What should I bear in mind when taking out travel insurance?

If you are considering taking out travel insurance, you should consider the following:

• Do you already have insurance cover elsewhere, for example under current annual policies or via your credit card?
• What risks do you want to be covered for your trip?
• Are the costs of the travel insurance offered in reasonable proportion to the price of your travel arrangements? Can you perhaps purchase the same insurance benefits at a lower price from another provider?
• Does the insurance you intend to take out cover all the travellers you wish to insure?
• Has your personal situation changed since your last trip, for example because of the birth of a child?
• Do you want to buy insurance cover for a specific trip or also for future trips?
• Travel cancellation insurance cover ends when the first travel service is provided. If you also want to cover your travel expenses in cases where you have to cut short your trip, you need travel interruption insurance. Check whether this module is included in the insurance you have chosen.
• If you are offered a travel insurance package, you should take a close look at the individual benefits. They often include baggage, travel accident or travel liability insurance, which you may not need or not want to take out, but which would make the insurance significantly more expensive. In this case, it may make sense to take out only one insurance policy.
• When taking out travel insurance and comparing insurance prices, check whether the policy includes an excess (deductible). If you want a policy without an excess, the insurance will be more expensive.
• Before you buy travel insurance, you should also check whether the deadlines for taking out insurance have been met.
• Be sure to pay attention to the termination conditions: if the term of your travel insurance is not only for the duration of your trip, the policy may be automatically renewed, for example for a year, unless you cancel it.