Categories
Car Insurance

Getting car insurance in the UAE

Although car insurance can seem like an unnecessary expense, it is hugely important for protecting yourself and your vehicle against all the unforeseen events that may come your way, such as theft, accidents and third-party liability.

With the best car insurance companies, it is possible to protect yourself and your car against a whole string of potential costly occurrences, including expenses from a traffic accident, physical damage to your vehicle, bodily injuries caused to yourself or another driver, and legal liabilities.

What are the benefits of having car insurance in the UAE?

When driving your vehicle in the UAE, there are many benefits of insuring it. This includes:

– Ensuring you are not breaking the law
– Protecting your car from loss or damage
– Ensuring you have unlimited liabilities in the event of a third-party death or injury claim
– Aiding in medical costs for any bodily injuries caused to yourself or another person
– Indemnity against any property damage – either by yourself or a third-party
– Protecting you against any financial liabilities
– Ensuring you can replace your vehicle in the event of a theft or accident

What types of car insurance are there in the UAE?

There are two types of car insurance policies readily available within the UAE. Through understanding this, it will make it easy to compare car insurance quotes online.

Third-party liability car insurance

It is the law that every car owner who drives their vehicle in the UAE must have third-party liability insurance. This is the most basic form of car insurance available but still enables you to be protected against any third-party liabilities, such as bodily injuries or property damage that is caused to another person/property by the vehicle that has been insured.

This is not the most thorough car insurance policy though and any damage that is caused by, or affects, the policyholder is not covered. For example, it does not cover fire and theft or accidental collision. This means if there are any repair costs, they would need to be covered by the vehicle owner rather than the insurance company.

Comprehensive car insurance

For the best car insurance available in the UAE, you should look for comprehensive car insurance. This will help to protect your vehicle against all kinds of damages, whether caused by yourself or a third party, including theft or fire. It will also payout to a third party should there be an accident that leads to damage, injury or death.

For more information about car insurance policies in the UAE, contact us at Compare Insurance today.

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Travel Insurance

5 things you need to know about travel insurance

When you go on a trip, it is crucial to have travel insurance. It doesn’t matter how long you’re going on holiday for, you must have it.

You may be wondering why multi trip travel insurance is so important and how it can assist you on your travels, keep reading to find out more.

What is travel insurance?

Travel insurance protects you financially when you’re travelling on a holiday. It supports you with a variety of things depending on the kind of policy you choose.

If you choose a comprehensive policy, you are likely to be protected from lost items, health requirements and unforeseen circumstances such as a flight change.

If you decide against travel insurance, be prepared to have a lot of spare cash to spend if anything goes wrong.

The cost of travel insurance

The price of your travel insurance policy can vary depending on how long the trip is, the policy holder’s age and the type of coverage you are looking for.

You may look at some travel insurance plans and think that it is a lot of money, however, it could be worth it. If an issue arises while you’re travelling, whether it be a lost item or specific health requirements, it can cost you a lot of money without insurance.

It is worth paying the price of a travel insurance plan than ruining your trip due to huge unexpected bills.

Make sure to read the fine print

As COVID-19 has caused unexpected lockdowns and brought travel to a halt, you must check with your insurance provider to see whether they will protect you during the pandemic.

As many borders have been closed and flights have been cancelled, it is critical to read the small print of policies and, if in doubt, ask the provider.

Alongside guidance on the pandemic, make sure you read the general fine print of any policy. You may find that the specifics of the policy are not suited to your requirements and it is better to find that out before you sign up.

The best time to get travel insurance

You can technically book travel insurance on the day you intend to leave, however, it is recommended to choose a travel insurance policy at the time you are booking your holiday.

By booking both your holiday and insurance at the same time, you have the chance of getting your money back if you need to cancel your holiday due to unforeseen circumstances.

Again, remember to check the policy and what you are covered for before becoming completely dependent on it.

Declare any existing conditions

Finally, it is extremely important when booking travel insurance that you declare any medical conditions to the insurer. Even if your condition hasn’t affected you in years, you must declare it.

If you don’t declare your pre-existing health conditions, you are at risk of your policy being completely invalid.

Categories
Car Insurance

What should you think about before going on a driving holiday?

Driving holidays are increasingly popular, as they offer you a more direct way to take control of your vacation. All you do is pack your car up and go off on an adventure. Before you set off though, what key things do you need to ask yourself?

Is your car going to be reliable?

It’s essential before setting off that you give your vehicle a thorough once-over to ensure it’s going to be reliable. Make sure it has reasonably clean oil and topped up fluids. You might want to carry spare oil/water/washer fluid with you just in case. For complete peace of mind, you might want to take it to a mechanic, explain you’re going on a long journey and have them give your vehicle an inspection. It also makes sense to check the condition of your tyres and replace them if necessary.

Do you have a clear idea of your route?

An itinerary is important on any vacation, but particularly a driving one. Be sure you know exactly where you’re going, and in what time you need to be there. Plot your routes ahead of time, and be sure to have backup maps just in case you fall out of GPS range. Think about what kind of terrain you might be encountering, and ensure your vehicle is capable of driving it safely.

Have you got appropriate car insurance cover?

You need to make sure your full coverage car insurance covers you for driving internationally, if that’s where you intend to take your vehicle. Many policies don’t have a standard contingency for international breakdown and recovery, but it’s worth taking out before your trip to give you complete peace of mind. Even if you intend to travel only domestically, it’s worth making sure that your car insurance policy is up to date and that you’re fully aware of what allowances it provides you. As your vehicle is going to be your primary method of travel through your vacation, it’s essential you have the proper coverage to rely on if something happens to go wrong.

With a little key preparation ahead of time, you can enjoy a fantastic driving vacation either domestically or internationally.

Categories
Health Insurance

Do you need health insurance when moving to Dubai?

For anyone moving to a new country, it is essential to know what the healthcare arrangements are before you arrive. In the case of the UAE, the situation is complicated by regulations that differ between emirates.

Do you need private health insurance in the UAE?

The short answer to this question is yes. Emirati nationals do not need to purchase private health insurance, but anyone moving to the UAE from abroad will need private health insurance. Under Emirati law, employers are required to provide basic health insurance to their workers. However, this cover will not extend to your family members and dependents.

What about Dubai?

All residents of Dubai are required to have some kind of private medical cover. If you are moving with your family, you will need to purchase insurance for them, unless your employer offers more generous insurance than they are legally required to.

What kind of healthcare system does Dubai have?

Healthcare in the UAE is a hybrid public-private system. The ratio of one to the other varies between the emirates. In the case of Dubai, the split is roughly 20% public and 80% private. Public healthcare is primarily for Emirati nationals, whose treatment is either free or low-cost. Public healthcare in Dubai does not extend to dental, eye, or ear care.

Expats can make use of Dubai’s public healthcare, but it is usually in their interests to use private care instead; especially as they are obliged to take out private health insurance. Private medical facilities in Dubai are also generally of a much higher standard than public facilities.

Is health insurance mandatory in Dubai?

Yes, major medical insurance is mandatory for all residents of Dubai, irrespective of whether they are currently employed or not. Any expat hoping to earn their residency visa will need to have private medical cover to qualify. There are also hefty fines levied against any resident without private medical coverage for every month they are uninsured. The monthly insurance premiums are considerably cheaper than these fines, so it is in every residents’ interests to acquire medical insurance.

If you are planning on moving to Dubai, you should be prepared to take out private medical insurance. While your employer must provide you with basic cover, this won’t extend to your dependents and will only cover the most basic treatments. Compare the best rates on insurance today.

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Car Insurance Health Insurance Travel Insurance

New Year checklist for your insurance

Ringing in the New Year is always a time of celebration. It’s synonymous with renewal and the chance to start afresh – something that everybody is keen to do following the year that 2020 has been.

However, there are some things you should make a priority. Making sure all of your insurances are up to date is an essential task that ensures you can live your life with the confidence you’re covered should something, unfortunately, go wrong.

Below is a brief list of the points to remember with various popular insurances that you likely have. Read on to find out more.

Health insurance

When it comes to private health insurance companies, you want to make sure a few different aspects are still correct. For one, be sure to update your provider of any newly diagnosed health conditions within the past year. Also, ensure you have all of the correct paperwork to hand so that you are prepared should any injury or health concern arise.

Medical insurance

Leading on from this, make sure your medical insurance is all in order. Less an issue in the UK thanks to the NHS (with the exception of private medical insurance), up-to-date medical insurance in other countries such as the UAE is essential, should citizens require urgent attention.

Car insurance

No matter how careful a driver you are, ensure your car insurance is current and that the policy you are paying for reflects your requirements. Just a few factors you may want to revise are the liability policy, the deductibles policy, and collision coverage. This last one is especially important as it helps to protect you in the instance of an accident.

Travel insurance

Travel insurance has never been more important as a UK citizen. With the UK’s official transition period ending on the 1st January, UK nationals will no longer be protected under the EU’s travel laws, which means it’s an incredibly wise idea to invest in travel insurance if you plan on going abroad next year – especially to places like the UAE, where visitors won’t be able to access free medical treatment especially visitors that want travel insurance for schengen visa.

Trust Compare Insurance today

If you require independent insurance comparison filtered to your unique needs, look no further than Compare Insurance.

Categories
Health Insurance

6 facts about healthcare in the UAE

If you’re living in Abu Dhabi or holidaying in Dubai, you might be wondering about healthcare in the UAE. What is it like, and how do you get treatment if necessary? In this post, we’ll answer all of your questions!

The UAE has excellent healthcare facilities

The UAE is known for its world-class healthcare facilities. There are a huge amount of trained doctors in the country – around 181 for every 100,000 residents! It is also known for its excellent hygiene standards at its medical facilities and pleasant hospitals.

Only Emarati citizens get free healthcare

You do, however, get what you pay for. Emarati citizens get to enjoy the UAE’s excellent healthcare for free, but non-citizens have to pay. Health insurance is crucial, as it will cover nearly all health ailments, so you don’t have to worry!

Dubai is a medical tourism destination

The entire UAE is famous for medical tourism, although especially Dubai. Dubai gets hundreds of thousands of medical tourists every year. This is due to the high standard of healthcare and the marginally lower costs than other destinations (particularly the USA).

Dubai is famous for being a provider of dental, cosmetic, dermatological, orthopaedic, and fertility treatments.

There are more private clinics than public clinics

Yes, that’s right – because of the huge migrant population of the UAE, far more people use private clinics than public ones. This means that there are many more private clinics than public options throughout the country (especially in Dubai and Abu Dhabi)

Health insurance must be paid for by the employer in some cases

In Dubai and Abu Dhabi, employers must cover healthcare costs. In Abu Dhabi, employers must also pay for healthcare for their employees’ spouses and up to three children aged under 18. In the other Emirates, employers don’t have to pay for health insurance – although many still do.

It is the law to have health insurance

All residents of Dubai and Abu Dhabi must have health insurance, or risk a monthly fine of 500 AED. If you are employed, your employer will cover it – but anyone unemployed (including spouses and children in Abu Dhabi), must sort out their own health insurance.

To find out more about medical insurance quotes in the UAE, contact Compare Insurance today.

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Categories
Travel Insurance

How to stay healthy while travelling

If you’re travelling, especially if you’re far away from home, you might want to take some steps to protect your health. Of course, we can’t always control how or when we get sick, but there are some crucial tips to consider to ensure that you’re prepared in case you do fall ill.

Get the right vaccinations

Different countries around the world require a number of vaccinations. Before your trip, make sure you visit a travel vaccination clinic and get all the recommended jabs for your chosen destination. These may include vaccinations for hepatitis, typhoid, yellow fever, tetanus and rabies, depending on where you are going.

Avoid some foods

The number one issue that travellers complain about is food poisoning. While mild, it can be very unpleasant. To avoid food poisoning, don’t eat food that has been standing out in the sun or hasn’t been cooked properly. In some places, you might also want to avoid salad and food that has been washed with tap water.

You can’t drink the tap water in many countries around the world, so unless you know for certain that it’s ok where you are, opt for bottled water instead.

Get enough rest

Travelling is very exciting, and you will naturally want to be doing as much as possible while you’re away. However, getting no rest is a recipe for disaster. If your body doesn’t have time to rest, your immune system will weaken, and you’ll be much more prone to picking up any bugs or viruses that are going around.

Get comprehensive travel insurance

There’s no failsafe way to ensure that you will stay healthy while travelling. Purchasing a comprehensive travel insurance plan is the only real way to ensure that if you do get sick, you’ll be able to get treatment as soon as possible. Many travel insurance plans include treatment at the best private hospitals, so you’ll have peace of mind that you’re receiving the best care possible.

Visit Compare Insurance today to find the buy travel insurance online for your trip.

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Categories
Travel Insurance

How to keep valuables safe when travelling

If you’re venturing on holiday, whether that is abroad or within the UAE, you are going to want to find some ways to keep your valuables safe. If you are travelling with a smartphone, an expensive camera, or any other electronics, it is of paramount importance to keep these safe. Not just because of the monetary aspect, but to ensure you can still reach help if you need and to reduce having to claim on your international travel insurance.

Here are some ways to keep your valuables safe while travelling:

Use a money belt

For some smaller valuables, you can use a money belt to keep your valuables close to your person. Simply zip up cards, cash, your passport and even your phone in your money belt and keep it under your clothes. This deters thieves and means that they won’t slip out of your pocket. The only downside with money belts is that you usually can’t access them once they are on.

Lock your stuff away

Be sure to take a padlock with you, and lock everything away. If you are staying in a hostel, they should provide lockers, or if you are in your hotel room you could lock things in your suitcase. Similarly, if you are carrying around valuables, a discreet lock can stop pickpockets getting into your bag. Don’t make it look like you’ve got a lot to hide though!

Choose reputable hotels

Hotels with good reviews, lots of security, and modern locks are much less likely to have thefts than run-down hotels with easily breakable windows. Spend a little extra time doing hotel research to ensure that you find one that you feel comfortable in.

Invest in the right travel insurance

Having comprehensive travel insurance can be a game-changer. If you spend a little more money to cover your valuables, you will be much less anxious about them – and subsequently, you’ll enjoy your time abroad a lot more! It can cost extra to cover any additional items, so make sure that you read the terms and conditions carefully before buying, but it is definitely a worthwhile investment in unforeseen circumstances.

If you stick to these tips for keeping your valuables safe when travelling, it’s much more likely that you’ll have a hassle-free trip!

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Categories
Travel Insurance

3 ways having travel insurance can save you money

When planning a holiday, cheap travel insurance is one of the things people may consider leaving out. It is easy to consider it a cost you don’t need, but it can be seriously costly to assume you won’t need insurance. Here are just three important ways that having travel insurance can save you money.

1. Cover for medical care

Perhaps the most important reason is cover for medical care. Being ill on holiday can cause a real damper, made worse by not being able to afford the treatment you need. Illness and injury are things you cannot predict, and no matter how confident you are that it won’t happen to you, it easily could. Medical care costs vary in different countries, but one thing that’s true for them all is that it can be extremely costly. These costs could eat into your spending money, or even send you home in debt. You should also consider you may need to cut the holiday short and head home, depending on the severity of your condition.

2. Replacing lost items

Losing items happens all the time. Whether you leave a bag on a bus, a holdall in a hotel room or a camera in a cafe, you could end up losing valuable items. It could even be that an item is damaged or lost by your airline or travel provider. Whatever happens, these can be costly to replace, whereas travel insurance can save you by helping replace those items.

3. Rebooking cancelled trips

There are a number of reasons trips can be cancelled. For you, it might be illness or an unexpected occurrence. It could be that the holiday provider has gone under or that extreme weather conditions have made it impossible. Either way, you do not want to lose out on all the money you paid for the trip. Having travel insurance could help cover these costs, ensure you get your money back or fund a re-booking.

If you are planning a trip and need travel insurance just visit Compare Insurance today. We can help you find the best travel insurance deal, another way to save you money on your holiday.

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Categories
Car Insurance

What is the most expensive car to insure?

If you imagine what the most expensive car to insure would be, what springs to mind? If you thought of a Ferrari or Porsche, well done. Even though the top eye-watering car insurance bill is changeable, you can be sure that Tesla and Mercedes-Benz will also be on that list. Extra bonus points to anyone who pictured a BMW i8. The consensus of the wise (well, the internet) seems to be that this super-fast vehicle is top of the list when it comes to the most expensive insurance premium.

Why is this?

Alongside its wallet-emptying friends, the BMW i8 is very, very expensive. Prices vary but hover around the £100,000 mark. The car insurance premium needs to be high to cover the cost of replacing the vehicle if the worst were to happen and it was damaged, or written off, in an accident.

What would make the car insurance even more expensive?

To afford such a fancy car, the chances are that you are well into grown adulthood. The younger you are, the more statistically likely it is that you are going to be involved in a car accident. So, if you really want to ramp up the cost of your car insurance go out and buy one of these sports cars for an 18-year-old.

Could the premium get any more expensive?

So, you have a very expensive car with an inexperienced 18-year-old driver at the wheel – what else would ramp up the insurance cost? If the teenager used the car for work, for example driving all around the country as a salesperson, this would significantly increase the premium. Purely for the fact they are more likely to have an accident as they are using the car more than average.

Surely that’s it?

Well, almost. Just one more thing. If the teenage travelling salesman lived in a high-crime area and parked the vehicle on the street, the premium would likely skyrocket even higher. Fortunately, these scenarios are unlikely to occur altogether.

Whatever your circumstances, be sure to get vehicle insurance online and compare the insurance market carefully on a reputable site such as www.compareinsurance.ae

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