Annual policies are ideal for last-minute trips

- Travel insurance quotes

Compared with choosing where to go and what to do on holiday, getting travel insurance is a chore most people would prefer to do without.

This helps explain why so many holidaymakers continue to buy overpriced insurance from travel companies or agents - or go away without any insurance at all.

But with hundreds of thousands of people every year needing medical treatment, losing luggage, or having to cancel or cut short trips for unforeseen reasons, not having travel insurance could turn a holiday disaster into a financial trauma.

So, with literally hundreds of policies available, how do you go about choosing the best deal? Here are 10 top tips for buying travel insurance:

1. More expensive is not necessarily better - surveys show that policies sold by high street travel agents can be up to three times the price of some of the best-value policies available from specialist insurers. For a week in Europe, you could pay £10 or less; for annual cover just £40, according to the regular surveys of best-buy policies by Which? magazine.

2. If your travel company or agent offers free travel insurance, bear in mind that, in effect, you may still be paying for this through a more expensive holiday.

3. Some credit cards offer free travel insurance. But don't be fooled: with most cards it's free 'travel accident insurance', which is nothing like normal travel insurance. Bear in mind too that if your credit card - or in some cases bank account - does offer free travel insurance, there's a good chance you're overpaying for the plastic or for the account.

4. E111 forms are available free from the Post Office and entitle you to the same medical treatment as nationals when you are in a European Union country. However, that might still mean significant costs.

5. The more holidays you have, the more worthwhile annual travel insurance can work out. As a basic rule of thumb, make more than two overseas trips a year and annual travel insurance is worth considering: it may also cover you for business trips and saves the hassle of arranging insurance for every trip.

6. Check that a policy will cover you against injury when doing any sports or adventurous activities that you have in mind - these could be when you'll most need cover! If it's not clear whether you're covered, ask: there's no point in having insurance that doesn't cover you and an insurer may offer additional cover at no or a small extra cost.

7. As well as not being covered against injury when doing sports, jet-skiing and other motorised sports are often not covered under the 'public liability' section of a travel policy - so if you hurt someone or damage property, you may find yourself in financial trouble.

8. If you already have 'all risks' cover for your belongings under your home contents insurance, you already have baggage cover for holidays. Many travel policies will give a discount for excluding this cover.

9. Insurers expect you to declare all pre-existing medical conditions and will often exclude related medical claims. However, if you don't declare a pre-existing condition you risk having all claims invalidated.

10. Some policies will charge higher or extra premiums where they see additional risk, others won't - so shop around. Over 65s are often charged more, but some policies will offer standard rates up to the age of 75 or even 80.