Single Trip Travel Insurance – Correcting the Myths

Here you’ll find a few of the more commonly-encountered myths relating to single trip travel insurance.

It won’t cover you against sporting injuries

Yes, it may do so, providing your policy specifies sports as being included under the cover for that particular journey. Note that some exceptionally dangerous sports and pastimes might be excluded by some policies.

It’s impossible to get cover for some countries

Not necessarily. True, some companies may exclude some countries from basic cover, but they may offer special terms. Some other specialist companies might offer cover for virtually any country you are visiting.

Single trip travel insurance is always the cheapest

No, it really isn’t! If you are travelling regularly, it might be far simpler and more cost-attractive to take out an annual or multi-trip policy.

You don’t need travel health insurance in the European Union because it’s all free

No, it isn’t. For example, if you’ve been badly injured and need to be transported home from holiday, you can be sure that reciprocal European health cover agreements most certainly won’t cover the potentially huge costs involved.

If your holiday is cancelled you’ll be compensated anyway

Well, at best that might be ‘possibly’. Take, for example, a case where you’re about to go on holiday but suffer an accident and are unable to do so. You may lose most or all of any money you’ve paid unless you have cover to help. If you have booked through a registered travel agent you may have a degree of cover if your holiday arrangements go badly wrong, but you might not have that protection if, like many, you have arranged your holiday privately.

The British Embassy will repatriate you in an emergency

It’s important to remember that British embassies and consulates do not function as backup travel agents or medical services. In certain dire circumstances they may, should all else fail, step in to help - but this is not free. If they do provide emergency aid following theft, crime or illness, you will typically be expected to repay all the costs incurred upon your return to the UK. If you fail to do so, your passport may be impounded.

Policies never pay out anyway

In fact, vast sums are paid out in claims every year. Policy providers are typically keen to try and ensure claims are settled as fast as possible, and they do not look for reasons to either delay or avoid settlement.

It’s cheaper over time to deal with any issues that arise yourself

This cuts to the very heart of why cover exists. Of course, it’s to be hoped that nothing bad happens to you when you’re travelling. It’s also to be hoped that if anything does, it is trivial in cost and impact terms. However, it is necessary and responsible to consider the ‘what if’ scenarios. For example, if you were a long way overseas and needed medical repatriation, the costs might easily run into several tens of thousands of pounds.

Is that something you could deal with from your own finances? If not, it might be sensible to think about annual or single trip travel insurance.

Patrick Chong is the Managing Director of Insuremore. We provide low cost travel insurance and offer a range of policies including single trip travel insurance, annual, multi-trip and family cover. For all your travel cover needs, Insuremore can help you in the quickest and most cost-efficient way.

Writer and Online Marketing Manager in London.