Do you have the right business travel insurance?
September 26, 2017
Passport – check.
Clothes – check.
Medications – check.
Smartphone – check.
You’ve got all of the above, but what about travel insurance?
Travelling, whether for business or pleasure, can be fantastic, but without the right travel insurance, it can become a frightening and expensive experience.
Here are some tips to make sure you have the right travel insurance policy.
Not all travel policies are the same, many have policy limitations that sometimes aren’t as obvious until it’s too late. It’s vitally important to ensure that you’re purchasing a policy that is adequate for where you’re going, together with coverage for activities that will be undertaken.
Our recent experience with helping some clients who got ill overseas, but did not have their travel insurance with us, instead of relying on their credit card cover, is that the claims teams looking after the credit card insurance were exceptionally hard to deal with. I guess if you’re getting something for nothing….how much is it really worth?
25 phone calls to try and get your hospital bills approved is not what you need whilst on an overseas trip.
Additionally many activities are not included in many “standard” travel policies, for example, some flights, heliskiing, caving or underwater activities may be excluded or have policy limitations imposed. Be careful to ensure that any activities you intend to undertake are covered prior to your departure.
Another area to watch is the use of sharing economy services on business trips with some policies having limitations on how they will respond in a shared environment. Employers should certainly consider their duty of care to their employees when approving the use of Shared Economy Services.
You should also make a point of looking up the Government’s smart traveller website to check the “safety status” of the country you intend visiting. This official site classifies countries according to travel safety and, of course, in many parts of the world, this is volatile and subject to constant change.
The highest warning the Government issues is its “Do Not Travel”, which advises against travel to certain destinations. Some current “Do Not Travel” warnings include Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, South Sudan and Yemen. Be aware that if you travel to countries against advice, your travel insurance will most likely be voided. A number of countries are on a “Reconsider your need to Travel” list also.
The good news is if you have an ABN, you would qualify for a corporate travel
policy provides far greater coverage, without the normal age loadings and normally at a far reduced cost.
Give us a call today to chat about any travel inquiries you have, let’s make sure you’re covered so that the only thing left to do is enjoy your adventure.
