If you think buying travel insurance in Singapore is a waste of money, you’re totally mistaken. Small inconveniences or terrible accidents can occur during your trip—and you wouldn’t want these things to spoil the fun and take away your pocket money.
This is where travel insurance comes in handy. When you, your travels, and even your personal belongings are insured, you wouldn’t worry about handling emergency medical expenses and covering the loss or damage to your luggage.
To ensure you rest easy and travel with ease, you must understand the basics of travel insurance and claim benefits. Read on to find out what these things are.
- Coverage Applies During Travels & Post-trip
While the insurance itself suggests coverage for travels, its purpose isn’t limited to the actual day of travel. Travel insurance may also protect you in accepted instances that happen days before your trip.
Trip cancellation is among the most common pre-trip instances. Supposed you need to cancel your travel for a covered reason (i.e., sickness, job loss, unforeseen accident, flight cancellations due to adverse weather, etc.), you will get reimbursement for the unused, non-refundable and prepaid trip costs. Isn’t that a huge relief?
Just one thing to remember: be sure to buy your travel insurance immediately upon booking your flights. Yes, timing is everything!
- A Basic Plan Doesn’t Translate to Best Value
There’s one important thing you should learn in the world of insurance: the cheapest plan doesn’t mean the best value.
Don’t be too quick to settle for a standard plan because it’s not the best choice value-wise. So how do you find the right travel insurance policy for you? Simple. Do a risk assessment. Don’t depend alone on the policy rate and consider other factors, including:
- Your destination/s. Not all insurance companies offer coverage for travel to high-risk countries.
- Your travel companion/s. Some insurers cover travel companions for trip interruption or cancellation.
- Trip duration. The length of your travel will affect your travel insurance costs.
- Travel activities. Higher risk travel activities, such as scuba-diving, paragliding and sky diving, require add-on riders or additional premium to get coverage.
- Insurance Covers Delay on Various Conveyances
Most people thought that coverage for delays is only for air travels. Well, the confusion is forgivable because of the widely used travel term, flight delay.
The truth is, travel insurance applies to land, air, and water conveyances. That means if the ferry you’ve booked to get to Kusu Island got cancelled or delayed unexpectedly, you could file a claim with supporting documents.
Similarly, if your train gets delayed due to bad weather or if a pre-booked tour bus fails to turn up at your hotel, you’re free to reimburse the unused, non-refundable land accommodations. Now, isn’t this a great reason to get travel insurance in Singapore?
- Supporting Documents Are Required to Make a Claim
The travel insurance claim procedure will depend on your insurance provider. However, all insurance companies require one thing when voyagers make a claim—supporting documents.
If you wish to make a claim, be sure to prepare all the supporting documents. The documents vary depending on the type of claim, so obtaining relevant papers, report, photos, and more before filing the claim is necessary.
Here’s the list of the documents needed on some travel insurance claim types:
| Type of travel insurance claim | Supporting documents needed |
| Personal accident and medical expenses | original medical bills and receiptsmedical report or hospital discharge summary a police report for accidents |
| Loss of personal belongings | a police report of lost itemsproperty loss irregularity reportoriginal purchase invoice and/or warranty card |
| Damaged personal belongings | property damage irregularity reportphotos of damaged itemsdiagnostic report from repairer stating cause and extent of damagerepair bill or quotationoriginal purchase invoice and/or warranty card |
| Baggage delay | written confirmation from carrier/airline on a period of delay or baggage return acknowledgement |
| Travel disruptions (delays, overbooking, etc.) | written confirmation from the airline/carrierwritten confirmation from the tour agent/carrier/hotel on the amount refunded and additional charges |
| Travel cancellation or curtailment | written confirmation from tour agent/carrier/hotel on the extra charges incurredhotel accommodation confirmation advice or travel deposit receipt |
| Personal liability | letter of claim or documents received from the third-partyphotographs of damaged third-party property |
To avoid getting delayed or rejected claims, always keep a soft copy of the documents listed above. Remember, it never hurts to be prepared because accidents happen with no warning.
The Takeaway
Most people neglect buying travel insurance because they think it’s an unnecessary expense. They would rather spend their money on leisure and not on protecting themselves against the terrible circumstances that may happen before and during their travels.
The thing is, you can take a different route. Don’t let yourself fall into the trap of financial damage caused by unwanted events. Buy a travel insurance plan to get coverage for unexpected inconveniences and medical expenses.
