Travel Insurance protects you against damages caused while travelling. Some of the best examples in this segment would be accidental cover, loss of baggage or passport, delay in receiving baggage, hijack etc.
Top reasons to buy a travel insurance plan
- Imagine you are travelling and your flight gets delayed, you get reimbursements for meals
- In case your luggage is lost, you can claim against the belonging value in it
- In case your flight gets cancelled, you get your money back
- Get medical assistance when you require it while travelling
How to choose Best Travel Insurance Plan
There are various diverging types of Travel Insurance Plans offering different sets of coverage benefits to its insured.
However, it is necessary to understand some of the common salient and Best Travel Insurance Features as well as the factors based on which you should purchase a Travel Insurance Plan.
This is as there can be a lot of confusion caused while planning to Buy Travel Insurance Online caused by a huge number of Travel Plans available in the market.
Hence, continue reading to comprehend the basic grounds of a Travel Insurance Plan before planning to purchase it.
| Also Read: What does Your Travel Insurance Cover? |
What is Travel Insurance
- Based on the trip’s duration, a Travel Insurance Plan can be acquired for a few months or even up to a year for both domestic and international trips. To buy the best travel insurance, you should thoroughly finalise your trip before you depart.
- Travel Insurance Plans provide coverage during medical emergencies which require treatment or hospitalisation. Additionally, daily allowance is also given for both in-patient and outpatient hospitalization.
- A Cashless Claim facility against medical treatments can also be availed under Travel Insurance Plans. This means that if the insured acquires treatment in one of the company’s networked hospitals, he/she will have to pay no money and the bills for their treatment would directly be tackled by their Insurance Provider.
- Travel Insurance Plans also provide coverage for expenses on extended stay like accommodation and food charges, caused because of emergency hospitalization.
- Permanent Disability or death suffered by the insured while travelling is also given coverage under Personal accidental coverage benefit of Travel Insurance Plans.
- For complete protection, add-on benefits like accidental death cover and flight accident cover etc. can also be purchased to increase coverage of your basic plans. This forms a basic element when you plan to select best travel insurance for yourself.
- Theft and/or loss of baggage, loss of any possession of the insured etc during the period of the trip are offered financial security under Travel Insurance Plans.
- A policyholder can also acquire coverage benefits in case of loss of passport and/or other important documents, expenses related to delays, trip curtailments and cancellations of a trip.
- Annual Multi-trip Plans have been designed for frequent flyers which provide an annual coverage period with low-cost of premium payments as compared to that of single trip policies.
- The sum insured under Travel Insurance Plans is usually expressed in US Dollars.
- Concludingly, there are various customisable Travel Insurance Plans offered by most of the Insurance Companies for Senior Citizens looking forward to travel with insurance.
How to choose Best Travel Insurance
- Coverage Benefits : As the foremost step, identify the amount of coverage offered under your selected Travel Insurance Plans as most of the policies offer common coverage benefits. Although, some plans offer additional coverage features that make it comprehensive. Hence, you should select a policy which most appropriately matches your coverage requirements.
- Availability of Add-ons Feature : Add-on features are the coverage benefits which are not already included in your Travel Plan and can be purchased as an extra benefit by paying additional premiums. All the best travel insurance companies use it by default. You can choose from the add-on features that are available in the plan as per your requirement to customise your travel insurance plan. Although, it is recommended to opt for add-ons only if necessary as they increase the total amount of premium to be paid.
- Flexibility of the Plan : Your plan should permit you to make corrections or modifications in your travel itinerary before the beginning of your journey. It is important to search for a flexible Travel Insurance Plan so as to be able to make changes in your trip duration, add-ons, etc, as and when required.
- Type of Plans : You should select the most relevant plan as per your needs as Travel Insurance Policies are offered in various types created to meet the specific requirements of individuals. It involves Domestic Travel Insurance Plans, Student Travel Insurance Plan, Travel Insurance for Schengen Visa, Senior Citizen Travel Plan, etc.
- Premium Payment : The premiums of the Travel Insurance Plan should be affordable and should be correct as per the coverage benefits offered by the plan. It is recommended to research amongst the different amounts of premiums with the coverage benefits offered by different plans to select a travel plan with an affordable premium.
- Sum Insured : You should invest in a travel insurance plan with adequate coverage depending upon the duration of your trip, the destination you are travelling to, number of members insured, etc.
- Members Covered : While travelling with family, it is important to ensure that all the members are covered under a Travel Insurance Plan. Additionally, In case if any senior citizen is also travelling with you and your travel policy does not provide coverage for them, you should make sure to purchase a separate travel plan for them.
- Exclusions : There are certain factors which are not provided coverage under Travel Insurance Plans which are called exclusions. Hence, you should check these exclusions before finalising your best travel insurance company and buying a travel policy to figure out what is covered and what is not so that you can make a valid claim for situations which are covered under the policy.
- Claim Settlement Ratio : Claim Settlement Ratio simply signifies the total number of claims settled by the company against the total number of claims made. To increase the chances of your claim settlement, it is recommended to select an Insurance Company with a high Claim Settlement Ratio.
- Company’s Networked Service Providers : The Insurance Companies have various tie-ups with Service Providers in International Countries to extend convenient assistance to the policyholder in case of a claim. Hence, while buying Travel Insurance, it is necessary to check whether or not the company has a tie-up Service Provider in the country that you are visiting.
- Research before Buying : Before purchasing a Travel Insurance Plan, it is highly crucial to differentiate amongst various options available in the market. This becomes critical while you select your best travel insurance plan for you. While doing so, you should ensure that the above stated factors are taken into consideration and then buy a Travel Insurance Plan that most appropriately suits your needs.
| Also Read: How do I make a Travel Insurance Claim |
Hence, while you plan to purchase a Travel Insurance Policy, make sure that you follow the above given points to verify the selected Travel Insurance Policy by you.
Additionally, it is vital to ensure while choosing best travel insurance that your Travel Insurance does not only provide you with utmost coverage benefits but should also come at an affordable and comparatively reasonable premium rate.
Best Travel Insurance FAQs
What is Included in Travel Insurance?
Medical emergencies like medical evacuation, medical repatriation of the insured or his/her mortal remains, accidental death or permanent disability are included under coverage benefits of a Travel Insurance Plan.
In addition to that, a Travel Insurance also covers delay of checked-in baggage or misplaced checked-in baggage by the airline, loss of passport, urgent cash requirement, hijack allowance, trip cancellation or early return, missed flight connection, etc.
However, the exact range of coverage benefits differ amongst different insurance plans.
All most all best travel insurance companies include such features.
Hence, it is recommended to research about various Travel Insurance Plans and then invest in the most accurate policy based on its protection benefits.
How do I know the limit of each type of expenses? What expenses are covered or not?
The exact details related to the coverage benefits and coverage limitations of the policy are specified in the policy document of your Travel Insurance Plan.
Hence, you should read the document in detail to understand the facilities provided by your plan. Additionally, the coverage structure and exclusion list is also mentioned in the policy document which will help you to identify what is covered and what is not covered under your Travel Insurance Policy.
You can also get in touch with the Expert Assistance of your Insurance Company to understand the policy details.
To do so, you can either call them on their toll-free number or send a written request to their official email address.
Till when is the Travel Insurance Policy valid?
The accurate end date of a Travel Insurance Plan is specified in the policy document itself. The duration of a Travel Insurance policy concludes with the end of a trip.
This means, when an insured gets back to his/her residence, the coverage would end.