Travel Insurance for Europe
European Travel Advice offers cheap travel insurance for Europe
Travel Insurance for Europe
For peace of mind on your holiday or business trip, it is essential that you take out suitable travel insurance for Europe. This will ensure that both you and your family members are protected in case of a medical emergency or illness.
Any cover you take out can be suplemented by the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC)
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office always recommend having both the EHIC for European travel and travel insurance. You may find that some insurance companies will refuse to pay out on treatment that could have been taken care of using a EHIC card at no cost or a reduced cost.
Using your EHIC in Spain
Pre-existing Medical Conditions
If you have pre-existing medical conditions you will need to declare these to your insurer before buying the policy and there may be some insurers that will not cover you. Insurance Choice does provide pre-existing medical condition travel insurance.
Far better to go with an insurance company that does cover pre-existing medical conditions that are declared and know you have cover in place than suddenly to find out that you are not covered. It may be a little more expensive but that expense is likely to prove well worth the cost if something does go wrong.
Always check the terms and conditions of your policy before taking it out and make sure that you know what you are entitled to when things don’t go to plan. The volcanic ash cloud over Iceland proved to be the undoing of many travellers, who thought they were safe with their insurance, when they discovered that they were not covered by such an event.
FCO Press Release on the Essentials of Travel Insurance
When a trip goes wrong travelling abroad, the uninsured can be made to pay out literally thousands of pounds to cover the costs of coming to their aid. Despite this many young people appear to think it is worth the risk. Read more on the FCO’s press release
What you should do after suffering an accident on holiday
While suffering an accident at any time is hardly a pleasant experience, it is even more unpleasant when it occurs during a holiday. This should be a time of relaxation and enjoyment and even a relatively minor accident can spoil this. What you should do if you do experience this depends on whether or not you are responsible for the accident yourself. If you are, then the next step is to contact your insurance broker – if you have the correct holiday insurance to begin with. If, however, the accident is the fault of another party, you could be entitled to make holiday claims and receive compensation for injury, the medical expenses and the disruption to your holiday that you have suffered.
If you find yourself in the latter situation, and you wish to pursue a claim for compensation against the party responsible, you need to contact a personal injury insurance company. This will ensure that a solicitor with genuine experience in the relevant area of the law represents you, which is very important as, depending on where you were holidaying when the accident occurred, there can be significant differences in the laws regarding personal accident claims and insurance that can complicate matters. If you were holidaying in Britain, the process of seeking compensation for an injury suffered either by yourself or a member of your family should be much simpler.
Whether the incident occurred in the UK or abroad you would be required to provide proof that a third party was liable for the injury in question. It is simpler if the third party is a UK-based company, such as the travel agency that you booked the holiday with. Any injury should be reported to the relevant people, meaning hotel staff and/or the travel representative. You should also keep a record of this yourself, as well as securing contact details for witnesses to the accident and – if possible – photographs of the place where it happened. While this can be a great deal to think about in the immediate aftermath of the accident, such evidence will greatly assist in supporting your claim.
Visit the Foreign and Commonwealth Office for further information on Travel Insurance