Especially in Western Europe we like to be insured against any eventuality.
Liability, accident, legal protection, theft, death, endurance, pension, supplementary health, ...insurance and whatever else there is on the market.
But what to do with all these insurances when you go on a long trip?
There are 3 ½ ways to proceed with the insurance policies:
Reduce benefits: You can safely do without a coverage of 15 million EUR and a towing service at the car insurance, because you only need them to keep the number plate and these services are usually also limited to the EU area. So you can save not much, but quite a few euros every month.
Cancel: Cancelling the insurance at the beginning of the trip is the cheapest solution for most insurances to reduce its costs. This solution is recommended for all insurances whose coverage is linked to a specific country or a specific thing. For example, a legal protection insurance almost always refers only to the country in which it was taken out, or a bicycle theft insurance only to that country. These insurances can be taken out again without any problems when you return home. One should think about this possibility in time, in order not to miss possible notice periods.
Keep: Especially in the case of insurance policies with worldwide coverage, such as liability insurance, it can make sense to continue to keep them, since you will need them again in the end anyway. Depending on your age, it can also make sense to keep paying for insurance (even if it is not good for your travel budget). This applies to e.g. an additional health insurance that was taken out years ago. Since the rates depend very much on the age of the person taking out the policy, it may even be cheaper in the end to keep it than to take out a new one when you return.
Pre-emption: Especially with health insurance, if the possibility exists, it pays off to set this on pre-emption. This means that you are not entitled to benefits for this time but only pay a fraction of the actual rate. The conditions remain the same as if the insurance would continue. Depending on the insurance, a qualifying period can also be limited. Usually this is possible for one year - it is best to consult with your insurance agent to see if you can apply for this again.
The concession with existing insurances is also strongly dependent on the insurance company with which one has concluded it or how good one's own insurance broker is.
Conclusion
It pays off in any case to go through your insurances in time before you start your trip and to talk to your insurance company about your plans.
Fortunately, we have a great insurance broker and have adapted almost all of our insurance policies together with him. We canceled some of them, adapted the benefits of some of them and put some of them on pre-emption.
If anyone is still wondering whether we really need all the insurance policies we still have, the answer is relatively simple: No, of course not!
The only things you really "need" for a trip around the world as an Austrian are travel health insurance (required when entering many countries) and car insurance (to keep the lisence plate). You should have the liability insurance, because it is the most important insurance and costs only a few Euros.
Everything else is luxury! Whereby for all insurances of course applies: we hope that we never really have to claim any of them!
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