Domestic Travel Insurance – Need of the Hour

Domestic Travel Insurance – Need of the Hour

Uncertainty, illness, accident or emergency can strike anytime, even during a leisure or work trip within the country. Travel insurance can allay some of the worries of unexpected emergencies and make travel really hassle and worry free.

How? Let us see. Key benefits that domestic travel Insurance offers are:

Medical Emergency and Hospitalization: Emergencies can come knocking unannounced and even during travel. Domestic travel insurance provides a cover for any sudden medical emergencies that requires treatment, hospitalization and/or evacuation from the destination.

Accident Insurance: This feature provides coverage for injury due to accident, disablement, even loss of life.

Flight delays and cancellation: A change in flight schedule can throw your travel and accommodation plans astray. The insurance provides cover for loss due to flight delays, missed connecting flights, and change in hotel arrangements due to the cancelled or delayed flights.

Trip Cancellation: You may have to cancel your carefully planned trip due to unforeseeable circumstances. The cover provides protection for financial loss incurred due to travel cancellation.

Loss of Baggage: Loss of baggage though not common in domestic travel but can be a harrowing experience. Imagine arriving at your destination and not have your personal belongings, formal attire for an event, meetings, loss of valuables or electronics and data. Though airlines compensate for a missed baggage, it is minimal. The insurance covers you to a large extent against material loss.

Personal Liability: A new feature in domestic insurance, the feature provides cover against damage caused to third party property or belongings.

Exclusions:

The domestic travel insurance does not provide coverage for illness due to pre-existing conditions, terminal illnesses and related complications, medical treatment related travel, travel against medical advice, injuries/accidents under influence of alcohol, self-harm, hazardous and adventurous activities, illegal activities.

Things to keep in mind while buying domestic travelinsurance:

Travel insurance comes at a nominal cost. It can be purchased for a single trip or for multiple trips during a year.

It is offered for anyone up to 65 years of age. The age cap varies from plan to plan and goes up to 70 years of age.

Travel insurance can be availed for a trip by air, road or train.

You can buy travel insurance from an online travel aggregator, general insurance company directly or from a travel agent.

Read the terms and conditions, fine print, and exclusions carefully before purchase so that you do not get any surprises in case of an unfortunate incident during travel.

Understand the claims process, keep helpline numbers, key contacts, policy document and necessary information handy.

Understand clauses related to pre-existing medical conditions and coverage.

Purchase adequate cover so that you do not end up paying for insurance cover and expenses out of pocket due to low coverage.

Buy travel insurance in advance and not at the last minute so that you clearly understand the cover you are buying.  Many travel aggregators offer a travel insurance at the time of booking tickets. One needs to pay attention to the plan, terms and coverage before ticking the box in a hurry.

There are many plans offered by reputed insurers in the market, offered at a reasonable cost. Compare and choose as per your requirement and not by the cheapest plan available.

IRDA recently announced a standard travel insurance that provides basic mandatory cover that will offered by all Insurance companies.

Travel and airlines industry has gone through a tumultuous time in last one year. Flight delays, cancellation, last minute changes are the norm now as the industry is still recovering. The flux is likely to continue in the coming years as pandemic is not going to disappear fully in near future. The risk of travel will have more and more travellers looking at adequate travel insurance. Travel Insurance will pick up as a segment from just being an add-on product.

Time is ripe for Insurers to design products, specific covers for protection against Covid infection contracted during the travel and the unexpected expenses in an unknown city. Right now there are products that offer Covid cover for international travel. There is a risk of being stranded at your destination due to Covid outbreaks/lockdown/travel restrictions even in domestic travel. There is a need for a product for domestic travel that covers this risk too.