Best Cheap Travel Insurances! Plan Your Holiday With These Trip Insurances
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So, throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”
That’s what Mark Twain said, and its core concept has been inspiring generations to venture out of their comfort zones and into the unforgiving but ever alluring world. More than ever before, travelling has become safer and more welcoming. But sometimes, you need a bit of reassurance. That’s where travel insurances handily come in.
Admittedly, it isn’t the most exciting part of a journey, but it’s an essential one, as it will cover you when things like cancellation, injury, or baggage loss happen.
The thing is, the insurance industry is extremely lucrative, and many companies want a piece of the cake, resulting in an abundance of holiday insurance available on the market. Moreover, business lords are smart, and they know how to draw money out of your pockets when it really isn’t necessary.
How do you combat this? How do you choose the best and most suitable trip insurance? Keep with us to check out our comprehensive guide for travel insurance.
What is travel insurance?
Travel insurance is essentially a safety net you never knew you needed.
It’s there to back up when things go awry, as it’s designed to provide you with financial and logistic cover when unexpected events happen, and its buyers get the short end of the stick.
There are many types of insurances, and they cover and not cover certain aspects. Generally, the basic coverages of an insurance will include medical expenses while travelling overseas, trip cancellation, lost luggage, flight delays or cancellation, etc.
Why is travel insurance important?
Insurance is an integral part of all trips. Image from Unsplash.
Albeit unlike, there’s always the possibility where things don’t go as planned. In such unfortunate events, without insurance, you are liable for emergency expenses. If you aren’t familiar, these could cost up to thousands of pounds. Insurances are indeed costly but nowhere so exorbitant. It’s ultimately a smart and economical choice to go for insurance. Let us explain a bit further:
Emergency cancellation reimbursement
Imagine splurging a hefty sum of money on a one-off luxury trip, but doing so a few months in advance to shave off just a bit of money, only to have to cancel it last minute because of a truly urgent family business, or because of situations like force majeure?
Of course, tour providers may be sympathetic, but their policies can only allow them to go so far, most oftentimes the only support you get is emotional. Even in the event where you do get partial reimbursement, losing 10-20% of your original expense would already be a massive loss.
In situations like these, insurances would be of great help, because they would provide reimbursement where otherwise impossible.
Medical expenses
Traffic accidents can happen. They just do. In the unlikely event that you get caught in one, and end up injured, you must receive medical treatment immediately. As soon as you come round, the first thing that you have to face isn’t the fact, but the bill.
Medical expenses will vary wildly depending on the country, especially abroad. Prices can ramp up to a few hundred thousand in a blink of an eye.
Yet, if you’re travelling with insurance that covers medical expenses, you don’t have to be worried at all.
Limited help from the Embassy
Some travellers think that they would be fine should something happen when they’re travelling abroad, because in such cases their country’s embassy therein will step in and provide necessary support.
That’s true, but that’s not the full picture. Yes, they will get you a new passport. Yes, they will provide temporary shelter and basic amenities. Yes, they will contact your family at home. But that’s as far as they’ll go, as there is a limit to their authority. They can’t, in fact, pay for your medical care or emergency transportation, whose immense costs are the reason why people resort to insurance in the first place.
What does travel insurance cover?
Insurance helps make your trips worry-free. Image from Unsplash
They can cover a range of things, depending on what you pay for. Generally, an insurance will cover the following categories:
Medical expenses
If you suffer from small injuries, then medical expenses such as consulting practitioners, medicine, ambulance fees, and some dentistry will be covered. If you’re hospitalised, generally, emergency services, doctor fees, transfer and transport fees will be covered. Sometimes, the travelling fees of a family member coming over to look after you may also be covered. In the unfortunate event of passing overseas, obsequy services and mortal remains delivered to your home country will be covered as well.
Cancellations
If your planned trips are cancelled, and you have your insurance, then it will cover you for any cancellation fees or deposits. The reasons for cancellation that are usually covered include: illness, injury, force majeure, extreme weather, political wranglings, hijacking, and family emergencies.
There are some other policies that will cover other uncommon reasons such as jury service, job sack, dismissal from occupation, army services.
Luggage
Insurance will typically cover your baggage in the event of damage, loss, or theft. In these cases, insurance firms will cover operational, transport, and retrieval fees.
>> Read more: What to Know about the Under Seat Luggage Size on Aeroplanes Before You Fly
Other coverage
There are special insurances that are designed to cater to some specific needs of a certain group of audiences. Sometimes, those insurance will cover for niches, namely pre-existing conditions, high-risk sports, rental car damage, cruising, etc.
Common exclusions
It seems as though insurances cover anything in the world, but in fact they don’t. They are a business after all, and they are smart. Insurance is essentially an industry that revolves around risk management, and insurance companies won’t ever cover something they can’t manage. As such, they will frequently exclude covering certain events, for example on-going events, war, or terrorism. Sometimes, certain countries will be excluded from insurance coverage as they are deemed to be more risky destinations by the insurance company’s respective official governmental organisations.
There are also other common situations that are excluded in travel insurance policies, namely:
- elective surgery or treatment;
- injury or illness caused by reckless activity (careless driving, abuse of alcoholic substances or drugs);
- leaving belongings unattended;
- participating in extreme sports and activities;
- travelling against government advice and recommendations;
- travelling to receive medical treatment;
- undeclared pre-existing medical conditions;
- unlicensed operation of a motorcycle, or other vehicles.
What other types of travel insurance?
Insurance comes in a range of types that cater to the specific needs of those who buy it. Below are some of the most prominent travel insurances:
Annual travel insurance
Annual travel insurance will cover any of your trips in the span of 365 days. Still, this depends on the insurer. Some of them impose an upper limit on the number of trips that will be covered or on the number of days of each trip. This type of travel insurance will typically cover trips to any destination around the world, so it’s very convenient for frequent travellers.
Single trip travel insurance
As the name implies, single travel insurance is a one-off insurance in only one trip for which you buy the insurance. It usually comes with a day limit, typically 30 days, so do check carefully before you go for it. Unlike annual travel insurance, this type of insurance is often destination-based, which means it tends to one destination only, but it also means that it will be a lot cheaper.
Backpacker travel insurance
If you’re travelling for longer trips, or over multiple countries. Often referred to as long-stay, extended trip, or gap-year insurance, this type of insurance will cover continuous trips that last between 2 and 28 months.
Family travel insurance
This one will work best if you’re travelling with your family, as it will turn out to be a lot cheaper than buying individual insurance for every member of your family. Generally, this type of insurance will cover a family of two parents and their children, but there are also those that will cover single-parent families, larger families, and grandchildren too.
Regional / European / Worldwide travel insurance
Not technically a separate type of insurance, but more of a quirky little detail you need to be paying attention to when considering different insurances. Whether you’re travelling to Europe, or any regions, even worldwide for that matter, you need to check with the insurer to see their definition of each.
For example, while Russia is typically included in Asian travel insurance, some policies have it as a separate country with slightly altered policies. Another example is Turkey, sometimes it isn’t included in European travel insurances. If you’re travelling to provinces or territories.
Niche insurance
We’re getting to the nitty-gritty now. Some of the upcoming insurances you’re about to see are very niche as it caters to very specific needs of very specific groups of audiences.
Insurance will cover you if extreme activities go wrong. Image from Unsplash
Winter sports travel insurance
If you’re planning to travel to ice-covered mountain peaks for some exciting winter sports like snowboarding or ice skating, you’d need a specialised winter sports travel insurance in the off chance where you are injured, or your equipment is lost. Do check with your insurer to see which sport is and isn’t covered.
Adventure sports travel insurance
Most standard travel insurance will be excluding any extreme activities or sports such as bungee jumping or rock climbing. This type of insurance caters to these adventurers who indulge in such extreme activities.
Senior Travel Insurance
Insurers deem travellers from the age of 65 (sometimes lower) as being more likely to issue medical-related claims, as statistically, people in this age bracket are more likely to fall ill, hence why this type of travel insurance exists. Insurance for people at this age is going to be expensive, so you need to carefully look around for the best option.
Best cheapest travel insurance
Average insurance costs
The figure below illustrates the average cost of annual travel insurance and single trip travel insurance in Europe and Worldwide (including USA).
|
|
Europe |
Worldwide |
|
Annual |
£9.3 |
£31.7 |
|
Single |
£12.3 |
£28.5 |
This serves as a great reference point for us to compare some of the upcoming insurance. Most of the time the general coverage is the same, and the differences are really insignificant. Therefore, the price point comes into play as one of the most important factors when it comes to deciding which policy to buy.
Best Annual travel insurance
TravelTime
At only £48.85, TravelTime’s policy is quite a great insurance. It offers up to £2,000 to cover for cancellation, which also covers those caused by COVID-related issues. It offers its buyer £1,000 in baggage and belongings cover.
With this policy, you can travel worry-free up to 45 days at a time. You can pay an excess of £125 on eligible claims but can be waived by paying an additional premium.
Admiral
Admiral is a great cheap choice. Although it offers only half of the cancellation cover compared to that of TravelTime (£1,000 compared to £2,000), it’s cheaper, only £31.44. It only allows trips of up to 31 days, however. Baggage and belongings cover are also £1,000.
Excess is £150 for eligible claim but can be waived by paying an additional premium.
Post Office Money
Similar to Admiral’s policies, Post Office Money’s policy offers coverage for cancellation of up to £1,000. The cover for lost baggage and belongings are also £1,000.
The reason why this insurer isn’t higher is because, with its cost of £43.90, it doesn’t offer as much coverage as Admiral, specifically it doesn’t cover travel delay or missed departure.
Coverwise’s Silver Plan
Coverwise’s Silver Plan offers great coverage if you’re willing to spend a bit extra or insurance.
At a price of £102.92, it’s expected that the policy would provide