Travel insurance if one of those necessary expenses for the long term traveller. We tend to travel more often and with more valuable luggage so it pays to make sure you are covered just in case a problem happens. If you have health insurance and contents insurance at home then it makes sense to have a similar level of coverage when travelling.
Some policies are designed for single trips and others are for multiple trips. If you are a frequent traveller it pays to check out the latter as it is often less expensive and is one less thing to organise each time you travel. Some credit card companies also offer free travel insurance when you pay with their credit card. Get familiar with what is on offer and call them for explanations if necessary.
You can buy the single trip policies based on the length of time you will be away. These are usually limited to trips of less than 90 days. Multiple trip policies may also limit the length of each trip, or they may be unlimited.
Keep in mind that you may be able to suspend your insurance back home. If I’m away for over a month it makes sense for me to put my health insurance on hold. It doesn’t cover me while I am overseas anyway.
I use World Nomads and it is easy to organise and manage online. You can specify extras, period of time and more. It covers all my needs as far as travel changes, medical, luggage and more. You can check out the World Nomads coverage for yourself and see they have very competitive rates.
General Travel Insurance
Everyone is probably familiar with travel insurance because it is a popular up sell product both online and offline. Most policies cover the standard items such as cancelled flights, illness, lost luggage and other problems you may face out on the road. As with all insurance policies, familiarise yourself with what is covered and what isn’t, plus in the event of a claim, what are your requirements. For example, if something is stolen you will probably need a police report.
The exclusions are important too and a regular one is snow skiing. For some reason that has been singled out as a dangerous activity and some policies don’t cover it and others will at an increased cost. I’m sure this is based on statistics, however, there are a lot more dangerous activities around these days and I think they just don’t have the numbers yet. Not a bad thing as I don’t snow ski. Jetskiing is another, so before you rent one, consider your insurance.
Equipment Insurance
Some policies will cover basic equipment up to a dollar amount such as $500. Some electronic and sporting equipment can easy surpass this threshold so you may need to get extended cover for such items.
Rental Car Insurance
Rental car insurance can double the published rates in some places such as some US states. The compulsory insurance is rarely quoted until making the booking. Often you are under pressure and just agree to ridiculous costs. My standard answer is that I will only take the minimum required by law. I was caught out once because the rental person didn’t know and gave me more than I needed, or did they just pretend… Lesson learned and now I tend to check out the minimum required, including a bit of an idea as to all the ways to describe the same thing.
Some credit card companies offer this insurance as part of their service. Again, knowledge is power so check with your card company to see if you get this coverage. Some countries have motor vehicle insurance linked to the person rather than the vehicle. This means you can also be covered with your regular policy. In these cases it is important to carry documentation confirming this so you are not charged the rental company insurance rates.
