Are you thinking about traveling? Are you thinking about acquiring travel insurance? Those are two of the best ideas in the world. However, if you have indeed planned your traveling itinerary right down to the quick, you should afford the same careful planning in choosing the travel insurance you want to pay for. The fact of the matter is: most people do not really compare travel insurance policies. In fact, a great number of us do not even read the entire insurance policy.
Why? We usually do not acquire travel insurance from an insurance company. Rather, we get them through the travel agent who booked our trip; or the cruise line company where we bought our latest tickets to the Caribbean; or even the airline company teller who also offered us car rental packages and hotel accommodations.
Most of us only give the travel insurance policies we are buying nothing more than a perfunctory glance. We often also do not really understand what we are signing up for. Furthermore, the only time we actually read and try to comprehend the insurance policy is when something untoward has already happened and that we think that the insurance company is not doing their share.
If you are that careful planner, you certainly would not want to end up like so. Buying travel insurance policy from a third party may be cheaper, but they may not be quite as comprehensive as we want them to be. Besides, if you do your homework correctly, you could actually buy even cheaper but comprehensive travel insurance on your own.
Your best option here is to go online and compare travel insurance directly from the source: insurance companies offering travel insurance packages. There are a great number of them to choose from. With this method, you could at least compare coverage, policies and rates at your leisure.
Here are 2 primary reasons why we should compare travel insurance policies.
One of the most important reasons for comparing notes is that we should know exactly what we are paying for. Incredibly, there are a number of travel insurance policies that work well within the country, but are often useless (and even bothersome) once you hit international soil.
If you could solidly compare travel insurance policies, you may find out which insurance companies can help you should you have problems overseas, and who might eventually cause you more problems.
For example: there are companies who would not pay foreign service providers, but would compensate the policy holder for expenses incurred on a much later date. Imagine if you have to face that on a very limited budget.
When you do compare travel insurance, the most important covers to look for are: accidental death; emergency evacuation and repatriation; injury or bodily disablement; other medical expenses and health cover which should include hospitalization and medicine; personal and property liability; and 24/7 emergency assistance. These are the ones most specifically geared to cover the policy holder’s life.
Not all insurance companies offer the same coverage, but if you have these aforementioned covers, you can be complacent with the fact that your life is safely insured while you are traveling.
The second reason for comparing travel insurance policies is the rates. High rates do not necessarily mean better coverage. Some companies offer very little coverage and yet have the highest rates possible. In other instances, comprehensive coverage is given but the price of the policy is on the average – simply because the insurance company is not that well known.
If you just take the time to compare travel insurance, you could come out with the best deals yet.
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