There’s always going to be some degree of risk involved when you travel; even if you’re only going on a short trip, you might lose your luggage, or be the victim of theft. While it’s not something that people always want to think about when they go abroad, it’s better to be safe and take precautions with your travel insurance, even if if you’ve never had anything happen to you before.
When considering travel insurance as a necessity, remember that you can get single trip travelinsurance at a relatively low price - for most people, this cover will be fine as a way of reducing the risk of damage or loss to your possession. For extra cover, you may need to pay more, and be more specific about the place that you’re travelling to - one size fits all policies won’t work for some trips, and any particularly expensive items like laptops or phones may require you to pay an excess.
There’s also the option of taking out multi trip insurance, which can be particularly useful for backpacking holidays, or if you’re going on an extended tour. Effectively, the longer you’re going to be on the road, the higher the risk there’ll be of something going wrong, even if you’re not doing anything risky. Accidental damage, breakdown cover, and protection from natural disasters can be important to include in your insurance for these longer trips.
Customising your travel insurance is a good idea if you’ve been somewhere before, and if you understand the particular risks that an area has - you can also find out before you travelwhether there’s likely to be any disruptions, while also making a complete statement to your insurer about any medical problems that might arise. Skiing holidays and trips involving dangerous sports will similarly benefit from specialist insurance policies.
There are other ways in which you can lower the risk of having to use your travel insurance - AEuropean Health Insurance Card grants you free or discounted medical assistance in approved hospitals part of an NHS scheme. However, these cards should be viewed as a complement, rather than a replacement, for your main travel insurance. You might also be able to reduce the cost of your travel insurance premiums by going with selected providers for car rental or skiing trips, and by taking precautions like not prominently displaying your valuables, and using a hotel safe.
Perhaps the most important thing to remember with travel insurance is that a small investment can significantly pay off when things do go wrong; no matter how careful or sensible you are, it’s best to have some sort of cover in place that you can fall back. Make sure, though, that you compare different travel insurance providers, and that you look for specific discounts for your age or the length of your trip. Specialist insurance for student travellers and backpackers, and for multi year trips, can be found with the right searches, and can help you to get the right kind of insurance for your needs.
