Planning a holiday or vacation? It’s a wise idea to compare holiday insurance policies before you book your trip. There are some very good reasons for this.
First, it’s quite common for some people to not compare holiday insurance and instead buy their travel insurance to the very last minute. This is quite understandable, as most people’s main concern is their choice of destination and hotel. But this can often be a really expensive mistake.
If you don’t compare travel insurance and arrange it in advance, then you may end up having to buy it through your travel agent when you book your holiday. As a general rule, holiday insurance policies sold by travel agents are usually a lot more expensive than identical policies which you can find when you compare holiday insurance yourself. In fact, take a few moments to compare holiday insurance quotations online yourself, and you may cut the costs by anything up to 60%.
Secondly, you need to make sure that your holiday insurance policy gives you the right cover that you need. If you are planning on doing any “adventurous” activities such as Scuba Diving, Horse Riding, Skiing or Water-sports, it’s vital that you carefully compare holiday insurance small print to make sure that you are covered (some basic policies do exclude these activities, and there’s nothing worse than suffering a mishap and then finding that you aren’t covered!)
Third, if you compare travel insurance and take out a holiday insurance policy before you actually book your holiday, you’ll be completely protected if the firm stops trading and will be able to get your money back from the travel insurance company.
In contrast, if you don’t compare holiday insurance in advance and instead buy your travel insurance after you’ve booked the holiday, you won’t be covered if the holiday firm goes bust. So, in the current climate, always have your holiday insurance in place before you book your holiday to be completely safe.
Finally, many people buy a holiday insurance policy just to cover a particular trip. But this is a very expensive way of buying cover.
If you are planning on going away more than once in a year, you’ll almost certainly be better off getting an annual holiday insurance policy. If you compare holiday insurance rates online, you may be surprised to find that you can often get an annual travel insurance policy for much the same rates as you’d pay for a 14 day policy.
Compare Holiday Insurance By Looking At These Areas
All holiday insurance policies will generally provide cover for the following areas, so look out for them when you compare holiday insurance:
- Medical Expenses
- Holiday Cancellation
- Personal Liability
- Loss of Baggage
- Theft of Cash
As you might guess, the higher the level of cover is for each of these areas, then the better the policy is. To compare holiday insurance plans, just start off by looking at the amount of Medical Expenses cover – as medical costs in a foreign country can easily sky-rocket. Then look at all the other areas in turn – remember the higher the cover, the safer you’ll be.
If you need more information about these areas, here’s a handy Wikipedia article to help explain holiday insurance benefits.
Is It Difficult To Compare Holiday Insurance?
No. In fact it’s really simple. You can start to compare holiday insurance by getting a few online quotations instantly in a couple of mouse clicks.
When you have these quotations, first rank them in terms of price starting off with the cheapest. Next check to make sure that any adventure sports you may do whilst on holiday are covered. Then, if you are happy with the level of overall cover, go ahead and take out the policy.
So, as you can see, it’s really easy to compare holiday insurance plans yourself and save a fortune in a few minutes!