7 Mistakes South Africans make when buying travel insurance

There may be a quite a few travel insurance policies in the market and finding the right one requires shopping around. What is also required to avoid costly mistakes is to make a few wise choices when selecting appropriate cover.

Here are 7 mistakes South African travellers make when buying travel insurance cover:

1. Not buying travel insurance early.
Well-prepared travellers are those who not only make flight and accommodation bookings early, but those who recognise and ensure they are protected against financial disaster by buying travel insurance early.

Frequent flyers know that anything can happen between the time of booking and the departure date. It is not uncommon to have a natural disaster or the occurrence of terrorist activity in the city you’re headed to that results in having to cancel your trip. Travel insurance cover bought well before your departure date can offer compensation for financial losses.

2. Not validating trip details.
It is important to make sure all the details in your policy document are correct. You can do this simply by checking the documents you are forwarded via email. Details such as the age of travellers, all countries included in the itinerary, start and return dates and total cost of the trip need to be verified and any corrections made. Not validating trip details may render a possible future claim invalid.

3. Overlooking terms and conditions for trip cancellation.
It is wise to check all of the covered reasons for trip cancellation cover clearly set out in your schedule of benefits. Not every policy covers trip cancellation for any reason. If your policy excludes, for instance, covering losses because you had to cancel your trip because you lost your job, then this claim would be rejected.

4. Not asking questions regarding pre-existing medical conditions
The pre-existing medical conditions section of cover requires many questions to be asked as well as honest declarations made. For example, it would be necessary to inform your travel insurance provider of any illness or injury you sustained within the look-back period. Should a problem arise later whilst on your insured journey, not disclosing this could affect the validity of a claim.

5. Trusting in travel insurance offered with your ticket.
The enticing convenience of receiving travel insurance for just a little bit more with your airline ticket may be too hard to refuse, but this require you to exercise a bit of caution and not to sacrifice the full might of a proper travel insurance policy because this way will be quicker and cheaper. This type of cover is quite limited narrowly defined.

6. Thinking credit card insurance is sufficient.
This mistake is similar to the previous entry. The cover offered by credit card companies falls vastly below that of a standard travel insurance policy from a trusted travel insurance provider. Medical benefits are severely limited and not all types of travel inconveniences are covered.

7. Not paying attention to exclusions.
One of the most common mistakes is to not pay attention to exclusions that pertain to the different sections of cover in a travel insurance policy. Exclusions vary with different policies so you need to read these carefully every time you buy travel insurance and not get caught off guard when you need to make a claim.

Always contact your broker should you have any questions about your policy or what you need to know when buying travel insurance cover. Call Quick Travel Insurance on 087 550 4824.