Six things everyone needs to know about travel insurance

The traveller sees what he sees. The tourist sees what he has come to see, saidwriter Gilbert Keith Chesterton.But in these modern times, irrespective of whether you are a traveller or a tourist, there are a few things you need to keep in mind when holidaying. Travel insurance is one among them. Especially if are travelling abroad. But like every other insurance policies, travel insurance policy comes with a whole lot of jargons, exclusions, terms and conditions which make calculus seem easy to understand. We bring you six things to keep in mind, while buying travel insurance, to make the task of choosing the right cover easy.

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1. When: First thing one should know is when to buy a travel insurance. Financial planners say that insurance is a must when you make international trips. For domestic travel, you can do without it.

2. Types: Broadly speaking there are two types of travel insurance policies. For frequent travellers, a multi-trip travel insurance policy works well. Some multi-travel insurance policies are available on annual basis. If you afrequenttraveller, this policy is more economical then buying a single travel policy. Single travel insurance policies work well for those who travel once in a while.

Coverage: Travel insurance covers a number of unexpected things that could happen during your journey. Ensure your policy has adequate:

3. Medical insurance: Remember health care is really expensive internationally, and could punch a huge hole in your pocket. Medical insurance cover takes care of cashless hospitalisation worldwide, medical bills, hospital bills, daily hospital allowances, emergency sickness, dental relief, emergency medical evacuation and some even offer expenses to return to home country. Some even cover pre-existing diseases, under certain conditions. Do read the policy document for details. Not all insurers would cover all the above mentioned conditions.

4. Personal content: Baggage loss is covered here. This is important as expensive gadgets like laptops, tables, iPad and iPhones, smart cameras and the like have become part of the travel baggage now. Just the aggregate value of a tablet, smart phone and camera itself will come to around Rs 1 lakh. So, insuring such items makes sense.

5. Travel inconvenience: This covers trip delays, trip cancellation, trip curtailments, missed connections and like. So, you don’t need to worry about cost of rebooking or delays and cancellation.

6. Important things to keep in mind: If you are travelling as a family, a group travel cover will be cheaper. Many travel polices do not cover adventure sports. So if you plan to participate in adventure sports, ensure you have such a cover as well. Some policies allow you to extend the policy benefits for up to a maximum of 360 days. That is an extension of additional 180 days. So if your trip is extended, you don’t need to buy a separate cover, but simply extend it. In fact, some policies even offer you pay per day service, where you need to pay an amount as per the insurers slab rate for the first week only and the rest on per day basis. When extending, some policies charge you only for the extra days.

Now that you what travel insurance is all about, ensure you check online portals, as well as various insurers’ website to compare their travel plans. Also read the policy benefits and exclusions, so that you are not in for any surprises, just in case you need to make the claim. Happy Holidays!