Holiday Insurance

You probably already insure your car, your home, and possibly even your life. But have you ever thought of the consequences of not insuring your holiday?

It seems that a lot of people haven’t thought of holiday insurance – according to Moneysupermarket, one in five people travel without holiday insurance, but 90% of people don’t do this intentionally. Yet this oversight could leave you seriously out of pocket. A broken leg sustained on holiday could cost £10,000 in Europe and as much as £30,000 in the USA*.

Another important reason to take out holiday insurance is cancellation. If you have booked a package holiday and need to cancel, you can at the very least expect to lose your deposit and, as the date of departure approaches, a hefty percentage of the holiday costs too. If you are booking a more expensive holiday, check that the cancellation cover offered with your holiday insurance is sufficient to cover the cost of the trip.

As well as emergency medical expenses and cancellation cover, holiday insurance should also include cover for curtailment, personal liability and legal expenses. Most holiday insurance policies also cover your personal belongings although some policies offer the option to exclude baggage cover for a discount – this is worth doing if you already have “away from home” cover for your personal belongings on your home contents insurance policy, or don’t feel that you need cover for this.

Holiday insurance can be taken out for a one-off trip, or you can buy a policy that covers you for an unlimited number of trips taken in the course of a year (up to a certain number of days per trip). If you take more than two trips in a year this will very likely work out as better value for money. If you are going away for an extended period you can obtain holiday insurance for this too.

Holiday insurance is available from a number of places. If you booked your holiday through a travel agent you will probably have been offered their policy, but remember you are not obliged to take this and it can work out very expensive. Thanks to comparison sites such as Moneysupermarket it is easier than ever to compare holiday insurance premiums, and as a result the market is becoming very competitive. But remember to compare the cover features and cover limits as well, before you buy your holiday insurance.

Finally, make sure you read your holiday insurance policy documents carefully to check the cover meets your needs. If it does prove to be unsuitable, you should be able to obtain a refund within 14 days provided your trip has not already begun and you have not made a claim on the policy.