Travel insurance offers you and your family protection against most of the financial risks that you may face when travelling abroad. A common travel insurance policy will be tailored towards preventing the unlikely of delays, cancellations and medical emergencies whilst you are away on holiday. Providing you with the financial protection you deserve when travelling.
Over the years travel insurance has become essential for those who wish to visit other countries. You can never predict what issues you will face when travelling abroad but thanks to a travel insurance policy you know you will be protected regardless of what happens
Trip Cancellation
A travel insurance policy will commonly cover the costs involved with trip cancellation. This is the case when the trip was cancelled due to reasons beyond your control. An example of this could be if you fell ill moments before the holiday or if the foreign office advised travel to and from your chosen destination.
This does not mean you are able to just cancel your holiday because you didn’t want to go anymore. If this was the case you would most likely be at a financial loss due to this decision.
The biggest questions on everyone’s mind surrounding trip cancellation cover is if this includes the coronavirus. It is definitely a bit of a grey area as it is both beyond your control but in certain situations, the travel is still possible and it’s your decision that you don’t want to travel abroad. Read to the end of the blog to find out more about how the coronavirus will affect your travel insurance.
Medical Emergencies
Nobody deserves to be visiting the hospital when away on holiday but unfortunately it does happen. Luckily, with most travel insurance policies you will have the cover in the palace to protect you against the costs involved with this visit.
If your policy covers medical emergency cover you can be reimbursed for the costs with medical treatment or illness during your trip. This can also include coverage for physician services, ambulance services, and hospital charges, among other expenses.
Travel Delay
One of the most common issues that we all face when travelling abroad is delays. They come in all shapes and sizes but with every delay, we lose a small chunk of our holiday. Certain delays such as a flight delay or airport transfer delay may lead to us being at financial risk from no fault of our own.
Commonly travel delays will be covered within your travel insurance policy. Offering you the protections you deserve for the event of travel delay. If the plane was to break down due to technical difficulties your insurance policy would reimburse you for any meals and accommodation you would have to purchase whilst passing the time until your next flight.
Lost Luggage
Losing your luggage when travelling abroad can be an absolute nightmare, it can be a heartbreaking moment when you find out that all your prized possessions have been lost. In a lot of cases, the luggage does actually make it to your destination but during these delays, you will require new clothes.
In the event that your luggage was lost or heavily delayed, a travel insurance policy will be able to refund you up to benefit limit. This will help cover the costs of purchasing new clothing, unfortunately, this does not mean it will cover the cost of the clothes lost or delayed. The benefit limit will be specified within your specific policy so please take the time to read the small print and understand exactly how much financial protection is in place for this situation.
How Does The Coronavirus Effect Travel Insurance?
The question that the whole of the world is asking at this moment of time, how does the coronavirus affect my travel insurance? Well, If your holiday was cancelled as a result of the coronavirus, make sure you contact your travel insurance provider as soon as possible. Many insurers have a deadline for when claims can be made if you do not contact your insurer prior to the deadline you may find that you’re a left out of pocket.
Many travel companies have not cancelled holidays and have created great uncertainty around the topic of travelling abroad. These travel companies are doing everything possible to make sure these holidays booked can go ahead if safe to do so. If these travel companies were to just cancel all of their flights the companies themselves would be a great financial risk.
Plan of Action Going Foward
If you haven’t heard anything regarding a cancellation as of yet, still prepare for the holiday ahead, every day we are seeing great progress in the battle against the coronavirus and there is still a slim chance your holiday will go ahead. We recommend that you also keep an eye on your emails so you don’t miss any news sent over by the travel companies indicating the holiday has been cancelled.
If you do not feel safe travelling abroad at this moment of time we recommend that you rearrange your holiday for next year. With many travel companies experiencing great numbers of a customer cancelling they are now promoting the change of holiday dates instead of a full cancellation. It may just mean you are able to change the dates of both flights and accommodation with minimal costs involved.
