Traveling is often looked forward to. Be it the excitement of meeting loved ones or visiting a dream destination. Business travelers prepare for their international business meetings from weeks in advance. Both types of travel, be it for personal reasons or work-related has one common element, i.e. risks. Unexpected medical emergencies, flight-delays, missing connecting flights or baggage issues can happen to anyone and anywhere. Therefore, visitor insurance is very much recommended. People can understand the importance of buying one, but they often mistakes. Here we give the common mistakes that people make while they set out to buy visitor insurance. These mistakes must be avoided:
- Late purchase of Visitor Insurance: A lot of people wait till the very last minute or the day of travel to buy visitor insurance. It’s at least better than not buying it at all. But, it is equally true that buying visitor insurance well in advance is beneficial. Certain benefits like flight cancellation due to natural disasters like earthquakes, tsunami etc. are available only when insurance is not purchased last minute. VisitorPlans recommends buying visitor insurance at least 5 days prior to your travel date.
- One size fits all: Often people traveling in a group or also individual travelers, buy visitor insurance that their friend or family member bought. However, it is not right. Every traveler is different in terms of his medical condition and history as well as his purpose of trip also decides which insurance is suitable for him. Visitor insurance is not a ‘one size fits all’. Cost should not be the basis to buy visitor insurance (may be as a traveler you can pay what your friend paid for). Depending on the type of trip (an adventurous trip or a relaxing indoor trip) visitor insurance must have benefits. A traveler might have ailments like diabetes, high blood pressure etc. He must in this case opt for a plan that provides coverage for acute onset of pre-existing conditions.
- Not reading the policy: Once a visitor insurance plan is bought, it is imperative to understand the inclusions and exclusions as well as certain mandatory requirements of the plan. People often tend to overlook the fine print. This leads to problems associated with claim reimbursements. They assume certain medical condition or injury will be covered but only after their claim is rejected, they come to know the extent of coverage. Besides, it is important to understand the policy for certain regulations like precertification (give link to this article) or the claim submission process. Master policy may contain difficult insurance terminology. Do not hesitate to contact your insurance agent to understand them.
- Buying a policy for inadequate time-period: It is found that people purchase their visitor insurance for the duration they spend at their destination (s). They ignore the flight times or travel times to be included in their coverage. It is recommended for them to purchase visitor insurance for the full period of the trip. It should be noted that for long international flights, the halt times which can be sometimes more than a day should also be included in the coverage. It is better to be over-insured than underinsured.
- Impulse buying: People often make mistake in buying the insurance from the inexperienced people. Buying visitor insurance is not a big deal for them, and they rely on protection provided by their credit cards. They also do not understand where to buy the insurance from. They buy it locally from their home country from travel agents who do not even know how insurance industry work in the destination country. This kind of impulse buying should be avoided at all costs. This results in spending large amounts of money while buying a plan as well as since these can be low on coverage, they bring with them mental trauma and financial distress to the traveler.
Visitor insurance is just not an item you can buy and put in your pocket. It proves useful when you are adequately covered on a trip far away from your home country. It costs money and this money is like an investment against medical emergencies, baggage thefts and other travel related issues. Search, compare and then buy is what VisitorPlans recommends to all it’s clients and travelers. Contact our authorized as well as friendly agents to know the right fit for you.
