baggage cover amounts too with a competitive excess at £65.
Next I want to do some research into the service and history of these companies and see if I can dig up any dirt on their performance! Stay tuned for more on my adventures shopping for travel insurance.
Travel Insurance in a Package: Csa and Hth Travel Insurance
Two of the best known names in the travel insurance industry are CSA and HTH travel insurance. Both of these insurance companies have been around for a while insuring travelers. They both offer packages that will insure the investment that you have made in your travel package.
Keeping your Money Safe while Traveling
When you are spending money for travel, you will want to make sure that the money is safe by insuring the travel plans. The more you spend on the travel arrangements and the riskier the travel arrangements, the more money the travel insurance will cost you. Both CSA and HTH are travel insurance companies that weigh risk of the venture with the premium. Not everyone gets the same flat premium for their travel coverage when they are using these companies. Nor do they get the same coverage. Everything depends on the type of travel that you are doing and the type of coverage that you desire.
Comprehensive Travel Insurance with CSA and HTH Travel Insurance
CSA is a name that is known to most travel agents and is one of the most popular travel insurance companies that is used. Many travel agencies will try to get travelers to get insurance when they are going on a trip, just in case of a cancellation or inclement weather that can prevent their enjoyment. CSA is one of the companies that will protect travelers against poor weather when they are going on a trip where they expect the weather to be good. The amount for which they offer insurance depends on the type of insurance that someone is getting and the likelihood of something going wrong. CSA is a company that will weigh out the risks of the insurance and balance it with the cost of the insurance.
HTH is another travelers insurance that specializes in medical coverage for those who get sick when they are on vacation. HTH also takes into consideration the chances of the person getting sick as well as the general overall health of the person being insured. The country of their travel destination is also considered when it comes to policies offered by HTH travel insurance. Both HTH and CSA will give broad packages for travel insurance that cover just about everything that can go wrong with the trip for one price. The price that someone pays for such a premium on travel insurance depends on the odds of something going wrong.
Quick and Efficient Service with CSA and HTH Travel Insurance
When it comes to claims, CSA and HTH both handle them quickly and effectively. If you get travel insurance and need to make a claim, you will need to have proof of a loss. You will have to present the proof of the loss to the travel insurance claims adjuster so that you can get money back. Neither CSA or HTH will insure a traveler based upon their enjoyment of the trip. Losses that are incurred during a trip have to be concrete losses that can be proven on paper when you are making a travel insurance claim at either CSA or HTH travel insurance companies. No travel insurance company will pay out on a claim for lack of enjoyment – all losses must be substantiated.
Travel Insurance For Peace Of Mind During Your Travels
Vacationing at least once in a year has become an integral part of many people’s lifestyle and as such the travel insurance has gained in importance like never before.
Just try to imagine the gravity of an emergency situation where you have to deal with an emergency medical situation due to an illness or an accident or injury. Any of these situations can throw you into a panic if you are not adequately prepared. And this preparedness comes from having travel insurance.
So next time you start planning for your next vacation, also include the cost of the travel medical insurance into your budget. Remember, without travel insurance your planning remains grossly incomplete. Even if you consider yourself in a perfect state of health, you cannot predict when accidents or sickness may befall you. Travel health insurance helps you to be on the safe side, so that you do not get hit with a huge medical bill.
Here is some basic information about travel insurance that will help you be well prepared for anything unexpected during your travels:
* Travel insurance in general does not just cover your medical expenses abroad, but also extends coverage to lost luggage and other personal belongings including passports and money. Repatriation costs are also included in the coverage and the costs incurred due to cancelled or delayed flights are also covered by the travel insurance. If you happen to damage items belonging to a third party, you get liability coverage from your insurance company. If you want all these expenses covered by your travel insurance coverage, you should purchase a comprehensive travel insurance policy.
* Most travel insurances generally cover trip cancellation, trip delays, medical and dental expenses, emergency medical transportation, lost luggage, missed connection, itinerary changes, accidental death, any kind of default on the part of airlines, cruise lines and tour operators.
* It is recommended that you buy your policy directly from the insurance company, rather than having it as an add-on to your travel package from your travel agent. This will give you considerable savings on the cost of the travel insurance and you will be able to buy a policy with more comprehensive features.
* Do not judge a policy on the basis of its price alone. A cheap policy does not necessarily mean it is a bad policy. On the other hand the more expensive policies may lack some of the more important features. So shop around on the internet, compare the travel insurance quotes and find a insurance product that caters to all your needs while traveling abroad.
* Last of all, do not take any travel policy for granted; go through it in detail, take note of the disclaimer and make sure that you do not get cheated on the important provisions of your coverage.