If you’re a frequent traveler, travel insurance is an absolute necessity. Like all types of insurance, travel insurance provides financial coverage when an unexpected disaster strikes. This could be anything, from an injury sustained abroad to unexpected weather. If you’re going to invest in a travel insurance policy, then you need to do proper research in order to find the best policy for you. There are myriad travel insurance companies, all with differing policies. You need one that covers you for as much as possible and offers a competitive rate. Here are nine reasons why you need travel insurance:
Sickness or Injury
If you don’t have travel insurance and you get sick or become injured abroad, you might not be able to pay for quality healthcare. If you have previously researched how travel insurance works, then you will be aware that nearly all policies cover sickness and injury. In fact, it is the main item of coverage offered on travel insurance policies. With coverage for this, your insurer will issue a payout so that you can see a professional, private doctor. Alternatively, they will pay for an immediate flight home so that you can see a doctor domestically.
Travel Bankruptcy
Another reason that you need travel insurance is in case the organization that you have been traveling with goes bankrupt. Due to the pandemic, many travel companies have been forced to declare bankruptcy. If you are abroad, you can’t guarantee that yours won’t also. With travel insurance, you will be able to ensure that you will have flights arranged on your behalf. Without it, you could be stuck in a foreign country, unable to get flights. Travel insurance is particularly important if you are on an all-inclusive vacation and don’t have the money to get back home by yourself.
Lost Luggage
Unfortunately, lost luggage is a very common thing on airlines today. Most airlines will provide compensation if they lose your luggage, though it’s not usually much and can take a long time to be paid out. Your travel insurance will cover you against lost luggage. You can decide how much coverage you have, so make sure to calculate your belongings’ total costs carefully. The amount of coverage you have will increase the amount that you have to pay on your policy. Travel insurers pay out immediately for lost luggage, so you will be able to get on with your vacation and buy new things.
Weather Unpredictability
If you are vacationing in a place where there is extreme weather, travel insurance is very important. Unfortunately, if you’re not insured and disaster strikes, damaging the hotel that you were staying at or causing your flights to be canceled, you will probably not be able to get compensation for your prepaid expenses. With insurance, however, that’s not the case and you’re guaranteed total coverage. This can help you to prevent losing all of your money. Insurance costs very little and gives you the peace of mind of knowing that you won’t lose your entire holiday fund.
Trip Interruption
If some kind of emergency happens that causes an interruption with your trip, you would usually lose out. Thankfully, many insurers offer trip interruption insurance, which covers you for more or less anything that causes you to be unable to travel. You might also want to consider flight insurance, which covers you if any disasters were to happen while you were in the air. Flight insurance is a great thing to invest in if you don’t have life or health insurance, because it covers you in exactly the same way.
International Terrorism
Unfortunately, terrorism is commonplace in the world today. If you are abroad and you are the victim of a terrorist attack or kidnapping, travel insurance will either pay for you to get home and provide compensation or pay for your ransom. The U.S. government does not pay ransom to hostage-takers, so without travel insurance, you would essentially be all on your own, perhaps unable to pay for your safe release. For this reason, make sure that you have terrorism coverage, especially if you are traveling to a dangerous country where that kind of thing is not unusual.
Tragedy Cancellation
Going back to the idea of losing out on one’s prepaid expenses were an interruption to occur, you can also get a very specific type of coverage which essentially allows you to get compensation if a tragedy causes you to have to cancel your vacation. A tragedy can be anything, from the loss of a friend to a loved one, to the death of a family pet. Travel insurance is very useful for this because if a tragedy were to strike, the last thing that you need is to lose all of the money that you have spent on travel expenses.
Work Cancellations
Another type of interruption coverage is work cancellations. If you have to cancel your holiday because you can no longer take holiday time off from work, then you can get specific coverage that ensures you won’t lose out. Nearly all insurance providers offer coverage for this, but you may have to ask specifically for it. It’s a very good idea to ask for this insurance if your employers are unpredictable, or if you think that there’s a chance they might recall you and ask you to continue working during your leave.
Missed Flights
If you miss a flight, without insurance you would be stuck and wouldn’t be able to get compensation from the airline. If you don’t have a lot of money then this would essentially mean that your vacation would be canceled, and you wouldn’t be able to do anything about it. It could also mean that you are left stranded in a foreign country. Travel insurance will ensure that if you miss a flight, that you will be on the next flight back home. Missing one’s flights is very common, so definitely invest in travel insurance in case it happens to you.
Travel insurance is definitely something that’s worth investing in. When you’re traveling, you can never predict when disaster is going to strike. Most travel insurance policies are very affordable, so there’s no excuse for not investing in them.
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