What comes to your mind when people speak of insurance? Most certainly will answer motor insurance or medical insurance. While these two coverages are important, don’t leave out another essential coverage – travel insurance!
What is travel insurance
Similar to life insurance and medical insurance, travel insurance provides compensation and coverage for untoward events during your travel trip. Examples are accidents, losses, or disruptions. This coverage is limited to the time and duration of one’s travel.
The covers a range of possibilities such as loss of passport and personal belonging cover, loss of checked-in baggage, etc
Who needs to purchase travel insurance?
The insurance is essential for those who
- Frequently travel overseas
- Plan to be away from home for a long or short-term period
- Often has business trips
Anything could happen during your travel. As a result, you may experience complications such as losses of items of baggage, delayed flights, and such. This is where the insurance will help you compensate for your loss.
Read on as we explain in detail why you must purchase travel insurance before taking off.
Why do you need travel insurance
Delayed or canceled flights
Sometimes the annoyances begin before you even board the aircraft. You are anyway bound to come across a flight that has been delayed or cancelled if you have travelled long enough.
It is just a part of the travel experience. Here is how travel insurance helps you compensate for your losses in such a situation.
Most travel insurance plans will cover you for flight delays caused by the airline itself. Examples are such as technical issues, aircraft maintenance, or due to weather factors.
Medical emergencies
You can be diagnosed with an illness or run into an accident anywhere.
Travel insurance can cover you by helping you get medical treatment up to a certain limit amount as agreed in the policy. In addition, you may also be given transportation assistance to the nearest medical destination or expenses to a home. However, please note that the form of coverage varies across policies.
Medical expenses vary greatly from one country to another. They can be particularly costly in some destinations for travelers and expatriates.
Therefore, having travel coverage in hand can help reduce your financial burden while guaranteeing your treatment in case something happens while traveling.
Accidental death & aviation accident coverage
Death or serious injury may happen regardless of place. That said, going abroad for travel is no exception.
If that happens, this insurance will provide coverage where the policyholder’s family members will be compensated in monetary form.
Do you already have life insurance? Good, that is a plus point for you.
Life insurance provides monetary compensation in the event of death or serious injury to the permanent disability of the policyholder. However, travel insurance can be used as an additional benefit to the benefits provided in your life insurance policy. In turn, allow your heirs to earn extra money.
Loss of baggage
You can claim compensation from the airline if your checked-in luggage is delayed, lost, or damaged.
You may be able to claim compensation from the airline for the loss of your luggage. However, the claim process will require a long time. In addition, it is not as easy as the claim process with the insurance company.
Trip cancelation due to personal reasons
Things may not go according to your plan.
Say if you have spent thousands of dollars planning your vacation. Unfortunately, you fall ill just a few days before departure. So, you have had to cancel your vacation due to your health. Will it be wasteful?
Don’t worry. You can get a refund for travel costs that have been paid in advance that cannot be paid by the travel agency. However, please note this insurance only covers a refund for certain circumstances, depending on the agreement in your insurance policy.
Loss of money, passports or important documents
Travel insurance covers you as a result of unforeseen events such as loss of money, passports, or important documents.
Example: Say if you lost your passport while traveling. The travel insurance helps pay you financially while obtaining a temporary travel permit, transportation costs to the embassy, and others.
*Note: The insurance company will however not bear the loss due to own negligence.
Purchase travel insurance before travelling
We advise you to prepare yourself financially by purchasing travel insurance. You cannot predict the future. That includes any injuries or accidents.
Therefore, please purchase insurance for travel in case anything happens during your trip.
Bjak is one of Malaysia’s largest car insurance comparison sites. Get free quotes at Bjak and renew car insurance and road tax online in just 5 minutes.
Also read:
