Travel insurance: single trip or annual cover?
While single trip travel insurance is an easy and obvious option for many travellers, it's worth taking the time to think about whether taking out an annual travel insurance policy would be worth your while. If you shop around then it's possible to find annual travel insurance policies that work out as the best value if you're likely to make more than one or two trips in any given year, so do some research before automatically clicking on the ‘single trip' option.
It's not just the lower cost that benefits those people who travel relatively frequently; by paying the one-off fee and getting covered for the whole 12 months, there's no need to fill in forms every single time you're preparing to travel. This is especially beneficial if you're the kind of person that likes to take trips at short notice without having to worry too much about weeks of planning.
Of course, if you know full well that you'll only be able to take one holiday in the coming year then single trip insurance is still the way forward, especially if you shop around online for the best possible deal. Single trip insurance is relatively cheap if you know where to look, so take the time to sit at your computer monitor for a few minutes and seek out the best possible deal.
Whether you opt for single trip or annual travel insurance, it's vitally important that you are completely honest when applying for cover. Research suggests that thousands of UK holidaymakers with pre-existing medical conditions fail to fully disclose their conditions when taking out travel insurance for fear that prices will jump dramatically.
Taking that kind of risk is incredibly short-sighted, as those travellers will quickly find that their insurance policy is void should they be put in a situation where they need to make a claim. Honesty is always the best policy when it comes to applying for cover, and it needn't necessarily mean a significantly higher cost - there are specialist travel medical insurance providers out there who recognise the needs of those with pre-existing medical conditions, who are able to offer very competitive policies.
Similarly, older travellers are often singled out by some travel insurance providers, with prices jumping up significantly as the age of the person applying rises. Again, if this is an issue that affects you, look to the specialist providers - cover for over 65-year-olds is often much cheaper if you go direct to a company that concentrates mainly on providing good deals for older holidaymakers.
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If you have a pre-exisiting medical condition, look into travel medical insurance before you go on your travels.
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