7 Most Important Reasons to Take out Trip Insurance ...

A few years ago I went away on a bachelorette weekend with about 15 other women. All of the women took out trip insurance, except one, and guess who fell down after a couple of vodkas and onto broken glass? Yes, you guessed it. She had to shell out a ton of money to get her leg wrapped up and on the mend. If this isn’t the top of the reasons to take out trip insurance then I don’t know what is. You want to keep your spending money for souvenirs and fun days out, not handing it all over to the hospital for a night that you’d rather forget!

If you have your bag stolen it really can put a damper on your vacation, especially if you didn’t see it as being one of the valid reasons to take out travel insurance. Travel insurance usually covers your belongings, such as cameras, iPods, mp3 players and so on, so you know that even if they are stolen you can get them replaced when you get home. Also, look at lost luggage clauses. Could you really afford to replace all the items in your suitcase should it get lost?

Losing your documents can really cost a bomb and if you don’t have the funds, you might find yourself seriously stuck. Not only that, we all know how much of a pain filling out passport forms can be!

Sometimes things out of our control happen and as a result plans are sabotaged. It might be that you are ill and can’t board the plane, or you have a family emergency that you have to deal with. In these cases, if you decide not to take out travel insurance, you will find yourself not only without a holiday but without any cash back for your cancellation. Make sure you take note of this as one of the reasons to take out trip insurance, unless you can see clear into the future of course...

As I said in the previous point, you can’t always predict what turn the trip is going to take. Nine times out of ten you will probably not injure yourself and will not need to make a claim. However, what if the one time you don’t take the insurance happens to be the time that you need to claim compensation because of an injury you sustained which was clearly someone else’s fault? Legal fees are often covered by your insurer. Just make sure you check all of the small print in your policy and ensure that you are covered; it’s better to be safe than sorry!

It might well be you who causes the accidental damage that affects another person. These things happen, and if it is the case then you yourself may well be liable. Travel insurance can help you in a legal claim if a liability clause is included in the cover. It isn’t top of the list of reasons to have trip insurance but when taken with all the other factors, it becomes important.

Don’t think, “these are just horror stories, I’ll be fine.” Chances are you will be, but it is best to be prepared. Think of this: would you rather pay a little bit of money on the insurance, or a great deal of money replacing the items in your bag, or paying for costly medical treatments? You know you really will kick yourself if you don’t take it and them something happens. Take out the insurance, then you can relax knowing you are covered for your trip's duration.

No one wants to add extra cost to a trip, but insurance shouldn’t just be written off as there being no need for it. Weigh up the reasons to take out trip insurance and decide if you can afford to take the risk. What do you think? Is trip insurance a waste of money? Have you ever been caught out by not having it?