What Happens After Purchasing Travel Insurance

1) Keep printed copies of your travel insurance policy:

Keep a copy in each of your large travel bags as well as a copy in your carry-on or day bag in case you can't access the digital copy if your phone is lost or goes flat. Rather than trying to access your emails or the online version, you can simply grab the policy certificate from your bag.

This can especially make situations easier such as:

• Providing your policy details to hospital staff.
• Providing your policy details to medical staff on a cruise ship.
• Finding the emergency phone number in areas where there’s no WiFi to access your email.
• When you’re not conscious or otherwise unable to provide your policy details, it will be easier for hospital staff to contact your emergency assistance team if they can easily find your printed travel insurance policy.

2) Keep digital copies of your travel insurance policy:

You can always access a digital copy of your travel insurance policy from the My Policy section of our website.

You may also want to consider sharing your travel insurance policy details with your travelling companions, close family members, friends or partner.

There’s a couple of benefits to doing this, including:

• Making it faster for family or friends to communicate with your travel insurer about your policy.
• Helping you to extend your travel insurance policy on your behalf while you’re travelling.
• Helping you to add on extra cover if required such as for rental vehicle insurance excess and adventure sports or activities
• Giving your family and closest friends the ability to follow up on a travel insurance claim on your behalf, if you have given your insurance company permission to speak with them about it.

1) Use your travel insurance to seek expert advice in an emergency.

The Worldwide 24/7 Emergency Assistance team are available 24 hours a day and can advise you on what your next steps should be after an incident which may involve requesting a statement from your hotel or hostel manager, visiting a police station to make a report, seeing a doctor or even going straight to a hospital.

They’re also able to assist in other ways, including:

• Acting as a guarantor for treatment and managing your case in hospital.
• Organising emergency transport or repatriation home.
• Providing advice.
• Getting in contact with your family or employers.
• Arranging translation services.

If in doubt, always call the emergency assistance team. 

Once you’re safe and have support you can follow the next steps if you need to make a claim.

2) Use your travel insurance to make a claim.

You can make an online claim for your unexpected out of pocket expenses related to your trip. For example: medical expenses if you had to see a doctor, or nonrefundable accommodation and travel expenses if your trip is cut short due to a natural disaster.

You can claim while still overseas or upon your return home (we find that the earlier you submit your claim, the higher the chances of you remembering the details of what happened, and you’re more likely to still be in possession of the relevant receipts, reports or invoices).

Remember to keep all of the relevant documentation to make the claims process as fast and simple as possible. This might include:

• Police reports.
• Purchase receipts.
• Medical bills or invoices.
• Reports from a doctor or hospital.
• Photographs of items that were stolen or damaged.
• A statement from the hotel or hostel (for cancellations or if something was stolen).
• A statement from the airline or tour company (for cancellations).

Find out more about how to make a travel insurance claim here.