An invaluable article/sharing by Mr. Lam

Travel Insurance: Is travel insurance important? Does anyone ever skipped the travel insurance purchased to save several dollars during purchasing the airline ticket? Do you think credit card insurance coverage is similar to travel insurance while you are travelling?

My own experience: During last May when I plan for a family trip, I decided to purchased the travel insurance along with my Singapore Airlines air ticket booking, RM330 for 5 of us (my parents, my wife, daughter and myself). My decision made as a result of considering my parents and my daughter are travelling along and I might need it JIC (just in case). Also, I was thinking I will need to pay around RM8000 for air ticket and hotels booking and with just less than 5% of the total sum insured to made protection the full coverage.

My decision was right and fruitful!! Just before our trip, my father fall sick and not able to travel along and my mum also need to stay back to take care of him. So we request the Doctor to write a declaration letter to prove that my father is not fit to travel and need a companion to stay back to take care of him.

I submitted the letter and all evidence related to air ticket and hotel bookings to the insurance company. Less than 24hours, the insurance agent that handled my file reach me by email and requested for several detail information. Also along the way, the agent was communicating with me whenever there is any information or documents is required (there is a claim form was sent to Dr for filling and this took 3 weeks and actually delay the claim and we need to pay to the hospital for the claim form to be filled by the doctor). After all the documents submission, it just took agent 2 days to confirm the claim is approved and all expenditure of air ticket and lodging is claimable amounted to around RM3.4k! Less than 10 working days after the file finalised and submission, the money was banked in into my account.

So in future, I suggest to my friends to consider to spend small amount on the travel insurance if having a family trip which include elderly and kids, and this also to minimize the total losses if anything happened during overseas travel.

P/S: I am not an insurance agent and I do not receive any revenue from any insurance company. Above is my own experience and just wanted to share with my family and friends.

GenX’s Comments:

For years, I always stressed the need to purchase Travel Insurance. The premium is negligible compared to the air ticket(s). If you travel frequently overseas, you can even buy yearly Travel Insurance.

In mid last year, one of my friend paid in full for a holiday in Europe with a tour agency. Couple days later, he was informed that his mother in law may not have long to live (it’s now February, ie. more than 7 months, and thankfully my friend’s mum is still around). So he and his wife had to cancel the trip. Luckily he bought Travel Insurance and therefore was compensated by the insurance company for the tour cancellation.

Few months back, another follower/friend shared with me that his grandmother in law (80+) who was in Brisbane visiting her son fell down in the kitchen and was taken to the hospital. She did not purchase any Travel Insurance with any local agents BUT when purchasing her Singapore Airlines ticket, they did tick the insurance box/column. Therefore, they contacted SIA and Singapore Airlines’ Insurance agreed to pay the AUD7K bill.

Now, I would strongly recommend that you purchase a COMPREHENSIVE Travel Insurance (that covers everything possible as shit happens) from a third party, i.e. from an agent that is convenient for you to purchase the policy and submit documents when making claims. And not all Travel Insurance are the same. An Insurance Company may have up to 3 different types of Travel Insurance Policies.

Getting Travel Insurance will not make any significant impact to your wallet, for about RM100 you are insured for Accident/Death, Overseas Medical Bills/Expenses,  Medical Evacuation/Reparation, Damage to Baggage (even if one wheel is damaged, you can claim), Travel Delays, Travel Overbooked and etc. Therefore, there is no reason why you should not get it.

However, for trip cancellation, like in Mr. Lam’s parents case where both his dad and mum  was unable to fly and subsequently reimbursed, not all policies offer this. Therefore it is important that you check this clause – “Loss of Deposit or Cancellation” when purchasing the Travel Insurance. 

Another Personal Financial Tutorial by presented GenX together with Mr. Lam.

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