Travel insurance has had some bad press of late but protecting your holiday is still a good idea, you just need to be clever about which policy you pick. We show you how.
1. Cost isn't key
Far too many people focus solely on finding the cheapest policy possible when they look for cover to protect their holiday. Unfortunately, this strategy just doesn't work.
While there's no sense in paying a penny more than you need to for travel insurance, you do need to make sure that you're actually getting the protection you need. After all, if your policy doesn't cover you when something goes wrong, you'll have wasted even more money paying for it!
The best approach is to decide what you need your travel insurance policy to cover - be it illness, cancellation, travel delay, lost baggage, airline failure or something else - find a number of policies that offer this level of protection (our Travel Insurance Advanced Search is a really easy way to do this) and then get quotes for each.
Then, all you have to do is choose the policy that gives you the most suitable cover for the lowest price.
This way you can be confident that your holiday, and the money you've spent on it, are safe if something goes wrong without forking out for unnecessary extras that you don't need.
2. Cover your back
Leaving it until the last minute to sort your travel insurance is just too risky as insurers won't pay out for events that have already taken place. This means that if you can't go on the holiday you've booked - whether it's a volcanic eruption, an airline going bust or even an illness that prevents you from doing so - you'll be left pocketing the cost with no happy memories to show for it.
The safest thing to do is to sort your travel insurance as soon as possible after booking your break. This is particularly important if you have booked your flights and accommodation separately.
The alternative is, of course, taking out an annual travel insurance policy. Either way at least then you'll know that if anything does goes wrong you won't be left paying for a break you can't go on.
3. Never assume
Travel insurance terms and conditions may not be as enthralling as your next holiday read but they are undoubtably more important. It's here that you'll find the details and exclusions that make or break a travel policy (whether they'll pay out if an 'act of god' stops you from going on holiday for instance).
You should never, ever assume that your travel insurance will cover you when something goes wrong. In fact, when it comes to 'unusual' occurances it's often safer to assume that it won't!
It's always worth taking the time to check the small print once you have found a policy that seems to suit .
It won't be fascinating reading but it will mean that you won't get caught out by sneaky exclusions that stop your insurer from paying when you need them to.
