If you’re travelling outside your local area, either abroad or in the UK, then yes you do. Ask yourself what you would do if you were in a foreign country and you suddenly got ill? How would you pay for treatment? The NHS may not cover you. In some places, medical costs can run into hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Also, what would you do if your flights were cancelled, or the tour operator went out of business? What would you do if your luggage was lost or stolen?

Fact is, all travel carries risk and the financial impact of some events can be devastating. It makes no sense to travel without best protection. Ask Compare to find the cheapest travel insurance for you and go away with complete peace of mind.

Follow these steps to make the process of making a claim stress-free:

Take a copy of your travel insurance and the insurer’s emergency contact details with you. Refer to it in the event of an emergency. If you fall ill, and there’s time, get your insurer to confirm payment for your medical treatment before it begins. If you suffer loss or theft, report the facts to the local police within 24 hours of the event. Get a copy of the police report. Keep all receipts for any expenses you have incurred, (such as new flights because your old ones were cancelled). Check the excess amount you will have to pay. If your claim is small, it may cost you more in excess payments than the claim is worth. Check your insurance to see what the time limit is for making a claim. Submit your claim before the deadline passes. Submit your completed claim along with all receipts, reports and papers. If you have witness statements, include those too. Keep copies of everything you send. To speed the process, try to submit your claim by email. Some insurers prefer this. After submitting your claim, follow-up to check it’s being processed.

As soon as you know you’ll be travelling. Some insurers will only provide full cover if insurance is booked a specific number of days in advance of departure.

If you do not know when you will travel until the last minute, (often the case with business travellers), buy an annual multi-trip policy. Be covered all the time.

Leaving your travel insurance to the last minute can cost you more. Compare travel insurance as early as possible to get the best price and the best cover.

Yes, in most cases. Cancellation covers out of pocket loss for tickets, package holidays, hotel deposits and more. It typically pays out if the loss is caused by illness, death of a close family member, redundancy, bankruptcy of travel operator, natural disaster, or war and civil unrest in the destination country.

Travel insurance does not cover cancellation if the person or people insured cancel simply because they don’t want to travel. It pays out when the cancellation is caused by something beyond the insured’s control.

Yes, you can, but only a few insurers allow this. Most demand that you take out travel insurance before you depart. Those that will insure you after you have left home will only provide cover moving forwards. You cannot back-date the policy. Anything that happened before the start date is not covered.