How to Pick the Best Travel Insurance
Get the Best Travel Insurance in Singapore
If you are shopping for a travel insurance for your upcoming trip, you might be a bit overwhelmed by all the different options with various benefits and prices. How should you go about finding the best deal that suits your travel needs best? Here, we discuss the four major factors you should think about before choosing the best travel insurance for your travel plans.
Table of Contents
Region of Destinations
While some insurance shopping platforms may ask you to which country you will be travelling, most travel insurance companies only price their plans based on the region of your destination. In Singapore, their regions are typically divided into ASEAN, Asia and global.
The first thing to know when choosing a travel insurance is that wider regional coverage is more expensive. For instance, a travel insurance that covers your trip in Cambodia (ASEAN) should be cheaper than a plan that covers Korea (Asia) or London (global). Therefore, if you know you will be travelling only in a certain region, you can save some money by choosing the narrowest regional coverage possible.
On the other hand, you may want to select a wider coverage if you know you will be travelling in various countries. For instance, you might do a trip that starts in Vietnam, continues to Hong Kong and ends in Korea. Such a trip would require a travel insurance with an Asian coverage, not just ASEAN. Also, if you will be traveling outside of Asia, you would have to purchase a plan with a global coverage, which is typically 50-60% more expensive than ASEAN or Asian coverage.
Duration of Your Trip
Cost of your travel insurance will also depend on how long your trip is. Typically, we have found that a 2-week long trip will cost about 50% more than a 1-week trip, regardless of your destination. This cost will increase as your trip becomes longer up to a point when the price reaches the level of an annual plan. On average, you can expect to spend about S$60 to S$100 for 1-week long trips, or S$100 to S$160 for 2-week long trips.
Short-Term vs Annual Travel Insurance Plans
Annual plans will cover your trips within a specified region for 365 days, and can range from S$250 to S$330 on average. This means that you might want to consider going with an annual plan if you know you will be travelling at least 5-6x in the next 12 months. This is especially the case if your trip destinations tend to be broad-ranged in Asia or globally. Because travel insurance benefits are the same for different durations, you wouldn’t need to worry about that when choosing between an annual plan or short-term plan as long as you are happy with the set of the benefits to begin with.
Benefits
Last but not least, you should find out what kind of benefits you are entitled to, and if those benefits are on par with the industry level. Typically, you are entitled to some payment when you 1) get in an accident or need medical help, or 2) when you experience some travel inconvenience like cancelled flights or lost luggage. You can also get covered for injuries in leisure activities like skiing or scuba diving. Insurance companies usually offer an “economy” or “basic” package and a premium package. Premium packages come with higher compensations, but also cost about 40-60% more than their cheaper counterparts. Below is a summary of average levels of benefits for each major category, so you can compare your choice to the industry level while shopping for the best travel insurance in Singapore.
| Benefit | Industry Average | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic Plan | Mid-Tier Plan | Top-Tier Plan | |
| Personal Accident & Death | S$128,000 | S$239,500 | S$414,000 |
| Overseas Medical | S$260,000 | S$580,000 | S$750,000 |
| Domestic Medical | S$31,100 | S$81,750 | S$155,000 |
| Emergency Medical Evacuation & Repatriation | S$750,000 | S$1,300,000 | S$1,433,000 |
| Trip Cancellation or Curtailment | S$5,550 | S$10,200 | S$32,750 |
| Trip Delays | S$740 | S$1,150 | S$1,563 |
| Baggage Loss/Damage | S$2,850 | S$5,000 | S$7,938 |
| Baggage Delay | S$725 | S$1,070 | S$1,275 |
| Total Trip Inconvenience | S$20,475 | S$37,293 | S$60,444 |
If you are ready to purchase travel insurance and be protected for your next trip, check out our page to Compare Travel Insurance Plans in Singapore!
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Duckju (DJ) is the founder and CEO of ValueChampion. He covers the financial services industry, consumer finance products, budgeting and investing. He previously worked at hedge funds such as Tiger Asia and Cadian Capital. He graduated from Yale University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics with honors, Magna Cum Laude. His work has been featured on major international media such as CNBC, Bloomberg, CNN, the Straits Times, Today and more.