Mistakes you can avoid while buying travel insurance

Aren’t you excited about your upcoming Euro trip this summer? You have made a list and done all shopping to keep yourself warm enough in the northern chill. You think you have your tickets, travel insurance and visa all in place. But wait, did you pay as much attention to the travel insurance you bought? Most often, people travelling abroad end up making a few mistakes while buying their travel insurance and they realise it only later. We list down some common mistakes that you should avoid while buying travel insurance.

Lack of knowledge

Often most people don’t realise the importance of travel insurance in their excitement to travel abroad. In fact, it is seen as an unnecessary expense incurred. And so they buy whatever they are sold by their agent without any research on what suits them best. However, one must remember that a travel insurance plan protects you from an unexpected medical emergency during the trip.

Also, since most people tend to go low on research while buying a travel plan, it deprives them of the different products that could better suit them. For instance, insurers have launched both single and annual travel insurance plans. While single plans cover one single trip, an annual plan will be a cover for one full year from the date of issuance of the policy and shall cover all the trips made during that tenure.

Buying a lower cover

Often people don’t know what their sum insured should be while buying a travel insurance plan. Thorough research and calculations should help deciding the amount you want to insure yourself. Usually, the destination of your trip decides the size of your cover. It is so because travel insurance is primarily there to cover the cost of any unforeseen medical emergency that arises during your trip. And this should be decided by the medical cost in the city you are travelling to.

For instance, if you are travelling to London or United States, your sum insured should at least be $1,00,000 because the medical facilities are expensive. However, if you are travelling to Philippines, you can get a cover of $50,000. Similarly, if you are travelling to Mauritius, you should opt for a higher cover as the medical costs are pretty high in that country.

Besides, with the number of natural disasters and terrorist attacks going up substantially in the past few years, it is wise to buy a higher cover in order to stay safe. Thus do your research and know the cost of healthcare services in the country you are travelling to. It is only later that most people realise that their sum insured is either too less for the duration of the trip.

Ignoring the exclusions

Are you going to be a beach bum or are you planning to give yourself an adrenaline rush in your holiday? Every travel insurance plan has a list of exclusions. And it is absolutely necessary to know what they are. These exclusions decide if a particular plan is good for you or not.

Let’s say, if you are planning to indulge in activities that gives you thrills, you should know that most travel insurance plans do not cover any medical emergencies arising out of these adventure activities. For instance, if you plan to indulge in activities such as bungee jumping, sky diving or skiing, you may be disappointed to know that travel insurance usually doesn’t cover any costs incurred due to these activities. This is primarily because the risk of injuring yourself in such cases is high and usually happens with the knowledge of the insured. 

Thus, buying plain travel insurance will not serve the purpose and you will have to ask your insurer to provide a customized insurance cover that includes these activities.

Not reading the policy document carefully

Losing your luggage, which includes the electronic devices during the transit is quite common and so is theft of personal belongings in a foreign country. In such a scenario, you would bank on your travel insurer to provide you with assistance as well as compensate you because your travel insurance covers loss of personal belongings. But you did not feel the need to read the fine print which clearly stated that loss of electronic items will not be covered. And this you realise only when you file for a claim.

Another common regret is that most people are unaware of the claim process involved. They don’t read the claim procedure and the requisite documents for filing a claim. And hence face a delay or worse their claim is denied while waiting for their compensation. Thus, reading a policy document is extremely critical for you to get the best deal for your trip.

To conclude, most people tend to ignore the importance of travel insurance and thus end up buying a plan that hardly serves their purpose. Hence, it is advisable to always do surf the internet before you buy a plan. After all, there is no harm in having a Plan B in place.

By Yashish Dahiya – CEO& Co-founder, Policybazaar.com.