Tips for Choosing the Right Travel Insurance

If you do any amount of traveling, you have probably spent money on travel insurance. Here, moneyland.ch lists useful tips to help you get the best travel insurance for your needs and avoid wasting money.

1. Understand what travel insurance is for

A good first step is to learn what different kinds of travel insurance do. The basic guide to Swiss travel insurance explains the different travel insurance coverages in detail.

2. Avoid over-insurance

In some cases, the coverage you already have may be adequate for your travel needs. For example, you may already get the travel insurance you need as a complimentary benefit with your credit card. Or you may be sufficiently covered against travel medical emergencies and search and rescue operations by your Swiss supplemental health insurance. The basic guide to Swiss travel insurance gives you an overview of risks that may already be covered by your existing insurance policies.

Depending on the insurance provider, you may be able to customize your travel insurance to exclude at least some of the risks that are already covered.

3. Consider annual travel insurance

When you buy airline tickets or book hotels and package deals, most airlines and many travel booking portals will offer you travel insurance that covers just that one trip.

But if you travel several times per year or need insurance for a family rather than just one person, getting annual travel insurance can work out much cheaper than insuring each trip individually.

You can compare offers using the Swiss annual travel insurance comparison.

4. Check which countries are covered

Many travel insurance offers exclude certain countries from coverage. Some only cover travel within a limited area (most of Europe, for example). When choosing travel insurance, make sure to look for offers that cover the countries you want to travel to.

Some Swiss travel insurance providers only cover trips when you travel more than a certain distance from your home (50 kilometers, for example). If you want insurance for local bookings within Switzerland, make sure to use an insurance that does not exclude your travel destinations.

5. Check the insurance limits

The limits on how much you can claim vary between the individual insurance coverages. That means the same travel insurance policy may have very different limits for trip cancellation insurance and trip delay insurance or luggage insurance, for example.

If you only book budget trips then looking at limits is less important. But if you spend relatively large amounts on your travel bookings and/or carry valuable items in your luggage, then it is important to get travel insurance with limits to match.

When choosing a travel insurance offer, make sure to check the insurance limits for the coverages that are important to you. The interactive travel insurance comparison on moneyland.ch lets you sort offers based on the limits for different risks.

6. Check if special risks are covered

Special risks like trip cancellations and interruptions caused by pandemics or volcanic eruptions are not always covered. Some insurers do include these risks in their basic coverage, and some let you insure these risks separately by adding special insurance riders at an extra cost.

If you will travel to regions that are exposed to special risks, make sure to get travel insurance that covers those risks. You can filter offers based on the risks they cover in the interactive travel insurance comparison.

7. Account for discounts

When comparing the prices of travel insurance offers, it is important to account for discounts that you are eligible for. Discounts that may apply include:

• Family discounts: All Swiss annual travel insurance providers let you choose between insurance for an individual or insurance for a family. If you are a couple or a family with children, getting a family policy is generally much cheaper than getting individual insurance for each person individually.
• Multiple-policy discounts: Some Swiss insurance providers give you a discount for travel insurance if you already use them for other kinds of insurance, such as car insurance, household insurance, or life insurance. Some insurance providers give you a discount if you add more than one component to your travel insurance (trip cancellation insurance and medical emergency insurance and/or roadside assistance, for example. These discounts can save you money if you need several different travel insurance coverages.
• Youth discounts: Some insurers charge lower premiums if you are younger than a certain age (26 years old, for example).

8. Stay flexible

Some insurance providers discount your premiums if you choose a long minimum insurance term of several years for your travel insurance contract. But because there is no sure way to know whether or not you will still be able to travel frequently in the distant future, it is generally better to stick to one-year insurance terms. That way you can terminate your policy at the end of each year if your situation changes or you find a cheaper or more suitable offer in the future.

More on this topic:
Compare Swiss travel insurance offers now
A basic guide to Swiss travel insurance
Swiss airline passenger rights explained