If you’re taking out affordable comprehensive travel insurance, you’ll find making claims a lot easier if you keep these tips in mind when you travel.

Comprehensive travel insurance is an excellent safety net designed to protect you from a host of travel-related risks without you having to spend too much time thinking about the details.

Actually making a claim, however, will go smoother if you know what to do before the need arises. Taking the right course of action and holding on to the necessary documents will make life a lot easier for both you and your insurer.

Here are the top five things you can do to ensure filing a claim goes smoothly.

1. Know The Basics Of Your Coverage. Not all comprehensive travel insurance policies are alike, which is why you at least need to know what coverage you’re paying for. Some packages cost more, but they offer added bonuses like liability coverage or no-questions-asked trip cancellation coverage.
2. Plan Your Major Activities In Advance. Of course, you can’t plan out every single detail of your trip, but it helps to come up with a list of major activities to present to your insurer. This will help them come up with a plan that adds extended coverage for activities not usually covered by your average package. Two examples include sporting activities and medical evacuation/repatriation.
3. Contact Your Insurer ASAP. Getting in touch as soon as something goes wrong will allow your insurer to advise you on what to do and what documents to secure in a timely manner. This is very important, as you could leave the hospital or even the country without the proper documentation to present to your insurer when you get back.
4. Get Everything On Paper. Speaking of papers, it is very important that all statements and expenses have some sort of physical document that backs them up. This will come in very handy when proving that your flight was indeed delayed due to reasons beyond your control, or that the illness that struck you was properly diagnosed by a physician your insurer can get in touch with. Even restaurant receipts can come in handy. The more documents you have on hand to prove what you’ve been doing, where you’ve been, and what time you’ve been there, the easier it will be to work with your travel insurance provider.
5. Stay Away From Mind-Altering Substances. It can be tempting to relax and cut loose when holidaying abroad, but the presence of alcohol in your body when you figure into an accident or illness will seriously complicate things. Most insurers offering comprehensive travel insurance will contest the findings if you get into trouble while under the influence of mind-altering substances. If you absolutely must imbibe, do so in as safe an environment as possible.

Keep these tips in mind and it will be a lot easier for you to make a claim on your comprehensive travel insurance policy should the need ever arise.