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Travel insurance is the novel and effective way to mitigate the associated risk with overseas travelling. No matter whether you undertake trips overseas for business or pleasure, it has been widely accepted that having travel insurance is a wise thing to begin with. Due to this very thought there are a large number of travel insurance service providers at the market place. Subsequently the numbers of policies are also manifold, each having their own unique features and pricing structure. This makes the customer more confused while choosing or comparing between various travel insurance options. To sift through the features, attributes and USPs of each one of them is no doubt a daunting task. But sceptics will argue that reading the fine print is an absolute necessity, but experience tells us that obscure language of the policy document make the whole exercise more or less redundant. Therefore, in order to get a better grasp of this financial tool, one must narrow down their focus towards aspects that are deemed to be an absolute must in a given travel insurance policy. Features that make the core of any travel insurance should be inspected for their presence along with the degree of their coverage. Hence, we must look at the absolute must haves of any travel insurance cover. Medical expenses: It is of utmost importance that you are covered for all the medical and/or hospital bills that may arise on your trip outside India. One should not underestimate the cost of treatment in a foreign country. In the event of an accident which causes serious injuries or any sudden illness while on a trip abroad, you must be covered for the cost of evacuation back to your home country. Check your insurance policy for: • Ceiling for medical and hospital cover • Evacuation • Pre-existing medical condition is covered, including pregnancy • 24/7 Medical emergency service Luggage: Arguably the most common of all travel insurance claims, loss of luggage is incredibly inconvenient and causes a lot of anxiety and discomfort for the traveller. One must check the policy document for the ceiling amount that can be claimed. Check whether: • Stolen cash is covered • Luggage stolen from room is covered • Amount ceilings are fixed for individual items Personal Liability: A few travel insurance policies may cover legal expense that may occur if case you are the cause of any accident. However, it must be noted that the majority of the policies do not cover any legal expenses in case where the policy holder is himself driving the car which caused the accident. Cancellations: In the unfortunate event of cancellation of your overseas trip, check if the policy document makes provision for losses that may occur on account of it; especially if any personal tragedy is to hit, for instance a serious accident or loss of a family member. Delays: It would be wishful thinking that your schedule will be unaffected, no matter what. Therefore, in an event where you have missed a flight, the cost of hotels, shuttle and transfers arises immediately. Therefore, one must check that proper provisions are made in your travel insurance policy document in cases of delays. Rental Cars: In cases where the car you have hired while on your trip abroad is involved in any accident, usually a policy excess is paid to the car company. This can be covered through your travel insurance in few cases and is certainly a lot cheaper instead of paying the car company’s own insurance. Different travel insurance policies sometime offer startlingly different protection with regards to each of the above mentioned aspects of travelling overseas, and therefore one read the wording of the policy very carefully.
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