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Top Tips For Getting The Best Travel Insurance For Your Needs

Let’s face it; we have all encountered some sort of problem or two while traveling either for business or with the family on vacation. That is where travel insurance can come in handy. Many people are not aware that they have the option to buy travel insurance to help cover possible medical or hospital expenses while traveling away from home.

If you get sick while away, you can expect to possibly end up losing money on your prepaid accommodations if you end up spending a night or two in the hospital. Many people plan their vacation now with package deals where they pay one price and their entire itinerary is planned for them. If this is how you have planned your trip and then you end up sick, chances are that you will lose out on the activities that were lined up for you with no chance of a refund. That makes your entire trip very costly as well as uneventful.

Here are some of the top tips for getting the best travel insurance for your needs:

You should try and avoid getting your travel insurance through your travel agent as you can expect to pay up to 66% more than if you bought it Online. All you need to do is a bit of searching in order to find cover that suits your needs the best. Travel agents that offer travel insurance might not have coverage to back themselves in the event that their business goes under or bankrupt. That will still leave you in the same boat you were in, in the first place. Be sure to stick with companies that have a strong history in this area.

If you decide to go with an Online company then be sure to check out their credentials. You want to make sure that they are legit and offer more than one plan. You want to look at different levels of coverage to best pick out what meets your specific needs. There are some items that should always be included in every policy such as: Unlimited Overseas Emergency Medical Assistance, Personal Liability, Unlimited Overseas Dental, Hospital and Medical Expenses and Unlimited Lost Deposits and Cancellation Fees.

Another important tip is to always be wise and check the details of each policy offered. Since there are many different levels of coverage, you want to check which ones will cover pre-existing conditions if you or a family member has any. Traveling with such conditions can be scary when it comes to medical coverage so this would be some piece of mind to let you enjoy your vacation.

Traveling should be a fun experience and travel insurance helps to make sure that you do not incur unexpected financial burdens while away from home. Just be careful and check out each company you are considering that offers travel insurance. Make a list of what items you want to have coverage for and use that list to help you choose the plan that is right for you.

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Insuring Your Overseas Home

The number of UK residents how now have overseas homes is steadily on the increase. In some cases these overseas homes are for holiday purposes, such as with Spain, in other cases they’re bought for the purpose of spending at least part of the time of the owner’s retirement, such as with Cyprus. Either way, more often than not the British owner of the home would prefer not to have the overseas home insured by an offshore insurance provider, but rather by an insurance provider closer to home.

So, if you have an overseas home and would like a UK home insurance company to provide you with insurance, what can you expect to get,

Home Contents and Home Buildings Insurance

A number of providers of overseas home insurance policies have merged the home contents and home insurance policies to be an amalgamated overseas home insurance policy. This mega policy should cover you for both circumstances.

Public Liability Insurance

Should be a must, especially if you are considering renting the overseas home out for the part of the year that you are not there.

Lost Earnings

If you think that renting your overseas home about is going to be a major money spinner for you, you may well want to consider insuring yourself against any lost earnings. Basically, this insurance will reimburse you if your holiday tenants suddenly have to cancel.

Theft

As with mainland UK home insurance policies, you need to make sure you are protected against theft. All the usual precautions about invoicing your possession needs to be taken into consideration with your holiday home. Also, you need to check the excess deductibles carefully, as in most cases this can range from 50 – 200

Natural Disasters

As recent natural disaster such as the hurricanes, tsunami, and earth quakes have shown, certain geographical regions outside of the UK are more prone to natural disasters than the UK itself is. Consequently, you should make sure that your overseas home is adequately insured against this risk.

Insurance for your overseas home can be arranged cheaply over the internet, or else you can arrange to have the insurance provider by a specialist overseas home insurance company in your area. Do keep in mind that as this is effectively your second home, your home insurance premiums will be marginally higher than you may normally be expected to pay with the home you live in, especially if you are using the home in any way to generate income.

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Should I Purchase Travel Insurance, Travel Tips

This is one of those age-old questions with no definitive answer. It’s estimated that 30 percent of Americans purchase travel insurance, which is a drastic increase since 9/11, when less than 10 percent of travelers were insured.

If you’re flying on a $150 ticket to see Aunt Irma in Wisconsin, you probably don’t need travel insurance. But on a trip such as yours, travel insurance can come in handy if something unexpectedly disrupts your trip. Your first step is to compare the cost of the trip versus the cost of the policy.

The most common situations when travel insurance comes in handy are:

Your flight is canceled

Your passport and wallet are stolen

You require medical treatment while abroad

You need to cancel your trip due to illness

An unexpected hurricane hits your destination

Your airline/cruise line/tour company go bankrupt

Reasons NOT to purchase travel insurance are:

You’re afraid of terrorism

A hurricane is going to hit your destination (this applies if the storm has already been named by the National Weather Service)

Your pet is ill

Your flight is delayed for so long that you want to cancel

One major caveat: Never purchase travel insurance from the same tour operator or cruise line with which you’re traveling. If that company goes out of business, there may not be money to cover your claim. Use a third-party provider (that includes travel agents).

Also, don’t forget about medical insurance. Even if you are covered for basic emergency care overseas, in almost all cases, your current health insurance does NOT cover you to evacuate you and fly you back to the U.S. Something called “Medical Evacuation and Repatriation” insurance comes in handy here. You pay a yearly fee, and if you get sick or injured overseas, the policy will get you treated, stabilized and flown back to the U.S. to the hospital of your choice, not theirs. There are a number of good companies that provide this type of plan, such as MedJet Assist.

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