The lowdown on travel insurance

Before you book your holiday, check out this essential advice from the Association of British Travel Agents on which travel insurance to get, what questions to ask your insurer and getting the right policy for your needs.

ABTA travel agents are trained to sell travel insurance. They are often the best people to sell it to you, because they already know exactly what you are planning to do on your trip and can assess what insurance policy is right for you and your family.

If you buy travel insurance when you book your holiday, it means that if you fall ill or have an accident and have to cancel your trip as a result, your travel insurance will cover you.

Mike Monk, Head of ABTA's Financial Services says:

"Of course people will shop around for travel insurance, but ideally you want cover from the moment you buy your holiday. The longer you delay, the longer you are not covered."

"On the whole, annual multi-trip insurance policies are cost effective if you are planning to do more than three trips a year, but they usually have a limited number of days you can travel for. So they are not what you want if you are doing a round the world trip lasting a few months."

"There are lots of factors - not just the price - you should consider when buying travel insurance. But whether you get a one-off travel insurance 'product', or an annual multi-trip policy, the most important things to look out for are whether the terms and conditions are what you want and whether the policy adequately covers you for what you will be doing."

It's important that the person selling travel insurance asks about pre-existing medical conditions and it's important for you to declare any conditions you suffer from.

Travel insurance should cover:

* Curtailing a holiday due to illness or accident, if your money or luggage is stolen

* For your family to fly out to be with you if there is a serious incident

* Costs - particularly medical treatment costs, which can easily run into thousands of pounds

Market surveys show that many people don't take insurance. People believe that their credit card accident cover, home insurance, or private health cover is sufficient. However, it is unlikely that these will give adequate cover.

If you make several trips each year, consider taking out annual multi-trip insurance to save time, money and effort.

Shop around. The cost of travel insurance varies widely, so shop around to find a good price and the right product, rather than opting to travel without cover. Bear in mind that a cheaper policy may have less cover. Use our Know Before You Go Current Partners page to find links to insurers.

Know what your policy covers and check that the cover is adequate. If in doubt ask your insurer.

Your policy should cover you for the following:

* The whole time that you are away

* Any activities and sports you might do. Some activities, such as skiing, jet skiing, are excluded from many policies. Many insurers will extend cover, if requested, otherwise shop around for a specialist policy.

* Medical and health cover. This is very important. It should be for a minimum of £1 million for Europe and £2 million world-wide. It must include cover for emergency medical treatment, hospitalisation and repatriation.

* Personal liability - for injury or damage to others and their property.

* Cancellation - if you have to cancel or abandon your trip. Cancellation cover should start as soon as you book your trip.

* 24 hour emergency service and assistance if things go wrong. The assistance company will help you to sort everything out.

* Possessions cover, including money and documents to specified limits.

Your policy may also cover:

* Personal accident - money paid on death or permanent disability.

* Legal expenses - to help you pursue compensation for damages following personal injury.

Read your policy to check for conditions and exclusions. If you are in any doubt, contact your insurer to find out exactly what cover you have.

* Most policies will not cover drink-related incidents.

* Most policies do not cover drug-related incidents.

* You must take reasonable care of your possessions or your policy will not cover you.

* Declare anything that you think might affect the cover.

* Be honest - tell your insurer about current or past medical conditions. This should include the condition of those to be insured and others, such as close relatives, whose state of health may prevent you from travelling or may cause you to curtail your trip. If you don't declare you may invalidate your policy.

* If travelling to Europe - make sure you fill in Form E111 .

Do you need travel insurance and an E111 when you go to an EU country? Yes, because, an E111 will only cover you for state-provided emergency treatment. State-provided treatment may not cover all of the things that you would expect to receive free of charge from the NHS and the costs of a family member staying with you while you have medical treatment will not be covered either.

When you travel:

* Make sure you take your policy and the 24 hour emergency phone number with you.

* Make sure you know what to do in the event of a problem.

* Some insurance companies insist that you call their assistance company as soon as possible after a problem arises.

* If anything does happen make sure you keep as much paperwork as possible - tickets, receipts, medical bills, police reports etc - to help prove that what you're claiming for actually happened.

* Book through an agent that's with ABTA or ATOL.

* You should always buy holiday insurance, but it is worth remembering that if you book a holiday with an ABTA or ATOL bonded company you are already reducing risks. ABTA tour operators send in their own health and safety experts to check the standards of hotels, kitchens and swimming pools that are used. Reps will be able to give you the contact details of local authorities, such as police, doctors.

* If a natural disaster, or terrorist attack occurs while you are on holiday in a country, then ABTA operators will evacuate you if necessary. While if you have booked a holiday in a country, like Bali for example, where Foreign Office advice changes to advise against travel, then ABTA tour operators have to amend the holiday without charge or give a full refund.

Source : http://www.ivillage.co.uk/