When you go on your family holiday this year, hopefully you're planning to purchase a family travel insurance policy. This is vital in order to help to cover the costs if you end up cancelling your holiday or you need to receive medical treatment overseas.

However, there are some things that travel insurance companies may not provide cover for – and it pays to be aware of them. Here are a few of the most common things to look out for.

Pre-Existing Medical Conditions

If you or a member of your family has any medical conditions at the time of applying for your family travel insurance policy, you will usually be asked to declare them. Some insurers may provide cover for pre-existing conditions, whereas some will not. The important thing is that you declare your conditions and find out whether they are covered so you do not end up travelling without proper cover in place.

Expensive Personal Belongings

If you are taking lots of personal belongings with you on holiday, you may be able to get these covered by your insurer. However, be careful when it comes to expensive items.

Providers of family travel insurance will often have a maximum 'per-item' limit for your belongings. So while you may be covered in total for up to £1,000, for example, the per-item limit may be £200. This means that if you have an item that costs more than the per-item limit, you will only be able to claim the amount set by the insurer. It is important to know this in advance because you may want to get extra cover in place for your expensive items, or you may want to simply leave them at home instead.

Risky Activities

Many insurance providers will have a list of activities that they will cover you for. You therefore know that if you have an accident while taking part in one of these activities, your medical costs will be covered. However, there may be certain risky activities that are not covered by the insurer, such as bungee jumping or skydiving. If you plan to do any of these activities, find out in advance whether they are covered. You may need to purchase extra cover for these.

Travel to Areas Against Government Advice

If the government has stated that a country is dangerous and that travel should be avoided, you will find that many insurers will not provide you with cover if you go there against advice. Always find out from your insurer whether they will cover you for travel to a particular country.

Always Find Out What Is Not Covered in Advance

If you're planning to take out family travel insurance, always find out exactly what is covered by the insurer before you buy your policy. You don’t want to take any risks or get any nasty surprises when you go to make a claim and find out it is rejected, so make sure you are aware of what is covered so you can travel with full peace of mind.

Patrick Chong is the Managing Director of Insuremore. We provide low cost travel insurance and offer a range of policies including family travel insurance, annual, multi-trip and single-trip insurance. For all your travel cover needs, Insuremore can help you in the quickest and most cost-efficient way.