Thinking of Travelling Without Insurance? Read This

This post is a paid collaboration with CoverForYou and includes an exclusive discount code at the bottom of the article. All words and imagery are my own unless otherwise credited.

Is travel insurance worth it? It’s just another tedious admin task to add to your ever-growing to-do list before you embark on that holiday or long-term trip you’ve been counting down the days to. Right? Wrong. Travel insurance is an absolutely crucial purchase before you leave the country to travel anywhere, yes, even just a quick weekend jaunt over to France. It’s as important as remembering to triple check your passport and make sure someone’s feeding Fluffy whilst you’re away. Yet millions of Brits wave goodbye at the airport without any or adequate insurance each year – are you a part of that statistic? Can you really afford to be? I certainly can’t…

There are a few things you need to know before taking out insurance: 

• Policies must always start and end in the UK.
• You should always take your insurance out first, before booking any flights or accommodation! That way, should the company go bust, you’ll still be protected.
• If you’re taking part in any extreme sports, make sure they’re covered by your policy.
• Check that the level of baggage cover you’re purchasing is actually adequate for the contents of your luggage.
• Check what gadget cover is included and decided whether it’s sufficient based on the tech you’re planning to travel with.

Before embarking on my year long backpacking trip, I settled down to purchase insurance. I quickly came across a major loophole that is present in most policies that means that the long-term traveller insurance you’re travelling on may likely be invalid.

Most long-term cover policies require a return ticket booked. How many backpackers have or even want that?! In not booking this mandatory return flight before leaving the UK, your whole policy may be invalid.

Yep…let that one sink in.

CoverForYou do not require a return flight. Backpackers, rejoice!

So, why CoverForYou?

I think CoverForYou are great because they make insuring your trip simple and accessible. There’s no overly complex lingo that feels as though it’s designed to confuse you, an actual human picks up the end of their 24 hour emergency medical line and most importantly, 90% of all claims are settled.

With a handy Travel Mate app full of emergency numbers, local contacts, hospital locations and an invaluable medical translation tool, I’m impressed to see CoverForYou making something as crucial – but lets face it, a bit boring – as insurance modern and straightforward. As well as rewards in the UK like discounts on wine, cinema tickets and hotels, repeat customers will also receive discounts of up to 20%, rather than being penalised for renewing, which is usually the case in the rather archaic insurance industry.

All CoverForYou policies have ZERO excess.

With CoverForYou you can:

• Ride a moped abroad safe in the knowledge you’re covered, providing you have an appropriate driving license and wear a helmet.
• Feel confident that you will be placed in the most appropriate medical facility for your needs, should you require treatment.
• Enjoy free cover on over 100 sports and activities with every policy
• Travel with the confidence that CoverForYou settle 90% of all claims: they want to pay out and help ease your travel nightmare

Can you really afford to travel without it?

Undoubtedly it would spoil your holiday if the hotel you’ve paid for went bust or if you found yourself missing your luggage. It would certainly put a downer on things if you were the victim of theft or found that your valuables had been damaged in transit. But can you imagine the sheer horror of experiencing a medical emergency or accident away from home, then finding yourself slapped with an unfathomable hospital bill?

Perhaps, as Brits, we take health care for granted. We forget that it won’t be there for us in the same way when we’re abroad. So you want to know: is travel insurance worth it? Well, for some perspective (all of the below examples are taken from REAL claims that CoverForYou paid out for):

• One day hospitalisation in the US for abdominal pains = £10K

• Fracturing your wrist in Spain = £12K

• Hitting your head in the sea in Sri Lanka = £32.7K

• Road traffic accident in Thailand with multiple broken ribs and a pelvis fracture = £100K

It almost sounds so scary that I think often people get by on a ‘but it won’t happen to me’ attitude. But it could. Those astronomical figures are not sums the average person has readily available; forget spoiling your holiday, how about cancelling your wedding, selling your car or even your house?

Travel Insurance is affordable so there’s no excuse

With CoverForYou, a weekend away costs as little as £4.25. You can take out annual multi-trip cover, family cover or long-term travel cover, always safe in the knowledge that you’re protected abroad and clued up as to what your policy and its terms actually mean.

My exclusive code for the first 1000 users: BESACFU19 for 15% off any policy

About to book your next trip? What are you waiting for? Click here to find the right policy for you.

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