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How To Buy The Best Family Travel Insurance
When planning your next family vacation, checking out and buying a family travel insurance should be the number one priority. Besides getting your passport and flight tickets organized, of course. 🙂
It can be confusing to know how to buy the best family travel insurance. Do not fear! My detailed guide on How To Buy The Best Family Insurance will help you to get a better picture of what to look out for in a comprehensive family travel insurance policy.
Traveling is all about exploring new cultures and vibrant cities, but it is also about the unknown. 99% of the time everything goes well, but there is always the one percent …
When you travel with kids, a travel insurance is even more critical. If something goes wrong, you want the best possible care and treatment for your children. Good coverage is worth every cent.
I only had to use my travel insurance once, and that was nearly twenty years ago when someone broke into my hotel room and stole my camera, cash, passport and a few other things. That was such a distressing experience, and I was so glad to have had insurance coverage.
Lucky me, I never had any more severe hiccups since then. Even when I was traveling with my kids; we didn’t need our family travel insurance at all. Phew!
Even though you may have planned every detail, there are always things that are unpredictable or can go wrong. So better be safe than sorry because not having a travel insurance can cost you thousands of dollars if unexpected events occur. That could be delayed flights, lost or damaged luggage, theft (as it happened to me), a sudden illness or a just sore tooth (which can make your life miserable).
A good travel insurance will give you peace of mind and hopefully, you will never have to use it.
In my post, I am going to talk about what should be covered by your insurance policy especially when traveling with kids, when you should buy one and how to choose the best travel insurance plan.
I will also discuss a couple of travel insurance companies with lots of experience and high accolades.
Please note: I am not a travel insurance broker. My blog post and included recommendations are based on my own experience and in-depth research. You need to decide for yourself if a travel insurance is right for you.
What Should Your Family Travel Insurance Plan Include 
Certain things are a must-have in your insurance policy:
1. Unlimited medical coverage
2. Trip Cancellation
3. 24/7 Emergency Service
4. Coverage for car rentals
5. Evacuation/Repatriation coverage.
In a family travel insurance plan, the children are usually included in the policy at no additional cost. The medical coverage should be at least $25000 or even better unlimited.
A trip cancellation coverage is also quite significant because unexpected situations can occur before you start your journey.
I also would recommend paying attention to the amount of excess you have to pay in case of a claim. In my opinion, it should not exceed $100 per claim.
Always, always read the policy, so you know exactly what your family travel insurance policy includes. I know, no one likes to read these details, and I am guilty of it, too. How often have I clicked on ‘Agree to terms and conditions’ without actually reading it!
Please make an exception when it comes to your travel policy. Take 10 minutes out of your busy schedule and go through the nitty-gritty. You have 14 days to cancel the insurance policy if you feel it is not the right product for you.
When Should You Buy Family Travel Insurance
I recommend purchasing a travel insurance as soon as you pay for your trip. This tip is most important if you need coverage for the rare case that you might have to cancel your planned vacation.
Possible reasons could be work-related, or one of the family members may become ill or any other unexpected events.
The earlier you buy the insurance, the better.
Where Should You Buy the Insurance 
Travel agencies, as well as credit card companies, offer travel insurance. In my opinion, these policies are more expensive and might not be as comprehensive as you need it to be.
I prefer to buy directly from a well-known insurance company. In most cases, you can obtain a no-obligation quote online. It is easy to do, and you are more in control of the price range.
The insurance world is a highly competitive market, so it pays to shop around a bit. My advice is to check the price but also what you will get for the price.
One company with an excellent reputation is World Nomads. They have been around since 2002 and are provide travel insurance for travelers from over 140 countries.
The second company I will discuss is 1Cover Travel Insurance; available to people who are living in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and Singapore.
What About Traveling When You Are Pregnant
I don’t have much experience on this subject since I never traveled while I was pregnant. But I do know that you need to check with the insurance company on what the coverage is in case something does go wrong.
I’ve found a great detailed post about this matter on a blog called wheressharon.com. I highly recommend to check it out when you are planning on traveling while you are pregnant. Sharon has got lots of tips that will make your travels a whole lot easier.
Which One Is Best?
World Nomads Travel Insurance
One of a well-known and reputable travel insurance company is World Nomads, and they are available for people in over 140 countries.
This company was founded in 2002 by people who had been passionate travelers themselves and knew what people need while “on the road.”
World Nomads is loved by leading brands such as Lonely Planet and National Geographics. Their philosophy is to make it easy to extend and to buy a policy online and also put in your claims. Travel Insurance from World Nomads.com are ideal for long-term travels for up to 12 months or even longer.
I do like that you can purchase their travel insurance after you have started your holiday. Please note, that a waiting period of 72 hours applies.
As with any good company you can thoroughly check the policy for fourteen days. Read the policy details to ensure that it’s right for you. If you are not convinced, you can cancel in within these fourteen days.
By the way, the price of each policy includes $5 that will get donated to a social project of your choice. What a marvelous idea!
Get a quote by typing in your details below.
1Cover Travel Insurance
1cover travel insurance is the second company I’d like to introduce. 1Cover travel insurance is an award-winning company who has been around since 2003. Their rates are very competitive and one of the lowest I have come across so far.
On productreview.com.au, 1Cover received 4.3 out of 5 stars based on nearly 2500 reviews. Please note that 1Cover Travel Insurance is available only in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and Singapore. I do hope that they will extend their business to other countries as well. I will keep you posted. 🙂
I do love 1Cover’s website. It is easy to read, to navigate and contains lots of helpful information.
Children are included in every family travel insurance policy at no extra cost.
Dependents under 21 years who travel with a parent or grandparent for 100% of the journey are covered at no additional cost on our cheap single and family policies. (1cover website)
You can also take out travel insurance after you have started your holiday and you will be able to extend the lengths of your policy for up to two years.
One of my favorite features is that you can decide to have a policy without any excess payments. The cost of the plan increases only by a little bit. But in the end, I think it is worth it to pay the extra money. Many excess payments can quickly pile up to a large sum.
How about making a claim?
You can make a claim by downloading the form and send it by mail or email. The claim will be processed in within ten business days. I always recommend ringing the insurance company first to inform them about what has happened.
Get a Quote
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Frequently Asked Questions On How To Buy The Best Family Insurance
What Is (Family) Travel Insurance?
A Travel Insurance is designed to cover you for unexpected emergencies while you (and your family) are on a vacation. Emergencies can include, e.g., luggage lost by the airline, the need for medical treatment due to a sudden illness, lost or stolen gears or a trip cancellation.
Is A Travel Insurance The Same Like A Health Insurance?
Let’s be clear on this matter: A travel insurance is not a substitute for a health insurance. The travel insurance covers medical parts like sudden illness, toothaches, or injuries caused by accident.
It doesn’t cover ongoing costs for pre-existing conditions like medication etc.
In addition to the medical coverage, you’ll be covered for loss or theft of your travel gears, trip cancellations and other things that can unexpectedly occur.
My Credit Card Offers Travel Insurance. Is It Enough Coverage?
My advice is to find out what exactly is included in your credit card travel insurance. It usually offers only limited protection and is not as comprehensive as a policy from a renowned insurance company.
You might end up paying a difference in the costs that may occur, e.g., paying for medical treatment or lost luggage.
How Do I Claim Insurance Costs?
As soon as an emergency happens, you’ll need to get in touch with your insurance company either by phone or email. In most cases, you will have to pay for the costs out of your pocket and put a claim for reimbursement forward to the insurance company.
In addition to filling in a form, you also have to provide all documentation, file police reports, receipts, hospital reports and the likes.
Most travel insurances need about two weeks to approve a claim.
Does A Travel Insurance Covers Travel In My Home Country?
Some companies offer insurance for domestic travels like my recommended insurance company 1Cover.
Your best bet is to check with the insurance company of your choice.
There Are A Lot Of Negative Online Reviews About Travel Insurances
The common problem is that a lot of folks don’t read the fine print of their policy. If something happens and they find out it is not covered by their insurance, these people get quite frustrated, and the results reflect in negative reviews.
Therefore, always make sure to read the policy, so you know what is covered while you are traveling.
It doesn’t mean that insurance companies are always right. Mistakes and wrong decisions can happen. I would choose a well-known and established company like the ones I have introduced before.
Summary
I hope this post has brought more clarity on how to buy the best family travel insurance.
It is a good idea to have travel insurance in case something goes wrong especially when you are traveling with your family. Expect the unexpected and be happy if everything goes smoothly.
If your children fall ill, break their arm, or … (you get my point) – You want the best possible care for them. Full Stop!
The most important things to remember are:
- You don’t have to pay extra; children are included in your travel policy which is fantastic.
- To get coverage for a trip cancellation, buy travel insurance as soon as you put a deposit down or pay for your holiday.
- To make a claim you will need to submit receipts, medical diagnosis, police reports (if applicable) as much information and documents as possible. Ring or email the insurance company as soon as possible and let them know about anything that is happening. This way you will be on the right path to get quick results regarding the approval of your claim.
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Always take the time out and read the full policy. Make sure you know exactly what you are covered for. You have fourteen days to check the policy. If you are not convinced that it is the right product you can cancel in within this time frame.
I do hope this post will help you to find the best family travel insurance with the best price and service. Please share in the comments below any good or bad experiences you may have had with travel insurance. I’d love to hear from you!
Safe Travels for you all!
Be sure to read my post What To Pack In A First Aid Kit When Traveling With Kids.
For more tips and hacks when traveling with children, please click here.
This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase after you click the link, I will get a small commission at no extra cost to you.
Hi Anke
Thanks so much for all the detailed information! I guess Im not alone in worrying about things like – If I book this expensive overseas holiday with the kids one of them is bound to come down with some sort of childhood disease or vomiting bug! Murphy law…and you are so right. Accidents happen everywhere and while a stay in an overseas hospital might be all that is needed for a day or 2 it can really effect the spending money!
Thanks again. I feel better.
Hi Megan, yes, these childhood diseases are a bit of a worry especially when you are just about to fly for a few hours at a time. So far so good, we have been very lucky not to experience any hiccups on those long haul flights.
Having a family insurance really makes me feel much better and I know I don’t have to worry too much about any additional costs.
Happy Travels!
~ Anke
It is interesting to find this article on travel insurance. I had never thought much about it before and one trip decided to add it, simply because of where we were going, etc. Well, needless to say, we had a family emergency and could not go on our trip. I called them about the trip cancellation to see about getting my money back. There were so many exclusions and I ended up getting nothing back. This kind of burned me on ever buying trip cancellation insurance again. Have you ever had to use it, or “try” to use it?
Hi there,
wow that is really sad to hear that the insurance company didn’t pay for the trip cancellation. I didn’t have to face such an issue fortunately. The only time I needed travel insurance was when someone broke into my hotel room and stole cash, my camera, my passport etc. I had no trouble getting money back from the insurance company.
My biggest advise to everyone is to read what is and isn’t included in the insurance policy. As a customer you have two weeks time after signing to cancel if you feel the policy is not the best option for you.
All the best from Anke
I remember the days when I use to travel with my kids, at least three times per year. Back then airfare was cheap and we were not charged for our luggage. I had a credit card that protected us with travel insurance and that was very reassuring whenever we traveled as a family.
Hi Carol, thanks for your comment. There is still the possibility of using a credit card that includes some sort of travel insurance. But unfortunately most of the time the cover is not sufficient enough to protect your family to cover unexpected additional expenses.
It’s important to get in touch with your credit card provider and compare their offer with a travel insurance company. It can be a bit time consuming but it is worth it in the end.
You never know what’s around the corner so it pays to do your due diligence. Luckily, 99% of the time everything goes smoothly but there is always a 1% chance …
Best regards, Anke
Thank you for the information. I found it to be very informative.
I’m in the process of planning a vacation and I’ll definitely keep your page handy when making my decision.
I’ve never taken travel insurance seriously. But your post opened my eyes to the importance of travel insurance.
I’ll pass it along to the other travelers in my group and get their thoughts as well.
Hi there, I am glad the information regarding travel insurance was helpful to you. Yes, please pass my post on to your travel group. I really appreciate it. If you have any questions, please let me know as well.
Best regards Anke
Hi there,
Very nice website. Easy to read, kept it personal so readers could relate and not think it’s just a fact sheet. I personally never thought about getting insurance while travelling. I will now for sure look into that in the future.
When I give feedback or comments I try to give constructive criticism but there is nothing here I feel that I need to do that for.
So I thank you for your time in creating this and doing a research on the top 2 insurance companies
Cheers,
Dave
Hi Dave, thank you so much for your comment. Much appreciated! I am glad my post has made you aware to consider taking out a travel insurance for your next vacation.
I am glad you didn’t have to use one so far and hope it will stay that way!
All the best and safe travels from Anke
Hey there
This is a great post and having travelled extensively through China and south-east Asia and have always intended to write in a journal the things to remember before during and after my trip with both myself and the kids. I give up. You provide a plan that I can follow and stick to prior to leaving and relax knowing I have most if not all the bases covered
the Info is all here
Thnks mate
Cheers
Paul
Hi Paul, thanks so much for your comment. Wow, it sounds amazing that you have traveled extensively through China and parts of Asia. It might be a cool idea to start a travel blog!
I haven’t seen many travel blogs covering China. It must be such an amazing experience.
All the best and safe travels from Anke
Hi Anke,
Lots of valuable information here. Thanks for posting this.
I had a horrible experience with travel insurance once. I think our mistake was to go for the cheapest one, though from a well-known company. Unfortunately, it turned out they could not offer the medical coverage that we expected. Plus, neither I nor my spouse took take the time to read the whole thing. Maybe coverage for car rentals was included in our insurance, but we didn’t bother to check it out of negligence. We ended up paying for car rental during our entire stay at a resort.
After reading this, I’m pretty sure I’ll pay attention to what is covered in my travel insurance next time.
Hi Princila, thanks for sharing your experience. I am sorry to hear that you didn’t have a good experience with your travel insurance.
Yes, please. It is a good idea to read the terms and conditions in detail. You have fourteen days to cancel if you don’t feel good about the contract.
All the best from Anke
Thanks for this article on how to buy the best family travel insurance.
Having travel insurance is extremely important and even more so if you have kids and a family.
As a good friend of mine says: “If you can’t afford travel insurance, you can’t afford to travel”
It amazes me how many people actually don’t get travel insurance!
I am also glad that you include what you need in your travel insurance as all cover is not created equal!
1Cover looks like a great option for families!
Great post!
Hi John,
I love your quote! In fact, a travel insurance is really affordable so there shouldn’t be any excuse not to get one. I approx. paid NZ$350 for our two months trip to Europe for 1 Adult and 3 Children.
Yes, 1Cover has received lots of positive feedback. They should be on top of everyone’s list to get checked out.
Thanks for your comment and feedback!
All the best from Anke
Great article! I think travel insurance is very important when traveling. Especially when traveling to the United States of America since medical expenses can become extremely high without insurance.
For the companies that you’ve dealt with, have you ever had to pay a deductible when making a claim?
What is the process that you’ve had to go through when making a claim?
Hi there, thanks for your comment. I assume you mean the excess when you ask about ‘pay a deductible’. Most insurance companies have a set amount of excess you need to pay when you make a claim.
You can find the amount in the policy. WorldNomads and 1cover have a $100 excess fee set in their policy. The cool thing about 1cover is that you can choose a family travel insurance policy without excess. It only costs $25 per policy (as far as I know).
When making a claim, the procedure is as follow: I usually get in touch with the insurance company by phone or mail and let them know what is happening.
I then download the claim form, fill it in and send it to them. You also need to send all the appropriate information as well. That could be a police report, doctors statements, bills you had to pay in advance etc.
It depends on the individual case. That’s why I like ringing the insurance first so they can give me advice on what kind of information I need to provide.
Thanks again for your interest.
All the best from Anke
I’ve never taken into account how much there is to consider when buying travel insurance, but when I think about children and their…nature…It seems like an absolute must for any parent.
When buying your insurance, do you pay a once-f
off fee or does it work monthly like with regular insurance?
Hi Ryan, thanks for taking the time to comment. Yes, I think it’s a must getting a travel insurance especially when you are traveling with children. Better be safe than sorry! You only pay a one-off fee. You need to give the insurance the travel period and the fee is based on the time you are going to be away. Most people don’t know that children are included in the insurance at no extra cost. If you have to pay for them, look for a different company.
Best wishes from Anke
Great information on travelers insurance. I have never thought to get any when traveling. Thank goodness, I have yet to have had any problems, but that doesn’t mean it won’t happen! Insurance is one of those things I have a love hate relationship with. It is something we all need, so I am going to check into Nomad and see if this is something that I might need.
Hi there, I am with you. Most people feel a bit reluctant when it comes to insurances but we need them for so many things, car, house, content, health etc.
Do feel free to check out World Nomads but also have a look at other insurance providers. I am going to add another Travel insurance shortly because I feel it is important to give my readers options to find out what is best for their needs.
All the best from Anke
I have traveled with children many times but never thought to obtain travel insurance – mostly because I thought I needed to buy a policy per passenger. I don’t know why I thought that! This is great information and I will be looking much more closely at obtaining travel insurance next time.
Hi Trina, please do check out travel insurance next time. It is not expensive and will give you peace of mind.
Luckily, 99% of the time you wont need it but there is always the one percent… Better be safe than sorry especially when you are traveling with your children.
All the best from anke
Hi, thank you for sharing this with us.
It is important to understand the importance of having travel insurance when you are travelling abroad.
I have traveled to 20 countries thus far, I used to take travel insurance for granted when I was single, but now as I have started having my family, I believe I will not abandon this matter.
Thanks again
Hi A Habil, most of the time you might not need travel insurance. And that is great. It means everything went well. But better be safe than sorry especially when you are on the road with kids. Travel insurance is relatively cheap and provides a peace of mind. I won’t travel without!!!
Safe Travels!
~ Anke