While there are lots of places to travel to in Singapore, Singaporeans love travelling abroad, and one golden rule of travelling abroad is to have travel insurance before you step out of your country. Singaporeans seem to be aware of the golden rule, and hence, many travel companies have cropped up offering travel insurance in Singapore. The insurance market is quite competitive, as cheap to even expensive insurances are available to suit the needs of every traveller. Many sites offer travel insurance Singapore comparison, but it is best to compare travel insurance in Singapore by yourself than trusting any third-party website or app. Too many options have left Singaporeans confused if you are one of them keep reading the travel insurance guide Singapore to figure out which travel insurance you should buy.
Why Is It Important To Get Travel Insurance In Singapore?
Before getting into the types of benefits, you should look for in travel insurance, let’s first see why you need to purchase travel insurance.
Travel insurance is a must if you have pre-existing medical conditions like allergies or asthma. Even if you do not have any such medical conditions, travel experts always recommend you get travel insurance before flying out of the country. This is because getting medical treatment overseas can be very expensive. You will incur even more expenses if you end up in a serious accident and need medical evacuation. Foreign countries do not accept your national health care or insurance. Hence you need to prepare for these kinds of mishaps. Getting travel insurance that covers medical emergencies will help you get medical treatment and even emergency evacuations overseas.
You can land yourself in serious trouble overseas if you do not have travel insurance. You may think that the Singapore embassy can come to your aid, come what may, but they cannot. Singapore can only do so much. They can help contact your family members or help get you a new passport in case you end up losing your passport, but they cannot provide you medical treatment, neither can they pay for the damages caused to your equipment or loss of luggage. If you are carrying expensive equipment or devices with you, it is best to travel with insurance than without it. The travel insurance can help you get reimbursed if your devices get damaged during the tour, you end up in an accident, your flight gets delayed or cancelled, your accommodation gets cancelled, or you lose your luggage. Your insurer can even reimburse you for loss of essential items like a toothbrush!
Money does not come easy to anyone. You do not want your money to go to waste when your travel destination suddenly becomes uninhabitable due to a natural calamity, do you? Moreover, you have to pay in advance for trips. When suddenly the trip gets cancelled due to reasons like political unrest or you getting sick, in that case, if you do not have travel insurance, you will not be reimbursed, and you will end up losing your investment. Travel insurances allow you to claim for losses after sighting one of the covered reasons. Some of the covered reasons are:
- The family member is ill.
- Insured person is ill.
- Travelling companion is sick.
- Terrorist attack.
- Natural calamity.
- Death of a family member.
- Death of the insured person.
Types of benefits to look for in travel insurance
Not all travel insurance is the same; some offer more benefits than others. But you should look for insurance that covers the following areas:
- Personal accident coverage
- Medical coverage
- Pre-existing medical condition coverage
- Travel inconvenience coverage
- Luggage coverage
- Repatriation coverage
- Emergency evacuation coverage
Additional benefits that you can opt for:
- Leisure sports cover
- Terrorism cover
- Car rental express coverage
- Accommodation cancellation coverage
- Pet care
- Safety coverage
- Sports equipment cover
- Bankrupt travel agency
Where to buy travel insurance from?
You can buy travel insurance from insurance companies like Aviva, FWD, AXA, Sompo etc. These are online travel companies. You can head to their website and check the travel plans listed on their site. They generally three types of travel policies, and select one that suits your needs!
If you are not sure you can trust online insurers, you can instead buy travel insurance directly from insurance agents. You can directly talk to them and tell them your travel needs, and they can offer a travel plan that is tailored to your needs. You can also opt to purchase insurance from insurance brokers. If you have specific requirements and general travel policies do not suit your needs, it is best to go for an insurance broker. Check-in with your travel agency to see if they sell travel insurance or not. Some of the travel agencies do sell travel insurances along with the tour packages to their clients. If you are opting to buy an insurance policy from a travel agent, make sure that the agency is certified by the Agents’ Registration Board of the GIA.
Do you know some of the airlines also sell insurance? Different airlines offer different kinds of travel policies. When you book a flight to your travel destination, a popup will come up asking you buy a travel policy along with the flight tickets. Click on the popup and follow the instructions to buy an insurance policy online via an airline. If you cannot trust insurance brokers or agents, and cannot buy a policy from an airline, you can also opt to buy one from a bank like Citibank.
Look for affordable travel insurance.
No one likes spending extra money. It is understandable if you do not want to buy insurance after investing so much on a trip. Still, when you compare the number of expenses and the trouble you can get into overseas if you are unlucky, the travel insurance does not look too expensive. Many companies sell cheap or affordable insurance; all you need to do is a fine one and ask for a quote!
