Key Considerations When Purchasing Travel Insurance

There are so many aspects to consider when planning a break away. You may be keen to find a place that offers a suitable variety of entertainments for your children; and you might be keen to read the hotel reviews and plan day trips to the most fascinating historical sites. However, you should also take account of significant details with regards to finance and low cost holiday insurance. There are plenty of potential pitfalls and these tips may help you avoid them.

Risks with Too-Cheap Policies

While there are some excellent low cost holiday insurance packages out there, you should have a thorough understanding of the various risks. Policies may include relatively high levels of cover against medical expenses, but may not protect against the costs of flight delays or baggage handling errors. It is worth reading the policy small print to ascertain the exclusions and clauses that are likely to have a bearing on any claims.

Policy Excess

The majority of insurers will require the payment of excess in the event of claims. However, the required amounts are likely to vary, depending upon the policy. The companies also have the right to set the level of excess against entire sections of the policy or charge different amounts in accordance with specific claims. If you're in any doubt, it would be advisable to contact your company with regards to excess stipulations for clarification.

Medical Expenses

Many great low cost holiday insurance packages include considerable financial cover against the costs of medical treatment and repatriation. However, the insurers do expect prospective customers to disclose any pre-existing medical conditions prior to the purchase of policies. Individuals who don't provide the essential medical information run the risk of having their claims rejected. It is also necessary to provide details of seemingly minor symptoms that may develop during the course of your travels.

Schedules

Many travellers make the mistake of arranging their policy to coincide with the start of their holidays – and then experienced the misfortune of unexpected cancellations and curtailments. Their claims have been rejected because these events occurred prior to the scheduled period. If you're worried about this kind of scenario it would be advisable to arrange your policy some months in advance of your anticipated departure date.

Extreme Activities

Very low cost holiday insurance usually doesn't include cover for "extreme" activities - understandably. This probably won't be a major concern if you are planning on spending the entire time relaxing on the white sand beaches, however it could be a key consideration if you're looking forward to skiing, safaris or deep sea diving trips.

Patrick Chong is the Managing Director of Insuremore. We provide low cost travel insurance and offer a range of policies including single-trip, multi-trip and family insurance. 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.