Multi Trip Travel Insurance is also known as Annual Travel Insurance.
With an annual multi trip travel insurance you can take unlimited trips in a 12 month period. It is ideal for anyone who takes more than 3 trips a year, especially for anyone with a family because most multi trip insurance allow for up to 4 children for free.
Benefits and advantages of multi trip insurance:
Take unlimited trips annually. (depending on the insurer, each trip duration limit can range from 30 days to up to 60 days).
Children are insured for free, usually up to 4 children under the age of 18. Please note that children are covered only if they travel with one of the insured adults.
Some of the insurers throw in a Free Ski Insurance ranging from 7 days - 21 days annually.
Few Annual Travel Insurance provides domestic travel insurance. This usually has a minimum distance and will require a hotel stay as well. The domestic travel insurance cover makes the Multi Trip Insurance even more compelling economically.
It works out cheaper if you take 3 or more trips a year, especially if you add up all your business and holiday travel cover.
Multi Trip Travel Insurance cover is ideal for contract workers who have to travel a few weeks at a time on project related work.
We are most vulnerable when we travel and Trip Insurance is the only way to protect yourself for monitory loss incurred due to circumstances beyond your control. These eventualities can occur at any time before or during travel and its essential to have protection against them. Here are some examples of why you need travel insurance:
You meet with an accident on the way to the airport and subsequently miss the flight to your non-refundable holiday.
You or your family member falls ill a few days before the holiday, forcing you to cancel your trip.
Your baggage is lost or delayed by the airline and you are forced to buy the essentials. In the event it's lost, the airlines pay very little as compensation, so you need insurance.
You or your family members meet with an accident or fall ill and require medical attention or surgery whilst on holiday. This can prove to be very expensive depending on which country you are in, especially if it requires medical evacuation.
You accidentally damage someone else's property or person and require legal representation and or have to pay 3rd party damages.
Travel insurance for activity holidays like skiing, etc., where there is a greater change of injury, damage and loss.
In case your expensive equipment or possessions like jewelry, camera, ski equip, etc., is damaged, stolen or lost.
You are forced to evacuate because of a natural calamity and lose your possessions in the bargain. Some situations require emergency evacuation as well.
You and or your family members get food poisoning and needs hospitalization.
You need someone to fly out to you in the event you are hospitalised.
Buying Tips
With Travel Insurance what you are effectively buying is an agreement whereby the insurance company agrees to pay against insured eventualities. Therefore, it is absolutely essential that you have full understanding of what it is your are buying or not. Treat it like any other agreement, read it carefully and ask your questions. So:
Always ensure you buy from an insurance provider that is regulated by the government, like the FSA ( Financial Services Authority ) in the UK. if in doubt ask!
Always READ THE TRAVEL INSURANCE POLICY DOCUMENT and ensure you fully understand what it covers and does not cover! If in doubt, ask!
Buy your travel insurance as soon as your travel is booked because some of the coverages start as soon as you purchase, like protection against accidents or other eventualities that may force you to cancel your trip. For example, please see Section 4 of our Policy Document. This is very important and most insurance companies offer this.
Generally, travel insurance does not cover natural calamities and they usually state that under what is not covered. So.... READ THE POLICY! If they have not excluded natural disasters, it usually means that they do cover - but its always best to ask.
Some Travel Insurance Companies will only payout over and above any other coverages you may have for certain eventualities. Eg. if your your jewelery is covered under your home insurance and you lose it on your trip; the trip insurance company will not pay you for that loss. So... READ THAT POLICY CAREFULLY!
When booking Travel Insurance you need to count the start day and the end day. E.g. if you are departing on 10 March, and arriving back on 15 March, its 6 days and not 5 days!
Evaluate on the benefits that you really need and don't get taken in with the pointless coverages, like high coverage for death - because you are already covered under your life insurance. Stay focused on the coverages you need.
Check the Excesses. Excess is the amount you have to absorb when you make a claim. E.g. If the Excess on your Personal Possessions Coverage is USD 150 and you proceeded to lose you the brand new $500 dollar watch you bought on holiday; the insurance company will only pay you $350! So the lower the excess the better! Some companies refer to this as deductible! Companies with low premiums usually have high Excess amounts.
If you have any doubts, contact the insurance company before purchase.
Check the coverage ceiling. E.g. the total travel insurance coverage for personal possessions for any one trip will be limited to a certain amount. So if you are planning to take your expensive jewelry, check how well you are covered. The same applies for travel cancellation, if you trip cost is exceeds the travel cancellation ceiling, then you need to get additional cover.
If you are just visiting a friend or relative for the weekend; check the extent of your prevailing life, accident, medical coverage. If its adequate and you are not risking any cancellation charges, then you may not need any Travel Insurance. You need to weigh the risk against the coverage you'd have to pay.
If you travel frequently, always check-out the annual multi-trip travel insurance coverage, it could prove to be extremely cost effective. However, even though the multi trip travel insurance allows you unlimited trips, there is usually a limit on the duration of each trip - most allow up to a month & some like HolidayGuard even throw in 17 Days free ski insurance coverage with the multi-trip insurance.