A wise friend in insurance
Travel Insurance
Do I really need travel insurance?
The simple answer is definitely yes. Despite the fact that the UK Government have arrangements made with all European Union Partners and other countries around the world to provide each UK citizen with medical treatment while abroad they still strongly advise each of us to take out comprehensive travel insurance that includes medical insurance before we travel.
For longer haul holidays the UK Government probably has no reciprocal arrangements with the country that you are travelling to or the arrangements that we have may be very limited and the cost of medical treatment and repatriation is very high. Most people would agree that travel insurance is essential and never more so than in some of the popular long haul destinations.
Travel insurance is not just about medical cover though. You may also need cover for loss or damage to your luggage, loss of personal possessions, you passport, money etc., for the cost of your holiday if you have to cancel, repatriation costs, the cost of delayed or cancelled flights and you will need cover for your potential liabilities if someone sues you for something that happens while you are on holiday. Some of these things may already be covered if you have all risks home contents cover but this depends on the specific wording of your policy. Check with your home contents insurance provider.
Travel Insurance - savings are easy
Most of us don't bother to shop around, we just take the easy way out and tick the box to include travel insurance when we book our holiday. That simple tick could be costing you far more than you really need to pay and the cover offered may not be the best for the place that you are traveling to or for the things that you plan to do while on holiday. It will certainly offer the basics, but that isn't always good enough.
You need to shop around and the best place to do it is on-line. Here you will find savings which may be significant and you can check the exact details of cover before you commit to purchase.
IMPORTANT: If you do buy your travel insurance separate from your holiday booking you need to think carefully about the start date. It is tempting to set the start date on or a day before your holiday is due to start but one of the important elements of cover provided is holiday cancellation cover. If this cover is not in place and you have to cancel then you will not be able to claim.
Are you already covered?
First things first though. Before you start to shop around you need to check that your home contents policy doesn't cover you for some of what you need already. For example some policies cover personal possessions away from the home and this cover is often worldwide. This means that your luggage, clothes, cameras, jewellery and even money, documents and credit cards may be covered. Check with your home insurer to see if you have this cover and to what extent and for which items you are covered.
Some insurers such as DirectLine provided basic travel insurance with their home contents policies. Also some bank accounts (for example Lloyds TSB Gold Service Current Account) and some credit cards include basic comprehensive travel insurance. Check to see if you already have cover. Even if your insurer or bank provide free travel insurance this is not for everyone. If you are in a higher risk group or have pre-existing medical conditions the free cover may not be available for you. Check the small print!
More travel insurance guides and information on this site.
Your use of this web site is subject to your acceptance of our Terms of Use.
Don't leave reading the small print until you need to make a claim. If you do it may be too late if you find that you have not complied with a specific requirement of the policy......................
What Information do you need to disclose to the insurer.
The following is intended as a friendly warning to take care when providing information to insurers and agents.
Insurance is a contract. The insurer undertakes to pay your claim, provided it is covered within the terms of the policy, and you declare that you have disclosed everything specifically required and any other information that may affect the insurers decision to offer you cover or affect the premium that they charge for that cover. As with all contracts there is a requirement on both sides and the contract need only be honoured if you have complied with your side of the bargain.
Many travel insurance application forms have a declaration which you must sign with words similar to these:
I understand that non-disclosure or misrepresentation of a material fact may entitle the Underwriters to void the insurance. A material fact is one likely to influence acceptance or assessment of this proposal. If you are in any doubt as to whether a fact is material or not, you must disclose it.
If you are not asked to sign an application or proposal form you will be sent a statement of facts and will be asked to check this and understand that cover is offered on the basis of those facts.