For many people, travel can generate both excitement and anxiety. And traveling with a child tends to turn up the volume on the “anxiety” part. While planning the trip, you keep asking yourself that horrible question; “what if?” Fortunately, we’re answering “How do I get travel insurance for my child?” to help relieve that stress.
Getting travel insurance for your child isn’t an overly complicated process. Still, you need to pay attention to the small details to ensure that you buy the right product. Buying the wrong insurance could not only be a waste of money but could leave you stranded when you really need it.
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How Do I Get Travel Insurance For My Child And Make Sure It’s the Best?
It’s true that the entire insurance market can be a bit of a minefield, with people often buying coverage they don’t need or, worse yet, not purchasing the coverage that they do need.
However, if you ask yourself a few basic questions, you should be able to narrow your options down to the cover that you really need.
1. Is Your Child Going To Travel Alone?
First, you should ask yourself whether your child is traveling alone or whether you are traveling together as a family.
If you are embarking as a family, your options are almost endless. You can easily find affordable travel insurance covering all family members. In fact, some travel insurance policies will automatically cover a set number of children below the age of 17.
You may already have a travel insurance extension included as a benefit of your bank account, provided that you use a good bank.
So, suppose you are traveling with your child. In that case, you should first check if you don’t already have travel insurance that extends to your children automatically.
If you don’t need an insurance policy, you have a few options. You can get extremely comprehensive coverage from a company like World Nomads. They can get you covered for anything from dental to terrorist attacks, and you can cover up to seven children.
Alternatively, other options like Travelex offer an array of packages. Some of these include cover for all children under the age of 21.
However, if your child is traveling alone, you may be better off going with a company specializing in child travel insurance. In this way, you may save some money because you can buy comprehensive insurance for one child instead of a large family package to cover one person.
If your child is going solo, you can look at companies like Post Office that have won awards for their services catered directly to such cases. There are a few other companies that specialize in kids traveling alone, so you’re probably better off getting one of those tailored packages if that is the case.
2. Where Is Your Child Traveling To?
The next question to ask is where your child is going. You need to specify this because many insurers do not cover riskier destinations — such as countries under a “Do Not Travel” Advisory from the Department of State.
If your child wants to walk with the Gorillas in the Congo, you must specify this to the insurer. This is because some insurers list the Congo and other war-torn countries as high-risk countries which are not covered under the policy.
In this case, you could try and find an insurer that covers the trip or take the safer option and go visit the gorillas in Uganda.
Even if you aren’t traveling to a dangerous country, it is still worth looking into a few details. You could be traveling to a country with extremely expensive medical care by insurance standards (some policies exclude Spain for that reason), and it’s a good idea to make sure you have enough medical insurance to cover an unfortunate hospital trip.
Some countries, although not active war zones are also riskier. These risks could be attributed to factors such as crime rates and disease. A good travel insurer should ensure that your child is adequately covered for those trips.
3. What Is Your Child Going To Do On The Trip?
Once you have established your child’s destination, the next thing you want to specify to the insurer is the trip’s activities. There is a significant difference in risk if your child is going bird watching in Peru versus if your child is taking part in some type of adventure sport.
In other words, you need to ensure that the insurance policy you buy covers the risks involved in the journey. These risks may not just be medical.
4. How Long Will Your Child Be Away?
A simple one to be sure, but potentially easy to forget: You need to ensure that your chosen policy is active for the entire duration of the trip.
For example, I once used my bank’s travel insurance, but that policy was limited to a 90-day working holiday abroad. So if your child is going on an extended working holiday, you must ensure that the policy length is long enough.
Conversely, if your child is only going away for two weeks, you should check if you can buy a shorter policy, perhaps saving you a dollar or two.
5. Have You Looked At Other Travel Insurance Options?
The last tip is to take the time to shop around and compare options. Please don’t settle for the first quote that comes your way simply because it looks good. If you don’t have anything to compare it to, you won’t actually know whether it is any good or not.
Closing Thoughts
After all the paperwork for your child’s travel insurance is done and dusted, you can relax and enjoy your holiday.
Related Content: When is it too late to get travel insurance?
David Chapman
Contributor
