How To Buy Travel Insurance

Gone are my 20's, just like the days when travel insurance was considered a luxury. Now it doesn't matter who, how old or healthy you are, everyone KNOWS how important it is to have it. You add a family with kids, and travel over a prolonged period of time to the equation, and you've just increased the chances someone is going to have to claim. With that in mind, do you really fancy having no support if the worst happened and having to fork out the cash when it does.......even held hostage until you pay it? No, no-one does, and chances are, you know someone who has had to claim, no matter how big or small the problem.

1. DO NOT BUY BASED ON PRICE ALONE
Back when I started buying travel insurance, I always used to opt for the cheapest I could find, but when a friend of mine needed to claim on one of our trips, with the same company, I realised the policy was not worth the paper it was written on. Consider the features and terms and conditions, over the price. There is no point in buying a policy just because it is cheap, only to end up being stung, because you think you're covered, and quite simply, you're not. You know, like one of those adverts where they say 'Hey! You're covered!' and then spend the next half hour whizzing through all the scenarios you won't be covered in, which ends up being most. Choosing the best policy for you with a great company, doesn't mean you have to compromise on price, as we found out.

2. REPUTATION AND FIRST IMPRESSIONS
When I was first told about Holiday Safe Travel Insurance , for example, I saw a lot of awards and great reviews. This is important. There is a reason WHY awards are achieved and people leave good reviews. For example the first thing you see when you click to Holiday Safe's website is:
Moneywise Customer Service Awards 2016
Moneywise Most Trusted Travel Insurance Provider 2016
Money facts Travel Insurance Provider of The Year 2016
Which? Best Rate Travel Insurance Since 2010
Paying customers before you, will tell you everything you need to know about a company you are wanting to use. Review sites like Trust Pilot and Trip Advisor are great to check out before making a final decision. They will never please everyone, so never expect a 100% positive feedback, but you can usually tell with a high score and enough reviews, who you are dealing with.

3.MAKE SURE IT IS EASY TO GET A HOLD OF THEM
You can't put a price on being able to speak to someone when you want or need to. A lot of companies offer the option to buy their services and provide customer service, mainly online. For a lot of people this works well, but for me personally, I like to be able to speak to someone on the phone. That time when you're away and want to clarify something right away or when the worst happens and you just really need to speak to someone, I think it is really important to be able to do that. Whatever option you prefer, online or over the phone, even if the company is reputable, make sure it is easy to get in touch with them.

4. MAKE SURE YOU CHOSE THE RIGHT POLICY
This is another reason why, I just prefer to speak to someone and get advice from a professional. For example, we are a family of four, going on continuous travel, for nine months to begin with. I had absolutely no idea, what kind of policy I needed. At first we were looking at multi trip policies, but discovered we needed a backpacker package. It can be so time consuming and confusing trying to figure out what is best. When I called Holiday Safe, they run through all our plans and were able to tell us which was the right one. They run through all those things that I wouldn't have even thought about, despite the fact I have been buying travel insurance online for years, particularly helpful when you're doing something new, like travelling the world. While discussing our plans, loads of questions came up and when we were able to understand what was covered as standard, we were then able to add on extras. Having a tailor made policy, gives you peace of mind.

5. ALWAYS READ THE SMALL PRINT
Going for a good policy with a good company, also doesn't mean you're covered for 'everything'. If you're like me, you won't read the small print on everything you ever buy, but travel insurance, is one instance you should ALWAYS do this. Even with chatting to someone on the phone when you buy your policy, you will always have questions come into your mind afterwards.....'am I covered for this, am I covered for that?' and always have surprises as to what you are not covered for. It is known that as a family, we like to jump off really high cliffs into water, but on reading the policy, I understand that if a giant squid was to eat us or we were to hurt ourselves on some rocks, we would not be covered under the terms. We are however, covered for bungee jumping! A lot of the activities we want to participate in are covered, but as soon as you want to do 'winter sports', you need to add this on as an extra. This is why its also a good idea to print the insurance documents and keep them on you as you travel for any instances you might want to double check.

BONUS TIP!
PURCHASE YOUR TRAVEL INSURANCE AS SOON AS YOU ARRANGE THE TRAVEL
Pre-holiday cover is something a lot of people still don't think about but imagine you have to cancel your trip and you still have not got around to sorting the insurance, because it is still a few weeks away! Planning a gap year of travel with our family for the last year, has meant there has been plenty of time for things to go wrong, and several times in that period, it did. There were many occasions we thought we may have to cancel the whole thing and I can't tell you how nice it is, to know that you won't be loosing money through cancelling things, especially when you're already stressed with the reason for cancelling!

We hope these few simple tips we've picked up, help you in choosing, what is a must buy now with any travel. If you have found it helpful please leave us some love with a like or a comment, or even pop us a message :) We personally use holidaysafe and if you would like to get a quote with these, simply click the link below. We do not use affiliate links on our website at all. Holiday safe have gifted our policy in exchange for some honest feedback using their services. After some of the tips above, we chose holiday safe as our travel insurance provider. We will not work with any brands or companies, unless they are our personal choice for the services they provide.