Personal Accident Insurance is to cover you if you sustain an injury or injure another person. The idea of this insurance is to aid in rehabilitation and recovery and potentially protect your income if you are involved in an accident as well as covering any costs if you injure someone else and they decide to make a legal claim against you.
Personal Accident Insurance may be even more important if you are taking part in a sport even if not deemed high risk. Physical exertion and contact, whether purposeful or otherwise, carries risk of injury and therefore it is important to take out relevant insurance cover in case you are found in the unfortunate situation of being injured or injuring someone else. These policies cover the most important issues if you are involved in an accident; personal liability, accidental death, permanent total disability and, usually as an optional extra, income protection.
The questions you need to ask yourself…
If I am off work temporarily, who pays the bills?
In the event of an injury that prevents me from working, who pays the mortgage and provides financial assistance?
Will statutory sick pay cover my normal outgoings?
If I injure someone else, what happens if they sue me?
If the answers to any of these questions throws up some unexpected issues with how you would be able to cope following an accident, then personal accident insurance is likely to be something you should have in place. The unexpected can happen at any level or frequency of sport, and by taking out an insurance policy you ensure that if you are involved in an incident, the most important issues can be taken care of.
The other important thing to remember with Personal Accident Insurance is that it will only cover you to play in your own country of residence. If you are travelling abroad to play sport, then you will need to take out appropriate travel insurance which covers all your activities. You can read more about finding the right travel insurance policy for your sport here.
We hope that you are never in the unfortunate position of being in an accident but if you do it is always best to have Personal Accident Insurance in place to give you peace of mind and leave you to do what you do best – play your sport!