While it may not actually be a secret, many people are unfamiliar with a particular travel insurance policy that could save them money; an annual policy. Unlike single trip policies that only cover you for one trip, annual travel insurance policies offer you emergency medical coverage for every trip you take within 12 months of buying your policy.

Add it up and save

At first glance, getting annual travel insurance may seem like overkill, but just think of how many times you may have travelled in the last year; family vacations, business trips, spring break getaways, and weekend jaunts across the border for shopping or sporting events. Add it all up and often an annual policy works out to be cheaper than purchasing a single-trip policy per trip in a year; and in some cases, it’s even cheaper than buying just one!

The annual policy advantage

An annual travel plan is valid for 12 months, and you can travel as many times as you like during the year, as long as you don't exceed the maximum trip duration for the policy which you’ve purchased, generally 15 or 30 days in length. There is more choice than this however because through Kanetix.ca you can get quotes from competing insurers that offer nine, 16, 35 and 60-day multi-trip travel insurance plans as well, so there is room for flexibility.

The biggest advantage of purchasing annual travel insurance is that you don't need to arrange for emergency medical coverage for each separate trip you take, which means you're not only saving money, but time as well!

How the savings can apply to you

While every person’s travelling situation is unique, the following realistic scenarios show how an annual policy might be the right choice when it comes time to buy travel insurance.*

Single 25-year olds

Do you take frequent trips across the border to go shopping? Travel to the U.S. for sporting events? Then you could be saving money by simply getting an annual travel insurance policy rather than paying for your travel insurance per trip. In fact if you take more than 2 weekend trips a year, you're already saving with an annual policy!

Couples between the ages of 25-35

For couples, where coverage applies to both travellers, all it takes for an annual policy to be the cost-effective purchase is:

• Two weekend trips and a one-week holiday, or
• One two-week holiday and one jaunt across the border for a weekend

Families with children

If you’re a family with a teenager, you generally benefit most from purchasing annual travel insurance. For a family that plans to take one two-week vacation a year, it will cost less to get annual insurance rather than getting a single-trip travel insurance policy.

Couples aged 60-70

Do you take more than two 14 day vacations a year? Then you can save on your travel insurance by purchasing annual travel insurance over single-trip insurance.

Annual travel insurance can save you money

So whether you're already a frequent traveller, or are planning to travel a fair bit over the next year, getting annual travel insurance may save you more than you think.

Using Kanetix.ca, compare multi-trip travel insurance quotes to see if based on your unique travelling schedule you could be saving money with an annual travel insurance policy today.

Looking for more money-saving travel insurance tips? Don’t forget to:

• Read: Year-in-review: 2008's travel insurance tips that helped Canadians save
• Read: Are you paying too much for travel insurance?
• Read: Zoom, Jetsgo, and Canada3000: Three reasons why you might need trip cancellation insurance
• Read: Travel insurance tips for 2009 that’ll help you save

* The cost comparisons between the single trip and multi-trip policies referred to in this article are based on quotes obtained in August, 2008.