What is business Travel Insurance?

When you go away on business, do not just assume that your firm will cover you. It is your responsibility to find out what cover you have when you go away representing them. Its no use being in a foreign country, needing medical treatment, and then finding out that there will be no way of paying for it as you are not covered.

It is pretty likely though that if your company has a lot of employees who travel as part of their jobs that there will be some form of business travel insurance. This would make sense, as firstly, business travel tends to be repeated, and also important, in that an employee is an asset of the company, and should be protected. But also you are very likely to be carrying some quite valuable equipment, such as laptop computers. If they are the company's property, and they get stolen off you when you are away, then the company bears responsibility.

Of course, this is all in theory. In practice, when you take possession of a valuable piece of your employer's equipment, you also take on a responsibility to look after it properly, and you will need to make sure that you look after it responsibly or you can be held liable for it. It's like any insurance, in that the company get insurance for their laptops as long as they can promise that their employees will look after them. Should your employer not provide any cover for you at all then you should make sure that you take out insurance, which provides you with the appropriate level of cover. Whatever you do, you should tell your travel insurance provider that you are travelling on business. This is important, as there is a distinction between trips for business and trips for pleasure. You can get a policy for a single trip, or you can also get a policy for many trips over a longer period, such as a year. If you get an annual policy, then you can travel as much as you like over that time. If you get travel insurance for a single trip, then your stay outside the UK cannot last more than 90 days at a time. Another rule is normally that if you are travelling on business, you need to be staying in pre-booked accommodation overnight.

Sometimes when you are travelling on business, you will not be going to the normal tourist resorts, where support services are readily available to you. Really, what this means is that you may not be going to areas of a country where a prospective insurer has control. Business insurance is usually tailored to this extra risk.

© AskFinancially.com 2008

Travel Insurance

Insurance & Loans

Copyright

What is business Travel Insurance?

© AskFinancially.com 2008

Travel Insurance

Insurance & Loans

Copyright