If you’re a frequent traveler, your travel insurance matters just as much as what you buy to take away with you. It should be an essential purchase if it already isn’t. And sadly, for over 60% of the population, it’s not deemed a priority or something they need to invest in.
But when you’re on the road more than at home, it’s not just buying the policy that matters; it’s the policy you buy and the differences between coverage for regular travelers and those planning a one-off trip. Let’s take a look.
Type of Coverage
Single-trip policies are good for exactly that. But if you regularly need to purchase a policy, it might be worth investing in one that covers you for a full year, not just the number of days you’re out of the country as you come and go. You pay a flat premium for 12 months’ coverage, and this means something is in place for all the trips you take within this timeframe. An annual policy will typically work out much cheaper than buying single-trip ones. There might be some trade-offs, like a lower per-trip limit that you would get on a single-trip cover, but if you’re happy with the limits, then it’s worth your investment.
Business and Work Equipment Isn’t Covered
This is a really important caveat to any travel insurance. If you plan on working in any capacity, even answering an email or two, then you won’t be covered if you need to make a claim. You need a completely separate cover. Sure, you can take things like laptops, a camera, and recording equipment with you, but if you use them in any way for a professional purpose, then you’re violating the policy. If anything happens, you won’t be able to make a valid claim. Experts like Generali will have set criteria to satisfy their personal travel insurance policies.
Destination Risk Changes
Frequent fliers will understand that where they go influences and changes their coverage. You need to alert the provider of where you’ll be traveling to, and if there are any risks involved at your intended destination, so they’ll know to be able to audit or revoke coverage entirely. This is true for both single-trip policies and annual ones, too.
If you’re taking a trip somewhere, the State Department has a travel advisory on, you might be excluded from cover or offered cover with different limits or conditions attached to it. However, if you have coverage in place before an advisory is issued, you might still be good with the original conditions. But it’s worth checking in any case.
Travel Delays
All it takes is one delayed flight, then you get a missed connection, a night in a hotel you didn’t plan for, and suddenly everything is spiralling out of control. And when this happens frequently, you need to be confident you’re covered to cover any out-of-pocket expenses you might incur due to this until you can claim. Some providers will have set limits for how many times you can claim, especially if you have an annual policy, and future coverage might fall lower if you stick with the same provider due to previous issues. On this note, it’s also a good idea to check what evidence you need in these scenarios to ensure that you are prepared upfront and without any mistakes associated with occurrence and process.
