Why It’s Time To Switch To Annual Travel Insurance

If you’re still buying your travel insurance trip by trip, it may be time to think bigger

Lao Tzu famously said: “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” We think that single step is getting insured, looking out for yourself and your family — and being farsighted about it.

Fact: It’s a great time to be alive and to travel and see the world. It’s easy to anticipate good times. But the question is, how prepared are you for the bad times you couldn’t have predicted? You could burst a ear drum jumping off a yacht (ask Ed Sheeran). You could be smacked in the face by a golf club yielded by someone who had burst a ear drump jumping off a yacht (ask Justin Bieber and Ed Sheeran). You could even trip over your own heels and break a toe (ask Hillary Clinton — yes, it happens to the best of us.)

We have, of late, been nagging you about the importance of buying travel insurance. But it’s not enough to just get insured before you take a trip. It pays to see the big picture and think like a boss — plan long term, gain long term. If you find yourself getting your passport stamped more frequently now, maybe it’s also time to switch up your travel protection. Here are all the reasons why now’s the time to quit being single minded and think annually.

Because You're a Jetsetting Girlboss

Are you the jet-setting girlboss who takes meetings and attends conferences around the world? Say for instance, you’re travelling once a month to everywhere from Vietnam to Tokyo, just around the region, the cheapest basic plan will set you back about S$20, chalking up a grand total S$240 of insurance in a year if you buy a single trip policy each time you up and go. Want to know what an annual plan will cost you? About S$130. Come on, you’re an entrepreneur now, surely you can do the math and work out the most cost-effective way to do this. Need we say more?

Because You're A Free Spirit (With A Plan)

So you’re all about living spontaneously. Life, you think, is too short to have everything all planned out all the time. How boring. You want to pack and go — anytime and anywhere. But, let’s be honest, no one is so free a spirit that they don’t care about having to pay too much for a crappy situation that decides to happen when you’re having fun. You want to be free? Having an annual plan in place means that you just need to think about it once, and not again for the next 12 months.

Because You're A Citizen Of The World

The world is your oyster. You flit from one place to another, from one corner of the world to another, one season at a time. C’est la vie. When you have such important things on your agenda —to live and discover the world — you can’t afford to worrying about “what-ifs”. You need to be prepared for the worst. You need an annual travel insurance plan with worldwide coverage or one that is customised based on the countries you visit.

Because Time (And Money) Is Better Spent On Living & Having Fun

This is pretty self-explanatory, right? Time is precious, and so is money. So, live more, have more fun, and worry less about all this adulting. If you only need to do this once and not again for the year, why wouldn’t you unless you’re a glutton for pain. Life is so much better simpler. Wouldn’t you agree? We think Marie Kondo would.

Because Monica Geller Is Your Favourite Friend

If you’re a Type A like Monica Geller who needs every aspect of their lives organised and planned, the question is: How are you not already on an annual travel insurance plan? How do you sleep at night? Doesn’t it drive you a little crazy to have to do this every time you plan a trip? And knowing that you are paying more and not enjoying the best deals there are? Seriously, WWMGS?

Because You May Not Need To Fork Out Money

If you have the right credit card, anything is possible. OK, almost anything is possible. But if having the right credit card means getting free travel insurance, sign us up! Don’t even get us started on collecting air miles. To find a match, use SingSaver’s comparison tool to help.

What’s the difference between a single-trip plan and an annual plan, btw?

A single-trip policy offers the policyholder(s) coverage for a singular trip only. The stipulated benefits and coverage is offered as a unique occurrence, and is applicable only for that particular trip. This means that even if you do not embark on your trip, you may not use the same policy for another trip at a later date.

Single-trip policies are good if you or your family travels infrequently. As they are designed to offer a single instance of protection, they are among the lowest-priced travel insurance plans on the market.

An annual policy offers insurance coverage that comes into force whenever the policyholder(s) travel out of the country. There is usually no limit to the number of times the protection can be applied. However, like its name suggest, annual policies are limited in duration to 12 months from the start date. This start date may or may not coincide with the date of your first trip. (i.e., you buy an annual travel insurance policy that lasts from 1 Jan to 31 Dec. However, your first trip out of the country occurs only on 1 Feb. Your annual plan will still expire on 31 Dec, and not 1 Jan of the following year.)

Because an annual policy offers multiple instances of cover, they generally cost more than single-trip policies.

Besides these two types of policies, insurers may offer multi-trip policies, which provide protection for a set number of trips. You may find these policies (which are really just a type of bundle deal) priced attractively, especially if they are offered as part of a sales campaign.

By Alexa Fang

Alexa is a pop-culture vulture. She lives to read, write and travel, and decided long ago that life is stranger than fiction. When she's having croissant, she thinks in French. "31 Rue Cambon" is her favourite address, and she believes that money one enjoyed spending is never money wasted.