Travel insurance, in general, is important as you never know when you may need to make a claim. Yes, it is annoying forking out for something that you may never use, but essential nevertheless. Many people take the risk and travel without travel insurance and we’ll be honest we’ve done it before. Looking back now we can’t believe we risked it, what if something had happened and we didn’t have the cash to foot the bill that the insurance policy would have covered? Also, you can take out a basic single trip, individual policy for only a couple of quid. When our children came into our lives, it made sense to take out a family travel insurance policy to ensure that we are all covered when we travel, should any of us need to make a claim.
There are a number of reasons why family travel insurance is vital, especially if you do not want to be left out of pocket. Here are some of the key reasons.
Frequent Travel
If you take multiple trips per year, having an annual family travel policy is a great way of saving money. Instead of opting for single trip policies, choose an annual one instead. This means you have coverage regardless of how many trips you take in one year.
Yes, the initial outlay may be more, however, if you are frequent travellers in the long run over the course of the year it will actually save you money. Plus you do not need to worry about obtaining insurance prior to every holiday.
Cancellation
There are many reasons why you may need to cancel your holiday before you even step foot on the plan. Reasons include work commitments, maybe you or one of your children are ill or possibly even a death in the family.
Therefore, it is important to have a family travel insurance policy that covers cancellation. This is to ensure you are not left out of pocket because of a trip that you cannot take.
Issues Out Of Your Control
Sometimes some things are simply out of your control when it comes to travelling. One of the main things could be flight delays or cancellations. If you have travel insurance in place, this will usually cover the cost, if the airline is unwilling to do so, of accommodation until the next available flight. Check out SafetyWing if you are looking for a reliable company and insurance policy.
When you are travelling with your family, this could be essential, especially if the delay is a long one or the next flight is not for a few hours. Instead of trying to occupy yourself and your children in an airport, you can at least go to a hotel and get some sleep if necessary.
Loss of Luggage
Luggage goes missing and that’s a fact. How many times have you been standing at the luggage carousel wondering what you would do if your bag wasn’t on it? It’s not too bad if it was lost on the way home. After all the likelihood is that it’s just full of dirty clothes and you have more at home. However, what would you do if it happened on your outbound journey?
Imagine having no clothes while on holiday for you or your family? They could cost a lot to rebuy. Therefore, it’s important to have an insurance policy that covers lost or delayed luggage. If you do, it means that you can recoup your costs. It is however likely that you will have to pay an excess. Therefore shop around for the best-priced policy with the lowest excess payable.
Loss, Theft or Damage of Gadgets
If you are anything like us, you will travel with a number of gadgets. And the likelihood is the bigger your family the more gadgets you will have. This includes phones, tablets, cameras, games consoles etc. These can all be very expensive to replace if they are lost, stolen or even dropped (which is easily done if your children are small) while on holiday.
Therefore, it is important to opt for a travel insurance policy that includes gadget cover. It is usual that standard insurance policies will cover one or two gadgets, which makes it essential to take out additional gadget cover if you intend on travelling with more. Yes, this may put your premium up slightly. However, it will never be as much as the potential cost of having to replace them all. Therefore, spending a little bit more at the outset may allow you to recoup more, in the long run, should something happen to your gadgets while travelling.
Lack of Free Healthcare
Depending on where you are in the world will depend on the level of healthcare on offer and the cost associated with it. Very few countries offer a high level of free healthcare. Therefore, it is important that you have family travel insurance, just in case a member of your family was injured or was taken ill.
Treatment can be very expensive (often thousands) and something you may never have even thought to budget for. However, if you have a reasonable family travel insurance policy in place, the bill or at least the majority of it should be covered by your insurance company.
Cover The Cost of Getting Home
If you need treatment while you are travelling, the cost of getting home afterwards can be extremely expensive, especially if you need a doctor or nurse with you during the flight. With escorted repatriation ranging from £15,000 to £30,000, it could really leave you in financial difficultly, whereas you could claim the fee if you have an adequate travel insurance policy.
Even getting home with a leg in plaster, for example, can mean shelling out for a business or first-class ticket. This would be to ensure that you have enough room and that you are comfortable. Just imagine having to take a long haul flight in economy. Again certain insurance policies cover this for the injured person.
If You Need To Cut Your Holiday Short
There is always the possibility that there may be an illness, injury or even death that could cut your holiday short. If this were to happen without an insurance policy in place, you would have to make your own arrangements for getting home. This includes sorting out your own flights together with organising your transport to the airport.
Again if you have a family travel insurance policy in place, these expenses could be covered. This is known as ‘curtailment’. Depending on your policy, it may also cover other expenses. These include paying accommodation fees and also recouping excursion fees if you are unable to able to go on it/them.
Winter Sports
If you enjoy winter sports then it is important to have a relivant insurance policy in place. This is because there is more of a chance that you could be injured and require medical treatment or damage your skis or snowboard etc. Especially if travelling with children.
Therefore if you are planning on taking part in any winter sports during your trip, ensure you add it onto your family travel insurance policy. Cover for winter sports is often not included in a standard policy. It is instead usually an additional extra. This will ensure that should anyone need medical attention or any equipment be damaged, you will be able to claim expenses via your insurance company.
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