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Why you need to buy travel insurance at the same time you book your holiday

If you’ve booked a holiday and are already counting down the days, we advise taking the time in advance to buy yourself travel insurance.

While none of us want to think about things that could go wrong in the time between booking and jetting off – for example, illness, bereavement or redundancy – taking out a policy early could potentially save you thousands and offer you peace of mind.

Why wait to purchase travel insurance?

Here we will take a closer look at why you should purchase travel insurance that has cancellation cover as soon as you book your holiday.

Taking out travel insurance when you book your holiday will not cost you any more money, the reason for this is that as long as you’ve ensured that a cancellation policy is included, you’ll be protected from the minute you’ve bought it.

It’s easy to assume that you are automatically covered for various eventualities, but it is vital when choosing your policy that you check exactly what you are getting for your money as policies can vary considerably.

For example, it may be that you’ve booked a fishing or shooting holiday and you end up sustaining an injury before you go. Your holiday is dependent on you being in good health, yet without cancellation cover, you face losing up to 100% of the value of your holiday.

This is why it’s essential to plan for the unexpected and make sure you are covered. Going for the cheapest insurance may be tempting, but a couple of extra pounds could potentially result in you making huge savings in the long run.

For example, we found a single-trip policy to Spain without cancellation or baggage cover for £15.20. Adding these two additional cover options only brought the policy up to £16.78, so only an additional £1.58.

However, the amount insurers that are willing to pay out if you were to cancel your trip also varies significantly, with amounts ranging from £500 up to £8,000.

Therefore, we highly advise you to do your homework and make sure the cancellation cover is equal to or greater than the price of your trip.

Read the small print

While travel insurance will cover unexpected events like redundancy, if you fall ill, loss of a family member etc, they are unlikely to cover something you knew was likely to happen ahead of your holiday. It is crucial that you always read the small print of any insurance policy.

Also, remember to check how much excess you would have to pay when you want to claim a cancellation. This generally starts at around £50 and goes up to £300.

Catastrophe Cover

No one can control the elements, so what if a natural disaster such as a tsunami or hurricane was to strike your holiday destination days before you were due to travel? Clearly, you would not be able to go and your holiday would be cancelled.

Covid Cover

It is unlikely you will find a cover that protects you if travel restrictions by the foreign commonwealth development office for Covid prevent you from travelling. However, this is not a concern as by booking through Sportquest Holidays on a package holiday that includes international flights, we have you protected. You need to make sure that your holiday insurance provides Covid cover if you catch covid and are unable to travel. You also need to make sure your travel insurance covers you for additional expenses if you were to catch Covid while away on holiday. This may incur other costs of quarantine hotels, new flights back to the UK, medical expenses etc.

Finding the best travel insurance deal

When comparing travel insurance policies, the best advice is, to take some time to work out exactly what level of cover you need and don’t let a couple of pounds mean you are left under-insured when it really counts.

One really good source of finding the right insurance is MoneySupermarket’s travel insurance, which will allow you to compare policies from a number of providers side by side and find the right policy for your needs.

And again, we advise you to not leave it until the last minute – booking in advance won’t cost you any more, yet you’ll be thankful if the unexpected happens and your holiday has to be cancelled.

Tight lines,

Peter

Contact us

If you have any more questions on travel cover our contact our expert team on 01603 407596 or by emailing them at info@sportquestholidays.com, and they will be happy to help with your queries. If you would like to look at a full list of our tours, you can do so here.

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