Getting the
right holiday insurance covercover
The kind of cover you need depends on the insurance you
already have, the value of the possessions you, your state
of health (and that of your travelling companions and immediate
family), what you have already paid for the holiday, and
the kind of holiday you are going on.
Although there is no guarantee that you will be able to
negotiate for a discount on your travel insurance policy
because you have cover elsewhere, you are likely to find
that insurers can be more flexible about tailoring a policy
to meet you requirements than an intermediary selling an
off-the-peg policy. However, most sellers of insurance should
be willing to exclude cover for money and personal belongings
if you have an all-risks extension to your contents insurance.
If you do not already have this cover, it is worth finding
out how much extra your contents insurance would cost so
that you are in a position to compare prices. It is definitely
worth extending your contents insurance if you are taking
expensive equipment such as a camera or camcorder or skis
with you, since a travel policy is unlikely to give you
sufficient cover.
Sellers of insurance are supposed to tell you about the
things that will cause them to reject a claim (the policy
exclusions) before you buy. When you buy travel insurance
you will not necessarily have to fill in an application
form, so it is worth volunteering information about your
state of health, such as being pregnant, having a long-term
health condition such as diabetes or asthma, or being on
the waiting list for medical treatment of some kind, and
about any sporting activities you propose to indulge in.
the same applies for your travelling companions because
it will affect whether claims for medical expenses or for
cancellation or curtailment will be paid or rejected. Cover
for cancellation and curtailment will become worthless if
you knew that you might have to cancel or come home early
to look after a member of your immediate family either because
he or she has been seriously ill or because he or she takes
part in a dangerous activity – if your daughter is
a keen hang-glider, for example.
Warning: do not book and pay for a holiday if you know
that there is a chance that you will have to cancel or come
home early, unless you are prepared to pay for the consequences:
your insurance will not cover you.
If you have not paid up-front for your holiday (and have
not bought non-exchangeable or non-refundable travel tickets),
you do not need to worry about cover for cancellation and
curtailment. You do, however, need to make sure that you
are getting cover for the length of time that you will be
away, for the country or countries you are going to and
for all the people who need to be covered. It is also worth
checking that the cover will be extended if you cannot get
home before the insurance expires.
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