Pack your family travel insurance

July 7th, 2009
With family's thoughts turning towards the approaching summer holiday period, it is still surprising that many parents leave it to the last minute or forget entirely to take out travel insurance to cover themselves and their family whilst on holiday. And all the more surprising when you realise that family travel insurance is a very small outlay compared to the overall cost of your holiday.

All insurers will offer inexpensive travel insurance cover for families and this includes single parent families. Obviously, when choosing the right policy, it pays to read the small print, but the normal deal is that children are covered free within the policy and the adults pay the normal rate that applies for couples, or a percentage of this price for lone parents. That must be good news and anything that helps to reduce the overall cost of trips abroad is a real bonus when everything else is generally charged on a per person basis.

But before you buy, do check what is covered within the travel insurance policy and what may have to be included as an extra. For example, how many children are counted as free? Many insurers cap this at 4 kids but there are providers who extend this to 6 or even an unlimited number, which is great news for the 'old woman with so many children who lived in a shoe', but then again she probably couldn't afford to go on holiday in the first place!

Do also check the family definition to make sure it includes foster children and legal guardian within this. Generally, family travel insurance cover includes children up to the age of 18 years, but again some providers offer cover up to 21 years or even 23 years if they are in full time education so this can be a great saving though, by the time they have reached these ages, not many want to go on family holidays together with their parents but it is a good option to have all the same.

Look out for annual travel insurance policies that permits kids to travel independently of their parents for just a small additional premium. This is good option to consider when the children are of secondary school age and above because this provides cover for school ski trips, cultural visits abroad and summer expeditions which crop up within school and university life. The alternative is to pay out for insurance for these trips separately but this will invariably be more expensive than adding this to a family travel insurance policy.

But do remember, your travel insurance cover is only as good as the policy you purchase and the cheaper the policy, the greater the restrictions there will be in place. So don't assume that you have the right cover by ticking the travel insurance box when you book your flight or holiday. It always pays to check the small print to make sure that your family is properly insured.