Many people are unfamiliar with the annual, multi-trip travel insurance policy. Unlike single trip policies that only cover you for one trip, annual travel insurance policies offer you emergency medical coverage for every trip you take within 12 months of buying your policy.
At first glance, getting annual travel insurance may seem like overkill, but just think of how many times you may have traveled in the last year; family vacations, business trips, spring break getaways, and weekend jaunts across the border for shopping or sporting events. Add it all up and often an annual policy works out to be cheaper than purchasing a single-trip policy per trip in a year.
An annual travel plan is valid for 12 months, and you can travel, as many times as you like during the year, as long as you don’t exceed the maximum trip duration for the policy that you’ve purchased, which is generally 15 or 30 days in length.
The biggest advantage of purchasing annual travel insurance is that you will not need to arrange for emergency medical coverage for each separate trip you take, which means you’re not only saving money, but time as well.
While every person’s traveling situation is unique, the following scenarios show how an annual policy might be the right choice when it comes time to buy travel insurance.
For couples, where coverage applies to both travelers, all it takes for an annual policy to be the cost-effective purchase is:
1. Two weekend trips and a one-week holiday, or
2. One two-week holiday and one jaunt across the border for a weekend
If you’re a family with a teenager, you generally benefit most from purchasing annual travel insurance. For a family planning to take one two-week vacation a year, it will cost less to get annual insurance rather than getting a single-trip travel insurance policy.
If you take more than two 14-day vacations a year, then you can save on your travel insurance by purchasing annual travel insurance over single-trip insurance.
So whether you’re already a frequent traveler, or are planning to travel a fair bit over the next year, getting annual travel insurance may save you more than you think.
