Travel Insurance: Don’t Rely on Free Cover

Many credit card companies offer you free travel insurance or free international flight insurance, and a lot of people take up these supposedly generous offers. But have you stopped to consider whether free international travel insurance is really all that it claims to be? Many people find out that the free insurance on offer from credit card companies doesn’t match up to the insurance protection that specialist insurance companies can provide.

Some credit card companies claim to offer complimentary travel insurance that includes coverage for trip cancellation, travel delays, lost baggage, accident insurance and rental car insurance. Many complimentary travel insurance packages will provide enough benefits to be useful to overseas travelers. However, not all credit card insurance packages cover all of these benefits. For example, many complimentary travel insurance policies don’t provide anything for lost items like wallets and passports. Some free plans don’t offer insurance for healthcare and treatment.

If these travel insurance packages do offer benefits like these then they may charge you extra for them. The cost of these extra elements may add up to coverage that is significantly more expensive than a standard travel insurance policy. And credit cards that offer comprehensive insurance benefits may end up charging a higher than average annual fee so you’re not actually saving money at the end of the day.

Be cautious and read the small print when you take out travel insurance connected with a credit card or store card. There may be benefits to taking out this coverage, but you could be spending more than you need and ending up with lesser quality coverage. Note any wording that says things will be excluded from the policy, such as lost items. Make sure your insurance plan covers you for all the activities you plan to do on vacation, and for all the countries you plan to visit. A deal that’s too good to be true may be exactly that – too good to be true.