Choosing the right travel insurance

Travel insurance is an essential part of your holiday or short break but it can be complicated and confusing when choosing it. There are many different types of travel insurance policies available, so it’s important to know what type of policy you want, and what you want it to cover you for.

Who will be travelling with you, family or friends, the policies available are: 

• Couple travel insurance – if you live at the same address as your partner

• Family holiday insurance – for two adults plus up to four children travelling together – this will suit you if your children are 18 or younger and live full-time with you

• Single-parent family cover

• Couple and child cover – often cheaper than a family policy if you have only one child

You need to be aware that with the ’family’ policy it can be invalid if family members are travelling independently or if the children are travelling with someone not named on the policy and may not include children or step children who do not permanently live with the policy holder.

Where are you travelling to, as policies are often set by area:

•    Europe

•    Worldwide excluding the US

•    Worldwide

You need to be aware with the ‘Europe’ travel insurance, as the term is different to what is technically Europe so you need to check that where you’re going counts as Europe for your travel insurance company. Check the day trips over national boundaries to make sure you are covered.

How often you travel and how long for, as there are policies for that too:

• If you travel abroad more than twice a year, annual holiday insurance or multi-trip insurance is usually better value. You will also have the benefit of being able to take trips at short notice without having to arrange insurance

• Most annual and single trip policies cover you for 90, 120 or even 180 days. If you’ll be away for longer, a long-stay policy provides up to 18 months of cover

For those special circumstances, there are policies for that too:

• For specialist gap year insurance or backpacker insurance, add on cover for the kinds of activities you’ll be doing – whether its adventure sports, work or volunteering

• For unplanned activities such as bungee jumping or pony trekking, you may need to contact your insurance company while you’re away to arrange cover

• If you’re over 65 or have a medical condition, you’re likely to need a specialist policy