BUYING TRAVEL INSURANCE FROM A 3RD PARTY COMPANY VS TRAVEL AGENT

Travel insurance provides cover against unforeseen crisis which might lead to financial loss to an individual while traveling. The insurance market today is buzzing with several dozen big and small insurance companies which offer a host of insurance products including student travel insurance.

These insurance products can be purchased either directly through a call, office visit or online. They can also be purchased through 3^rd party companies/facilitator like Student Cover which not only provide travel insurance products to Indian students going abroad for higher studies, but also assists clients in claim settlement processes.

Yet, despite that, people often get duped into buying costly and often useless travel insurance policies from unscrupulous travel agents. Many of them neither have the understanding nor expertise in student travel insurance and do not provide any post-sales assistance.

BENEFITS OF BUYING TRAVEL INSURANCE FROM A 3RD PARTY COMPANY

In this blog, Student Cover brings you the advantages of buying student travel insurance from
3rd party companies such as Student Cover as compared to travel agents.

Validity of Insurance

Not all travel insurance plans are held valid in all countries. Due to local and international regulations, certain policies do not provide coverage in certain areas. For example, a travel insurance that is valid in India for domestic travel may not be valid in the US. For a travel insurance to be able to provide coverage in a country, it should have secured explicit permission from the authorities concerned in that country.

Based on the country that an Indian student is travelling to, Student Cover provides plans that are accepted by concerned authorities, medical providers etc. in that country. The travel insurance agents on the other hand often provide travel insurance plans without knowing the validity, application and acceptability of those plans.

Coverage

Based on the needs of the student, 3rd party companies provide customized plans to students with widest possible coverage. The coverage provided by some of the travel insurance plans offered by Student Cover also include features like compassionate visits, emergency medical evacuation, sponsor protection in addition to provision for loss of checked-in luggage, passport, flight delay or cancellation etc.

Travel agents, on the other hand, often do not pay much heed to the details with regard to the benefits offered by travel insurance plans. As a result, students are deprived of certain benefits which they would have otherwise got, had they purchased travel insurance from Student Cover.

Insurance Claim support

One of the advantages of buying travel insurance in general, and student travel insurance in particular, from Student Cover is that it provides assistance to clients in filing insurance claim without charging a single Rupee. It has a team of claim settlement executives who act and follow-up regularly on the behalf of the client until the insurance claim is settled by the Insurance company. With travel agents however, a student does not get any such support and hence, has to file the claim with the company all by himself or herself.

Low/discounted premium

Being certified agents of the insurance provider, third party companies are able to offer attractive discounts on premiums to their clients. 3^rd Party companies have tie-up with insurance providers as a result, they are often given incentives in terms of discount on premiums which they pass on to the buyers. The travel agents on the other hand purchase travel insurance policy for the clients at market rates which often deprives clients of the discounts that they might have received.

Combo Offers

While the main business of travel agents is ticketing, hotel booking, and packaged tours, 3^rd party companies like Student Cover offer a diverse set of products from health and travel insurance to education loans. Travelers, especially student travelers going abroad for higher studies can avail travel cum health insurance benefits from 3^rd party companies like Student Cover. This combo plans not only provide health insurance that would cover them against medical emergencies in countries like the US where the cost of treatment is very high, but they also help meet the mandatory student health insurance requirement for study in colleges and universities in those countries. Click Here to know more about Student Cover’s Combo Health and Travel Insurance Plans for students.

We hope that this blog would help readers understand the benefits of purchasing travel insurance from 3^rd party companies like Student Cover as compared to travel agents.