Travel Insurance: Advantages and Disadvantages

Advantages and disadvantages of travel insurance. What are they and how can you easily compare travel insurance plans?

Whether it’s lost luggage or a missed flight, unexpected events can happen on a trip and it’s always good to plan ahead.

In this feature, we’ll cover the main advantages and disadvantages of the best travel insurance plans.

Advantages of Travel Insurance

There are a number of advantages for having travel insurance while on holiday. Here are just some of the main benefits:

• Overseas medical cover: When you are visiting a foreign country, you may be surprised to find out that medical services are not covered under your local health insurance plans.
  
  Travel insurance allows you to receive medical treatment from a foreign hospital. Hospital services are subsidised, but these are often only applied to residents. 
   
• Loss of Income: If you are injured during your holiday and cannot return to work, some travel insurance plans will cover your loss of income for a period of time.
   
• Personal item loss and theft protection: Be safe on your travels by keeping an eye on your belongings, securing your luggage and ensuring important items are on you at all times.
  
  Tourists are a target for thieves, however, and theft protection will offer you increased peace of mind.
   
• Loss from travel delay: Travel delays happen and are often out of your control. Delayed flights, trains or ferries can have flow-on effects to other parts of your trips.
  
  For example, a delayed flight can result in you missing your non-refundable train ride. Some travel insurance packages will cover you for this. 
   
• Vehicle rental protection: Hiring a vehicle is a popular option for tourists. It gives you the freedom to explore a location, makes it easier to travel, and can be cheaper than using taxis or other forms of transport.
  
  While local vehicle rental companies have their own car insurance, these are often expensive or limited in what they cover.
  
  Travel insurance can fill these gaps in coverage so you don’t have to worry. 

Disadvantages of Travel Insurance 

The disadvantages of travel insurance often involve what isn’t covered in a travel insurance policy. While the best travel insurance plans are already very comprehensive, they don’t cover every single part of your holiday.

Some examples of what isn’t covered by insurance include reckless behaviour and change of mind resulting in a loss.

We have a dedicated article about what is not covered in travel insurance that offers important tips on what to look for in a policy.

Another disadvantage of travel insurance can be unexpected costs.

Travel insurance quotes are determined by a number of factors such as the location of the holiday, an age of the traveller, and the duration of the journey.

Trips that are long can end up being very expensive to cover. 

If you have already spent thousands of dollars on a trip, a few hundred dollars more toward travel insurance can be discouraging.

Nonetheless, travel insurance is always recommended for any trip that you go on and provides crucial support in the event of an unexpected emergency.

Compare travel insurance quotes so that you can find an excellent deal that doesn’t break the bank.

Try our free Travel Insurance Comparison Quote tool today.