Amanda PhillipsMyths About Travel Insurance
So you’ve booked that big holiday, and you’re debating whether or not to pay for travel insurance. You may feel that you have spent enough on your dream getaway, and that the additional cost for travel insurance is just too much. You may feel like it’s a waste of money, because nothing is going to happen to you on holiday, and if it does it will be a struggle to get any money from the insurance company anyway.
WRONG!
Let us try to clear up some of the commonly-held myths which surround travel insurance.
- Nothing will happen to me! So you travel a lot? You’ve seen the world and nothing bad has ever happened to you, so why bother to buy travel insurance now? Unfortunately, weather, flight delays, illness or other major catastrophes can happen very quickly and easily change the best of travel plans. The only way to protect you from these circumstances is to invest in travel insurance. You can get protection from flight delays, medical car and many more…
- I have insurance at home. Unless you specifically purchased an insurance policy that includes full coverage abroad, your domestic health insurance and credit card policies do not always cover the costs of trip cancellation, medical expenses and other scenarios. What happens if you are stuck in a foreign country because an ash cloud has cancelled all flights? If you don’t have travel insurance, you will have to pay for additional hotel nights and maybe even new flights home.
- I would never get a pay out anyway. The right policy will not only cover catastrophic illness, injury, disasters and repatriation costs, but it’ll also help if you lose your camera or your expensive designer sunglasses fall off your head into the sea. However, make sure you understand how the excess works on your policy.
- I am not doing anything dangerous on holiday! Ok, so you’re not planning on bungee jumping or shark diving, but emergency situations can happen to relatively ‘boring’ travellers too. What if your taxi breaks down on the way to the airport and you miss your flight? Getting travel insurance will help minimise the issues, should circumstances go bad. So don’t buy into the idea that, just because you’re not going to jump out of any planes on your vacation, you won’t need travel insurance!
- I can buy my flights and hotels now, then book travel insurance right before I leave! So you want to treat your loved one to a trip to Paris for your 1st anniversary? You book a romantic hotel, where you can see the Eiffel Tower from your guest room window, and you think that you’ll wait until nearer the time to book your insurance. This is not clever. In the week before you’re meant to go, your partner is taken ill and can no longer travel. If you don’t have insurance, you can wave au revoir to your romantic weekend – and your cash too…
Barrhead Travel offers extremely competitive rates, and the cover is excellent too. You’ll be asked by our travel consultants as to whether you would like to buy insurance when you book your trip – please don’t put it off! We have annual insurance policies available too, for frequent travellers. Be sure to book your insurance in store at any of our branches, or give us a call on 0800 804 8666, as soon as you book your holiday – you’ll be covered straight away!