What is Covered by Travel Insurance?

When you are planning a trip, abroad or otherwise, for pleasure or for business, what remains the single most important thing to check in on? That one safety net, you must invest in to safeguard yourself against the possible perils that you may encounter during your travels? You guessed it right – your travel insurance coverage! The benefits of a travel insurance policy are plentiful, and it provides a wide range of coverages against situations which may adversely affect your travel plans.

Types of Travel Insurance Policies

No one size fits all, and that rings true for travel insurance policies as well. There is no one policy that can be termed as best for everyone, because each individual comes with their own needs and expectations. The best policy is the one which fits you the best. Hence, before understanding what is covered by travel insurance, we need to know the types of travel insurance coverage available in the market.

• Based on Geographical Boundaries: With respect to geographical boundaries, travel insurance policies can be segregated as domestic or international travel insurance policies. The former restricts its coverages to only within the geographical area of India. The latter would be more expensive considering it promises to provide you monetary support during your trips abroad, and has to account for the exchange rate parity. Moreover, if you are travelling to any of the Schengen countries, buying a travel insurance policy is a mandatory requirement.

• Based on Frequency: You may have that one big travel plan each year, or you may be someone who travels multiple times in a year. Depending on the frequency of your travel plans, there are different trip-based travel insurance products available, namely, single or multi-trip plans. To get over the hassle of buying a travel plan every time you travel, you may look to opt for a multi-trip travel insurance coverage.

• Based on Travellers: Depending on the demographic of travellers, there are different travel insurance plans which are customised in nature, such as:

• Student Travel Insurance

• Senior Citizen Travel Insurance

• Family Travel Insurance

• Corporate Travel Insurance

Inclusions Under Travel Insurance

To convince yourself to invest in a travel insurance product, you would need a convincing answer as to what does travel insurance cover. While there could be multiple things that could adversely affect you during your travels, a travel insurance plan attempts to broadly provide coverage against the below mentioned situations –

• Loss/Delay/Damage of Luggage: A lot of times, especially with international travel where there are connecting flights involved, your baggage may get lost, delayed or damaged by the air carrier. Either of these situations could cause frustration at your end and need to spend money for replacement which wasn’t earlier accounted for. Monetary support is what is covered under travel insurance in these situations. You can put in a claim basis your situation, and post verification by the insurance company, you will be compensated for your losses/damage.

• Medical Emergencies: The last thing you would want is to fall sick or prey to any medical emergencies during your travels. But it could happen that during your travels, you feel the need for medical intervention. In a foreign land, where you’re not fully aware of how the system works, it could be intimidating to visit a hospital. But if you have invested in a travel insurance policy, this becomes relatively easier. A travel insurance policy provides coverages against medical emergencies and pays expenses incurred toward hospitalization, diagnostic services, ambulance charges etc.

• Cash Crunch Allowances: You can fall victim to thefts in any corner of the world. As per a survey, tourists in a foreign land are more likely to get robbed than anyone else. This is because the thief may feel a tourist would not press charges or have the time to record a formal report due to his/her limited time in that particular country. Hence, if you were to get robbed of all your money in a foreign land, the repercussions could be grave. However, through a travel insurance policy, your insurance provider will look to provide a fixed cash allowance to you in such dire, emergency situations.

• Personal Liability Coverage: Accidents can happen anytime, anywhere. If you end up hurting a third-party or their property during your travel, you could be facing legal consequences. However, by way of your travel insurance policy, you are offered support to deal with these situations and your travel insurance provider steps in as your representative to deal with the third party. Any monetary costs required would be met out of your travel insurance policy provisions.

• Cancellation Requests: It may happen that because of certain reasons you may have to cancel your travel plans. While it could cause emotional anguish, you would find some relief if you get back the refunds for all the pre-bookings made with context to this trip. Through your travel insurance policy, you may achieve exactly that. The only ask is that the reason for cancelling the trip must be legitimate, which would be checked in by your travel insurance provider.

Conclusion:

While it’s great to know what your travel insurance cover, you must also remember there are a range of situations which may not be covered under your travel insurance policy. Hence, it is highly recommended that you do extensive research on the purview of a travel insurance before purchasing it.

Disclaimer: The above information is indicative in nature. For more details on the risk factor, terms and conditions, please refer to the Sales Brochure and Policy Wordings carefully before concluding a sale.