Holidays cost plenty of money — there’s no doubting that. Especially if you’re going away at peak time, your trip will have likely cost you thousands before you’ve even got there. With that in mind, a lot of us look to cut corners on costs where we can, and one of the most common costs people avoid is travel insurance.
It’s a rather strange thing to pass on, travel insurance. It’s relatively inexpensive (especially for a weekend away) and can cover you for every eventuality there is on your trip, yet still plenty of us choose to avoid it to save a few quid. Here, we discuss the reasons to get travel insurance, using some worst-case scenarios as examples.
You Can’t Go
It’s the eve of your big trip. For months you have waited for this; your deluxe XL non-stop sunshine package that might have set you back £5,000 but you know it’ll be worth it. The excitement is palpable, but then something goes wrong.
An accident leaves a family member hospital bound for the foreseeable future. It’s one of those things; you can’t do anything about it and your travel provider appreciates that — but they’re not going to give you your £5,000 back because it’s too close to the trip.
If you have travel insurance and can’t go on your holiday under one of their covered reasons, you can get full reimbursement on a prepaid, non-refundable trip.
You Have A Medical Emergency When There
If you live in the UK and are used to complaining about the NHS and £7 prescriptions, you’ll do well to remember how good you’ve really got it when it comes to medical care. You only need to look across the pond at US medical bills to understand the gravity of falling ill abroad.
Say you’re on holiday in the States and someone falls seriously ill, your medical bill can happily spiral into six figures. Seemingly unthinkable to the average Brit, but possibly an awful reality should anything go wrong.
If you take out insurance with emergency medical benefits, you can get your costs covered.
Your Flights Are Delayed/Cancelled
OK, this one isn’t as bad as the first two but it’s still a pain and potential holiday dampener. Particularly if you’re only away for a week, serious travel delays or cancellations can eat into your holiday time significantly. With planes, a delay over three hours will usually see you get a little bit of compensation, but not enough to cover potential losses on the holiday.
Travel insurance will payout in the event of a prominent delay, so the holiday blues don’t feel as blue.
You Lose Your Luggage
The carousel is turning and the crowd awaits. Any minute now. Any minute now. Shan’t
It’s a rather rare event, but the loss of luggage can happen. Insurance baggage coverage will reimburse you for your entire bag’s worth (up to an agreed policy limit), so you can replace those key lost items.
Of course, this article is a rather pessimistic one, but all of these things do happen. When it comes to travel insurance, you have to ask yourself: would you rather pay a little to protect yourself or potentially find yourself looking for ways to pay a bill of thousands should things go wrong?
It’s certainly a trade-off and hopefully, you’ll never need to use your cover, but if something does go wrong, you’ll certainly be glad you got it in the first place.
*Collaborative Post
