Buying Travel Insurance Online: Our Top Tips

Your travel insurance is as important as the holiday itself. Without it, you open yourself up to all manner of issues and problems.

 If you fall ill abroad, and you don’t have insurance, then you may face some very significant problems; for instance, you might not be able to find treatment if you break a bone.

 To set your mind at rest when travelling, insurance is essential. In fact, some countries, such as the USA, won’t let you in without travel insurance.

 When buying travel insurance, you’ll frequently find the best cover and the best prices online. However, there are a few issues with buying insurance online, so you need to make sure that you’re aware of these before you buy your policy.

 Below, we’re going to examine several considerations when buying travel insurance.

1. Shop directly with an insurance specialist: when you buy a holiday online, the tour operator will often suggest an insurance policy to you. You should never accept these policies without contacting an insurance specialist. This is because:
   1. The policies include commission, and so are more expensive.
   2. The policies are less comprehensive. This helps to tour operator to make even more money, but unfortunately, you suffer, because you won’t have decent cover.
   3. They cannot provide specialist policies, such as travel insurance after heart attack. If you have special considerations, you really need a tailored product, but the policies you find with the tour operators tend to be a ‘one glove fits all’ type of product.

2. Make sure that you get the correct level of insurance: following closely from the above, you need to ensure that you buy a policy that will cover you for issues that are particular for you and anyone else you might be travelling with. You should tell your insurance company about the following:
   1. Any health issues you might have. This will allow them to tailor the policy to your needs, for instance, travel insurance after heart attack.
   2. Cover for any valuables for which you need cover. For instance, you might bring your mobile phone with you, but not be particularly fussed about insurance. However, if you bring your brand new £1K laptop, that’s a different issue. Declare to the insurance company any special items that you want covered.
   3. Don’t set the excess beyond what you can reasonably afford. Setting a high excess will bring the cost of your insurance down, but if you have to claim, and you can’t afford to pay the excess, then you might be in trouble. Instead, pay a little more for the premium for a lower excess.

3. Shop around: once you have a quote from your insurance broker, you should contact at least two other companies and see if they can offer an identical policy at a reduced price. Once you have this new price, go back to the original insurer and inform them. You’ll be surprised how much wiggle room there is within their prices, but you have to negotiate.

If you would like further information about travel insurance, then please visit itssoeasytravelinsurance