LIKE air tickets, travel insurance is a must for individuals. With a plethora of products in the market with numerous features in different variants, Financial Chrinicle spoke to experts to find out what are the things that one should focus on. Opting for travel insurance can help you get financial help if something goes wrong on your trip. Illness, theft or accidents can happen anywhere.
While a normal product brochure would have at least 12-15 features, personal accident cover, medical expenses cover, loss of baggage, trip delay or cancellation as well as pricing are the factors that should determine your choice, experts say.
Accident, medical expense: A quick look at 11 travel insurance plans shows that the total cover varies between $150,000 and $500,000 and a policy holder will have to pay a maximum $100 as deductible.
Policy premiums will start from Rs 1,400 to Rs 2,800.
Do you really need a half million dollar cover? Does your policy pay for the medical emergencies or just reimburses? Is the accident cover applicable for air travel only or for all other forms of transport while you are abroad? Questions like these should be asked.
The medical cover should be valid across a wide range of hospitals or else, even though you might have substantial cover, you can end up in a soup.
Exclusions: The brochure of a travel insurance product is not the final thing.
The policy wording is. All the exclusions are clearly mentioned in that document. For example, preexisting conditions for which you may incur medical expenses, any checked-in baggage loss while still in India, accidents due to mental disorders or disturbances of consciousness or travelling against the advice of a physician cannot be claimed in some products.
A trip cancellation cover may not be valid if you cannot board a flight due to a strike announced earlier. Plus, travel arrangements cancelled or changed by an airline or tour operator for a reason other than bad weather is also not entertained.
Most single-trip policies are valid till 180 days with the option to extend it by a certain number of days only one. In case of hijack distress allowance, some policies are not liable to make any payment for the first twelve hours of the hijacking event even though they claim to pay up to $100-200 per day, cautioned Das.
Pricing: The price of the product is another important factor. What difference is there in paying some hundred bucks for an adequate cover?
All things being equal, the right product should offer value for money. In case of a permanent bodily damage, if the cover is limited to 30-50 per cent of the sum assured that could be a telling if the scenario actual occurs.
In a Schengen travel, a minimum travel insurance of 30,000 is necessary and it is important to get what one is paying for.
If one is paying a little bit extra, is the extra money being charged due to high risk experience of the insurer or to pass on higher benefits.
