Insurance and Finance > Travel Insurance

When going abroad, either for a holiday or on a business trip, travel insurance is something that you should have in place to cover you should the worst occur. A trip abroad can be expensive, especially when going on a holiday, an accident can easily cause you to have to cut the trip short and so you will loose out, and you may even have to face medical bills on top of this. While you will obviously hope to never have to use it, travel insurance is good to have just in case things don’t go well.

Travel insurance will provide cover for a number of eventualities, most policies will pay for any medical treatment required when abroad, and will cover the cost of a flight home if treatment needs to be carried out in this country. Many will cover the cost of bringing back another person such as a spouse or friend as well to accompany the injured party.

Most travel insurance policies will provide a refund for the cost of your holiday that you miss out on due to injury or illness, so if for example you have to miss a week of your two week holiday then you will get around half of the money refunded, there are of course limitations and conditions that usually apply to these circumstances.

The main reason people choose to take out travel insurance when going abroad is to gain peace of mind that they will be looked after should they require medical treatment.

Unlike the UK, most countries do not have a free health service, and so treatment abroad could leave you with a large medical bill that you would have to pay yourself if you do not have adequate insurance in place. Having to seek medical help when on holiday is bad enough, compounding that with having to foot a large bill yourself at the end of it all is certainly something to be avoided.

As well as covering against costs arising from injury or illness, theft or loss of valuable items such as jewellery and cameras is also covered in many cases, and while the loss of your camera may leave you without the pictures with which to remember you holiday with, at least you wont be out of pocket financially.

Travel insurance needn’t be expensive, there are many insurers that offer great deals on cover, and since the big supermarkets entered the market the competition has driven prices even lower for the consumer. The cost of your travel insurance will depend on the level of cover that you want, your destination, what activities you are taken part in (for example skiing and water sports will generally cost more to cover) and how long your holiday is for. Shop around to find yourself the best deal, the two providers highlighted on this page are recommended by us, and they are a good place to start.