The value of travel insurance
April 19th 2010 03:10
Category: No Category
This whole situation with the Icelandic volcano is affecting passengers worldwide. Even those who are not travelling to Europe but to the destination usually used as a stopover/transit.
I am going to dedicate a couple of posts this week on travel insurance so that you can understand it a lot more.
When I was a travel agent we were drilled about making sure our clients have some sort of insurance when they travel. Whether they bought it from us or not, at least have something.
Because - let's face it - shit happens.
Too many people are under the impression that just because they are good and healthy and don't think they will be needing the doctors, they don't need travel insurance.
It's not just about going to the doctors. It's about situations like these as well.
Yes, a volcano is not going to erupt everyday, but other things do also happen. Cyclones, typhoons, earth quakes, and some of the man-made situations such as strikes, airport closures and plane malfunctioning, just to name a few.
I can go on and name a few examples of when travelling has gone wrong and something extremely drastic has happened which resulted in a claim of more than 6 million dollars. However, extremely bad situations are not going to happen to everybody, so simply consider this - you plan a trip to Canada. Tickets cost you more than $2000, there is a $300 cancellation fee on this ticket and a $150 per/change change fee.. You hire a car with an excess of $1500. Then you book accommodation at $100 per night for 10 nights, half of which are none refundable because you got it at a last minute special.
So many things can happen between you booking and you departing: There is a chance of losing your cancellation fees on the flights and $500 of the none cancellable portions of your accommodation. You may be driving along in your hire car and some idiot decide to bump into you very hard while trying to reverse park, or even worse, crash into you so hard that not only is the car ruined (with the $1500 excess you have to pay) you end up in hospital for 2 days recovering. You may have to change the return flight because of this, that's the change fees as well, and not to mention, while you are in hospital, you lose your accommodation costs.
Travel insurance covers you for cancellations and amendment costs from the time you purchase your policy, and then depending on the policy you take out, it can cover quite a bit for things that happen while you are travelling.
Therefore, it is only beneficial to you, that you get your insurance policy at the time of you purchasing the flight ticket/travel package. A cousin's friend decided to purchase their insurance policy only after learning the volcano eruption has happened and flights are being cancelled. In this case, you are aware of what is happening, therefore this policy will not cover for this particular situation.
If you drive a car with insurance, if you own a house with home and contents insurance, if you have private health insurance - then what is stopping you getting travel insurance when you travel?
I am going to dedicate a couple of posts this week on travel insurance so that you can understand it a lot more.
When I was a travel agent we were drilled about making sure our clients have some sort of insurance when they travel. Whether they bought it from us or not, at least have something.
Because - let's face it - shit happens.
Too many people are under the impression that just because they are good and healthy and don't think they will be needing the doctors, they don't need travel insurance.
It's not just about going to the doctors. It's about situations like these as well.
Yes, a volcano is not going to erupt everyday, but other things do also happen. Cyclones, typhoons, earth quakes, and some of the man-made situations such as strikes, airport closures and plane malfunctioning, just to name a few.
I can go on and name a few examples of when travelling has gone wrong and something extremely drastic has happened which resulted in a claim of more than 6 million dollars. However, extremely bad situations are not going to happen to everybody, so simply consider this - you plan a trip to Canada. Tickets cost you more than $2000, there is a $300 cancellation fee on this ticket and a $150 per/change change fee.. You hire a car with an excess of $1500. Then you book accommodation at $100 per night for 10 nights, half of which are none refundable because you got it at a last minute special.
So many things can happen between you booking and you departing: There is a chance of losing your cancellation fees on the flights and $500 of the none cancellable portions of your accommodation. You may be driving along in your hire car and some idiot decide to bump into you very hard while trying to reverse park, or even worse, crash into you so hard that not only is the car ruined (with the $1500 excess you have to pay) you end up in hospital for 2 days recovering. You may have to change the return flight because of this, that's the change fees as well, and not to mention, while you are in hospital, you lose your accommodation costs.
Travel insurance covers you for cancellations and amendment costs from the time you purchase your policy, and then depending on the policy you take out, it can cover quite a bit for things that happen while you are travelling.
Therefore, it is only beneficial to you, that you get your insurance policy at the time of you purchasing the flight ticket/travel package. A cousin's friend decided to purchase their insurance policy only after learning the volcano eruption has happened and flights are being cancelled. In this case, you are aware of what is happening, therefore this policy will not cover for this particular situation.
(Image source: cartoonstock.com)
If you drive a car with insurance, if you own a house with home and contents insurance, if you have private health insurance - then what is stopping you getting travel insurance when you travel?
| 73 |
| Vote |
subscribe to this blog