Does travel insurance cover visiting additional countries

Notepad_Phil

A friend of mine was talking to me on the phone this evening about a 3 week holiday he was planning next year to Germany onto Spain and then Italy and then back to Germany and now at the back of my mind I have a vague memory of a money columnist in some newspaper reporting an issue of someone not being covered for their travel insurance because they had travelled on from the area they were first staying at and that this restriction was typical.

Is this genuinely a real issue that I should tell my friend about and if it is an issue that what should my friend look out for? I would think that he wouldn't be particularly worried if he wasn't covered for losing his luggage e.g. between Spain and Italy, but he would be very concerned if the emergency medical expenses and getting you back home component of the insurance was also removed whilst he was in Spain or Italy.

Many thanks for any help.

Edited to add - the onward flights etc to Spain and Italy would likely only be bought after the purchase of the return air fare to Germany, and indeed the dates and flights might only be decided on once he was in Germany and depending on how much he was enjoying it there.

Voyager2002

If you look at a proposal form for travel insurance, you are asked about your dates of travel and also about the countries that you plan to visit. The premium will be higher if you intend to visit a more risky country such as the USA. Many insurers will charge more for holidays that include Spain than for those that are confined to safer countries such as Germany.

This will be very clear when your friend takes out the insurance.

Notepad_Phil

I believe he's previously used the Post Office travel insurance so he'd likely use their annual multi-trip version for Europe so it would definitely cover him for separate individual trips from the UK to each of his chosen countries, it was just the combination of multiple countries within the one planned holiday that brought the newspaper report to mind, but it's only a half memory so I'm probably misremembering it.

QrizB

Check the policy documents and, if in doubt, phone the insurer to ask.

la531983

I suspect the OP has seen an article where someone bought travel insurance once already abroad. Which wont apply here.

DullGreyGuy

Notepad_Phil said:

A friend of mine was talking to me on the phone this evening about a 3 week holiday he was planning next year to Germany onto Spain and then Italy and then back to Germany and now at the back of my mind I have a vague memory of a money columnist in some newspaper reporting an issue of someone not being covered for their travel insurance because they had travelled on from the area they were first staying at and that this restriction was typical.

Is this genuinely a real issue that I should tell my friend about and if it is an issue that what should my friend look out for? I would think that he wouldn't be particularly worried if he wasn't covered for losing his luggage e.g. between Spain and Italy, but he would be very concerned if the emergency medical expenses and getting you back home component of the insurance was also removed whilst he was in Spain or Italy.

Many thanks for any help.

Edited to add - the onward flights etc to Spain and Italy would likely only be bought after the purchase of the return air fare to Germany, and indeed the dates and flights might only be decided on once he was in Germany and depending on how much he was enjoying it there.

If you buy a Single Trip policy you typically would have to declare all the countries you are going to visit on the trip but in principle moving between each declared country isnt a problem. Annual policies are generally set by territories rather than countries and so as long as all countries are in the geographical limits it's also fine. 

Policies vary if they cover intermediary flights or only the initial flight from the UK and the return leg to the UK.

As long as your outbound and homebound flights are booked before you travel the big ticket things will be covered.

elsien

As an aside, I have seen with the European policies that they ask if you’re visiting Spain/Portugal  or not - never understood why these are different to the rest of Europe? 

la531983

elsien said:

As an aside, I have seen with the European policies that they ask if you’re visiting Spain/Portugal  or not - never understood why these are different to the rest of Europe? 

Ive never had that to be honest.

DullGreyGuy

elsien said:

As an aside, I have seen with the European policies that they ask if you’re visiting Spain/Portugal  or not - never understood why these are different to the rest of Europe? 

Spains medical costs are notably higher than other EU countries plus you are more likely to be taken to a private clinic that dont accept EHIC than in other countries 

TELLIT01

I have also seen policies asking about Spain specifically.

twopenny

If you are buying flights in other countries those flights would I believe come under the rules and regulations of that country so not to expect what is covered in the UK.

I would expect that not to be covered by insurance as it can't be specified and assessed by the insurance company when the cover is purchased.