Choosing the right policy

The right travel insurance policy is the one which does not duplicate insurance you already have and covers you for what you need to be covered for. However, because most travel insurance is sold as a package, it may be difficult to avoid duplicating insurance you already have – although if the insurance you already have gives better cover than the travel policy, it means that you do not need to worry so much about low limits that the travel policy may impose. The main choice you have is between a pay-as-you-go policy and an annual policy.
Pay-as-you-go policies cover you for one specific trip so are the best choice if you do not go abroad very often – less than once or twice a year, for example.
Annual policies cover all your foreign travel for a whole year and some include winter sports cover – typically up to 17 to 21 days. An annual policy is a good choice if you travel a lot and you like to know you are covered for spur-of-the-moment weekends away, for example. Not only do you get the convenience of not having to arrange insurance each time you go away, but an annual policy should work out cheaper than buying insurance for each separate trip.
If you are buying insurance for more than one person – you and your family, for example – a joint policy should be cheaper than buying separate policies for each individual. Before buying a joint annual policy, however, ask whether you and/or any of the other people named on the policy will be covered when travelling alone. It may be that the first-named person only is covered for individual travel. This will not be a problem if you tend to always travel together, but if you do not, you would be better off buying separate policies unless only one of you ever goes off alone on foreign trips (in which case this person should be the first name on the policy).
If you are a skier intending to buy an annual policy, make sure that it covers you for winter sports (to save buying separate ski insurance) and check the detail of the cover. There will be a limit on the number of days you will be covered and the policy may or may not cover you for the kind of skiing you do: for example, if you are keen off-piste skiers with snowboarding children, this will be particularly important.
Once you have chosen the type of policy, you need to make sure that it covers you for the country or countries that you are planning to visit. A worldwide policy is exactly what it says. However, what counts as Europe can vary from insurer to insurer. One policy, for example, defines Europe as ‘all countries to the west of the Ural Mountains (but excluding the United Kingdom), Mediterranean Islands, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Turkey, Canary Islands, Madeira and the Azores’. It is also worth checking this definition because if your chosen destination falls into ‘Europe’ it will be cheaper than buying a worldwide policy.
If you have decided to buy an annual policy, you should also check if there is a limit on how long an individual trip can be and whether there are any additional conditions such as not having had treatment for a health condition for two years or not being covered if you do paid manual work while abroad.