Whether you’re traveling for work or pleasure, you would always want your trip to go smoothly. You would want to have a good ( if not great) time, experiencing a new city, trying new foods and taking in various sights. While hoping for the best is normal, it’s also wise to prepare for the worst. By prepare, we mean having adequate travel insurance when you’re overseas.
Travel insurance covers things like theft, loss of baggage, flight delays, accidents and many other mishaps. Here’s how to get the best travel insurance deals:
1. Understand the Different Types of Travel Insurance
There are basically about four main types of travel insurance. Understanding these categories will help you decide which one best suits your needs.
- Single travel insurance: Covers single trips leaving and returning to Malaysia. Premium is paid once off.
- Annual travel policy: Policy covers you for the entire year and premium is paid on a yearly basis, no matter how many times you travel. Suitable for frequent travelers.
- Family policy: Coverage for the whole family, as opposed to individual coverage
- individual policy: Insurance that only covers you as an individual.
- student policies: Travel coverage that lasts a longer time, to cover all the schooling terms of overseas students.
2. What Are The Basic Incidences Covered
Almost all travel insurance policies cover certain basic aspects of travel. These basic incidences include:
- Medical expenses: In the event that you are involved in an accident and need treatment, you will be compensated after you return and present the necessary documents. The higher your premium, the higher the coverage.
- Travel inconveniences: This includes things like delayed flights, canceled flights, lost baggage and the like.
- Emergency assistance: If you lose your wallet, get caught in a natural disaster or conflict, usually the insurance provider has a hotline that provides you the resources to get help, such as evacuation or funds to travel out.
Some policies offer extra coverage in addition to these. For example, there are travel insurances for those involved in extreme sports or competing in international tournaments can have coverage for sports injuries related to competitive or extreme sports. Apart from that, some plans also come with coverage for sensitive or expensive items you carry ( like musical instruments, art pieces, etc) or important documents, so that their loss will be covered by an additional scheme.
However, in general, these are the main ones that you’ll be able to claim for, or in some cases get cash upfront.
3. Comparing Prices
The premium you pay on your travel insurance depends on several factors. These factors include the period of travel covered ( days, months), your destination and whether you’re being insured as an individual or group/family.
To make things simple, let’s look at a single trip travel policy, for individuals from the different providers. The premium price ranges from RM15 to RM40 at its lowest. Do keep in mind that if you travel further, to countries with a higher exchange rate, premiums tend to increase.
| Policy Name | Lowest Premium (RM) | Medical Coverage Up To (RM) | Travel Inconvenience Coverage Up To (RM) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Etiqa TripCare 360 Takaful | 14.70 | 1,500,000.00 | 2,000,000.00 |
| Allianz Travel Care | 15.00 | 10,000,000.00 | 10,000,000.00 |
| Citibank SmartTraveller Classic Plan | 17.00 | 150,000.00 | Not available |
| SOMPO Travel Plus Basic | 18.00 | 300,000.00 | Not available |
| Chubb Executive | 20.14 | 100,000.00 | 1,000,000.00 |
| Zurich TravelPAC Silver Plan | 30.00 | 1,050,000.00 | 1,500,000.00 |
| Citibank SmartTraveller VIP Plan | 35.00 | 900,000.00 | 3,000,000.00 |
From this table, we can see that higher premiums most of the time translate to better coverage, so it’s not necessarily true that you should pay the lowest premium. You should study the policy thoroughly to make sure that it meets all of your needs. However, travel insurance in Malaysia is really affordable, sometimes even more affordable than a regular meal.
That’s why you should never skip buying travel insurance when you go overseas, whether you’re traveling by land or by plane.
When planning your next trip, don’t forget that there are plenty of travel deals you can use to save of your flights, hotels, car rentals, tour packages and more. The more you save, the more you can spend on yourself on your next trip.