Travel Insurance Advice

By Author: Caron Fontelroy
Total Articles: 10
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While most savvy travellers are prepared to spend a lot of time looking for cheap flights and accommodation, it is quite common for people to neglect to pay the same level of attention when purchasing their travel insurance.

When you buy travel insurance, the most important consideration is how much insurance you will need. You do not want to be left without the right level of cover, but you do not want to pay too much for insurance that you do not require.

As a rule of thumb, the average holidaymaker should get around two million pounds worth of medical cover, one million pounds worth of personal liability insurance, three thousand pounds worth of cancellation cover, fifteen hundred pounds worth of baggage cover, and two hundred and fifty pounds of cash cover.

You should look out for policies that offer a 24 hour helpline, and legal assistance should you need it. Also, if you are going somewhere that does not have satisfactory medical facilities, you should make sure that repatriation costs are covered under the terms of the policy.

In some circumstances, you might be able to get away with less in ...
... the way of certain types of insurance. For example, if your flights cost less than 100GBP, there is no point in paying for 3,000GBP of cancellation cover.

Some policies offer much larger amounts of medical insurance than you would ever need. For example, some policies offer up to 20,000,000GBP worth of medical cover, but it is highly unlikely that you would need more than two millions worth in most circumstances.

You should purchase your travel insurance as soon as possible after booking your trip, as it may be more expensive to buy nearer the time, and if you buy it a few days before your flight, and then have to cancel the trip, you will not be compensated.

Keep an eye on the small print, especially when it comes to luggage cover. There are often single item limits on luggage insurance, so if you were taking an item that is more valuable than the single item limit and you lost your luggage, you would not be sufficiently compensated. Caron Fontelroy never travels without a good travel insurance policy.