Travel Insurance: Single-Trip or Annual, and What Usually Counts as Covered

If you travel more than once or twice a year, an annual policy is often cheaper than buying single-trip cover each time. If you travel rarely, or for one long trip, single-trip cover usually fits better. Here is how to decide, and what the policy should actually do.

Single-trip or annual

• Single-trip: covers one journey with fixed dates. Suits an occasional traveller or a long trip that exceeds an annual policy's per-trip limit.
• Annual multi-trip: covers any number of trips in a year, each up to a maximum length, often around a month. Suits people who travel several times a year, including short breaks.
• Check the per-trip limit on an annual policy: a long trip may not be covered beyond it.
• Check the regions: Europe-only policies are cheaper than worldwide, and worldwide policies sometimes price the USA, Canada and the Caribbean separately.

What travel insurance usually covers

• Emergency medical treatment abroad and repatriation, which is the reason most people buy it.
• Cancellation or cutting a trip short for reasons the policy names, such as illness or a close relative's death.
• Lost, stolen or delayed baggage, up to limits, with single item limits for valuables.
• Personal liability.
• Missed departure and travel delay, on many policies.

Medical conditions, in general terms

Policies ask you to declare existing medical conditions. Declaring them may raise the price or exclude related claims, but not declaring them can void the policy entirely. Specialist insurers cover conditions that standard policies exclude. This guide is general information only; what applies to you depends on the policy wording and your own circumstances.

What is usually excluded

• Claims related to alcohol or drugs.
• Some activities and sports unless added.
• Travel against government advice.
• Valuables left unattended, or in checked baggage.

Before you go

Carry the policy number and the emergency assistance line, check a UK Global Health Insurance Card is valid if you are travelling in Europe (it is not a replacement for insurance), and buy the policy when you book, so cancellation cover starts straight away.

How Wisemium helps

Add an annual travel policy to Wisemium and it keeps the insurer, the cost and the renewal date on record and shows it as needing attention before it lapses. When you want quotes, it hands you to an FCA authorised comparison partner. Wisemium does not compare, recommend or arrange insurance itself.