Travel insurance when you travel on business is vital – your business trip is important! Make sure that you have the right business travel insurance cover so that you can stay in good company on your business journey.
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Do I need travel insurance for a business trip?
When looking for business travel insurance, first take a look at your existing annual multi-trip or single trip policy. While your insurance may not expressly exclude business travel, there may be restrictions on your cover. So for instance, you yourself may be covered for travel, but not any lost stolen or damaged business materials. Also, there may be limitations on lost money or credit cards that could leave you out of pocket for personal expenses.
The starting point however is a good core travel insurance policy. From that, adding on to make a good core business travel insurance policy should be easy. So, a good travel insurance policy should have covered cancellations, delays, pre-existing medical conditions, emergency medical treatment, medical expenses in the case of personal accident or emergency and helplines that operate 24 hours a day.
For anyone travelling on business, there are a number of basic questions. Are there limits on the amount of cover for personal belongings or business items that you can obtain? Is there an age limit? Is the number of business trips limited or limitations on the type of business equipment that you can take with you? Many travel insurance policies will have some restrictions on, particularly if you haven’t paid the extra premium for the business cover that you may need. Travel insurance could help you when needed, provided that you have understood the cover and you have done nothing to invalidate your policy.
Business Travel Insurance – What Next?
So let’s look in more detail. Like all travel insurance, whether providing business cover or not, you will need to declare any pre-existing medical conditions as part of making sure that your travel cover is valid and covers emergency treatment or personal accident. You certainly don’t want to find that you are liable for medical costs and expenses should something happen while you are travelling and you have not declared pre existing medical conditions.
With Emerald, you do not have to declare your HIV status in most cases, whether for an annual multi-trip policy or for single trip cover, whether travelling on business trips or not.
Secondly, does your policy include cover for lost or stolen belongings, the most common travel-related insurance claim? For the small upfront cost of a business travel insurance policy, you can make sure that money, personal costs, lost or stolen personal equipment, as well as other covers.
Thirdly, are the usual add-ons for standard travel insurance included in the policy that you are looking at. Is there legal cover, that can pay the cost of legal expenses should you need it? Is there a number to call for general queries? If you are on business, you may still need cover for some of these things and your insurance cover should have these included, which is the sign of good travel insurance.
Fourthly, what business travel insurance cover is there within the policy already? There are very few annual insurance policies (and even fewer single trip travel insurance policies) that will give you full business travel insurance as standard. The reason for this is that most people when buying insurance don’t need cover for a business trip, either because that don’t travel abroad for business, or because their work gives them cover under a business group policy. So their journey abroad is just about holiday – enjoying the trips, having a beer, playing some golf (if golf is your thing!) or other sports (if other sports are your thing!)
How To Get The Right Cover
For some business travel insurance policy, you may need to purchase an additional option to get the best business travel insurance cover. Emerald operates that way, so for a small annual additional premium, you can get increased business travel insurance cover. What does that mean? That means that as a traveller, your policy could cover business equipment up to £2000, business equipment hire up to £750 and business money up to £500, and should you need these when abroad, how to call and the process to claim are set out clearly in your policy. Also, these benefits are per person, so if you are two travelling on the same business and on the same policy, you can get twice as much cover for lost business equipment, business equipment hire and business money. Something to think about.
Conclusion
So, what have we learned? There is good and bad travel insurance, sure, but there are also good and bad travel insurance companies too. Read the reviews of business travel insurance before you make any final decisions about travel insurance for your business travel or business trip, as sometimes customer service is as important as cover, and when travelling for business, self-employed or for a company or group, you need quick service should the need arise. This may be more important for a business trip than a holiday, although those on holiday may think otherwise!
Finally, remember that the world was built on travel, and particularly travel for business. When you travel you want to make sure that you have the best and most appropriate travel cover and we very much hope that Emerald’s travel insurance will suit your needs on any business trip and be the business travel insurance for you.
Please note that Emerald Life Limited is registered in England and authorised and regulated by the financial conduct authority and can be found on the financial services register. Registered office is listed on the Emerald website. Emerald Life Limited has no trading name, is not part of a group and its business travel insurance is underwritten by various underwriting group. You are advised to compare trip travel insurance for any business travel and check the terms of all insurance before you buy as cover may be different for any cover that you compare.
Topics recorded: travel insurance/business travel insurance/business trip/insurance policy/travel/single trip policies, multi-trip policies
