People are always banging away at the importance of buying accident and illness travel insurance, but the reality is that most travel insurance doesn't end up covering life-saving operations or expensive repatriation. The Association of British
Insurers says that 17% of all overseas claims are rejected, mostly for lack of documentation, and adds that the average payout for successful claims is just over £1,000. In other words, insurers are mainly paying out on small issues such as lost luggage
or booking cancellations rather than medical emergencies. The award-winning blog Travelbunny stresses that most failures come down to the small print in the policies which is there to protect the funds of the insurance companies rather than you. The
reasons for failed insurance policies are sometimes specified in crowdfunding entreaties. In 10 detailed traffic accidents, five injured Brits were refused cover because they were not wearing a crash helmet, two were relying on British driving licences
(only international or Thai-issued are lawful here), two were participating in hazardous sports and one had had been out of the UK for more than 30 days. Other small print get outs insurers in a big claim will want difficult to obtain evidence there
was no alcohol or substance abuse. The warning clauses most used in the small print are must take reasonable care or must observe national laws. For example, it is technically compulsory in Thailand for back seat car passengers to wear safety belts
which, of course, creates issues when they have not been fitted. | 
