What is the Excess on My Travel Insurance Policy?

I’m always on the hunt for relevant info and I loved this - one of the best articles I’ve seen on this topic for a while. Here are a few paragraphs as a taster.

Understanding Excess

Excess is the amount of money you agree to pay should the unfortunate happen and you need to make a claim to your insurer. For instance let’s say you had a medical situation travelling abroad which was covered under your travel insurance policy. If your policy’s excess was set at $100, it means when you go to file an eligible claim that is accepted, you will be responsible for the first $100 and your insurer will pay off the rest of the amount.

In cases where your eligible claim may be thousands of dollars, the excess you pay is very small compared to the majority of the bill covered by your insurance company. This is why travelers purchase travel insurance; so to rule out the possibility of being hit with sometimes very large expenses in the event of accidents or unforeseen circumstances.

Standard Excess vs. Voluntary Excess

One of the easiest ways to decrease the amount you pay for travel insurance is to increase the excess amount by let’s say doubling it. You instantly save money on your policy, keeping in mind that should you need to make a claim you will need to cover a bit more of the cost related to the incident you are claiming. You are basically taking more of a risk in order to save guaranteed money upfront. You should always only select an excess amount that you are willing or able to afford should you need to make a claim.

If you wish to be fully covered in the event you need to make a claim, you can set your policy’s excess to $0. This means in the event you need to file an eligible claim, you will pay nothing and your insurer will cover the entirety of your expenses for an accepted claim. You will pay a bit more for your policy by choosing this option but it may prove beneficial should you need to file a claim.

Pretty valuable stuff, I’m sure you’ll agree! Why not check out the whole article HERE and share your thoughts with me afterwards: call on (07) 3243 0000 or email me at [email protected].

Thanks,

Mark