Although it may be tempting to rely on the travel insurance provided by your credit card company, consider how the coverage may differ from the travel insurance coverage offered for a few extra dollars per day that a dedicated travel insurance supplier can provide.
Some credit card companies, offer enticing extras like "Common Carrier Travel Accident Insurance" for free if you open up an account. This may leave you with the impression that you're fully covered on your next trip. While this typical "credit card" travel insurance coverage can be useful, it's important to read the fine print, to understand exactly what's covered and what's not in a travel insurance policy.
Fact is, unless you have specifically opted for a credit card with broader travel insurance coverage, or have a premium credit card with specific benefits (often requiring a hefty annual fee), the travel insurance coverage tends be basic, and would likely not cover you for coverages you might otherwise expect.
About the "free" travel accident insurance fine print
Typically, "common carrier travel accident insurance" (the type commonly offered by credit card companies) will only insure you for very specific events, like travelling to and from the airport, or while travelling on the airplane or other "common carriers" like a taxi service.
If you should suffer an accident or injury while walking, swimming, hiking or doing any one of a thousand different things that travellers do, you could be in for a surprise when it comes to your emergency medical expenses. You may find yourself wishing that you had bought supplemental travel insurance.
As with most everything nowadays, it pays to read the fine print BEFORE you go on your next vacation or business trip. Your credit card agreement will state exactly what you're covered for and under what circumstances you're covered.
There are a lot of inexpensive travel insurance options
You can buy emergency travel medical insurance for a single trip, or if you're a frequent traveller, it may be cheaper to buy coverage for the entire year in advance. You can choose to insure just yourself or your family for single or multiple trips, for just the amount that you feel you need.
You can also opt for trip cancellation insurance, trip interruption insurance, or purchase Visitors to Canada insurance. There's a lot more flexibility than with your average "free" travel credit cards product.
You'll be far more relaxed, and enjoy your travels more, knowing that you're covered under most scenarios, and have exactly the coverage that you're comfortable with.
If you should find, after reading the fine print on your credit card agreement, that you're not quite as comfortable with your "free" credit card travel insurance as you would like, you'll find that purchasing a more comprehensive travel insurance policy is not that expensive, especially if you shop around a bit. Don't accept the first offer you see without a bit of comparison shopping. Oh, and don't forget to read the fine print before buying.
Compare your travel insurance quotes today! Quotes from some of the top travel insurance providers are displayed side-by-side so that you can save both time and money.
