The best kept money-saving secret for buying travel insurance

While it may not actually be a secret, many people are unfamiliar with the annual, multi-trip travel insurance 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 days in length. There is more choice than this however, including nine, 16, and 18-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? If you take more than 2 weekend trips a year, you'll save money 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 young children and you typically take one two-week vacation a year, it may cost less to get an annual travel insurance policy, where coverage applies to all family members, rather than getting a single-trip travel insurance policy.

Couples aged 60-70

Do you take more than two 14-day vacations a year? You may 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: Are you paying too much for travel insurance?
• Read: Do you have what it takes to get into the United States?

* The cost comparisons between the single trip and multi-trip policies referred to in this article are based on quotes obtained in June, 2011.