Insurance for 6 month trip (Toronto).

mrfandango

Hi all,

I'm planning to visit Canada for 6 months on a visitor's visa and am hoping the community can offer some advice.

1. Insurance.

Looking at a number of the Annual insurance policies (say, L&V) it seems the Annual ones actually insure you for 30-90 days per trip? For someone planning a long stay (6 months) what is the 'correct' policy or way to go about this?

2. Flights

I was recommended to book my flights through a travel agent rather than just online via SkyScanner as that apparently gives me more protection. Would a travel insurance policy not be the correct way to insure against flight issues rather than relying on a 3rd-party agent?

Many thanks in advance. Haven't travelled in a long time so it's all rather new to me again.

Voyager2002

Insurance: look at long stay and back-packer policies provided by the likes of Columbus. Annual policies would be useless for the reasons you state.

Flights: whoever made that recommendation knows nothing, so ignore anything they say. Use sites such as this to find out the best way to proceed. Do remember that insurance will only protect you in the ways that are specifically mentioned in the policy.

callum9999

All the normal price comparison websites will let you look for long stay insurance.

Though as Voyager2002 mentions, check the policy carefully to make sure it covers what you think it does. Especially if you just get the cheapest one you find - obviously the cheaper the policy is, the less generous it's likely to be.

puppey

yeah agree with voyager, the flight company might try to sell you some insurance but nothing is automatically included. for 6 month periods it should work out not too expensive, ie compared to a 1 week/2week holiday

agrinnall

I think you need to tell us a bit more about what you're doing, your thread title suggests that you might be spending the entire 6 months in Toronto. Is this actually a holiday, or are you going for some other purpose? Travel insurance is really designed for people going on holiday, if you are doing anything such as working or studying then that may be excluded from standard cover.

InsideInsurance

Annual cover is a multi trip policy rather than covering you being away for a year. There are plenty of long stay options but itll be a single trip policy.

Are your return dates set or is there chances of it changing? This may cause issues with some providers if there is the possibility of extending the trip etc but there are specialist providers that will provide cover whilst you are out there as long as you give them some notice, if you dont you just dont get cover for the first X days.

When you get into these types of cover it increasingly focuses on medical cover rather than luggage etc

Buying through a travel agent you may get ABTA assistance if things go wrong but with decent travel insurance and the protection from ATOL its unlikely to be worth paying a premium for. Of cause sometimes things are cheaper booking through agents than direct so I wouldnt rule out making a couple of quick enquiries