Lost luggage…interrupted travel plans…cancelled trips…medical emergencies, these travel mishaps happen and can be a travel nightmare if you haven’t prepared ahead. That’s where travel insurance comes into play.
I hear people talk about travel insurance nightmares where they are given the run around trying to get an insurance policy to pay out. These stories tend to be tales of woe where too much time was expended getting their claim rightfully paid out. Chasing around a claim can be like a bad dream, but the real nightmare comes from the stories—all too frequently—that I hear from people who didn’t have travel insurance.
Without travel insurance all the money you expended on your vacation could be lost if the trip was cancelled or interrupted by unforeseen circumstances. If your bags are lost, you could be out a lot of money. Or if they’re delayed, you would have to buy products/clothing to get you through until the luggage is delivered (we had this happen once and it took five days for our bag to arrive). If you had a medical or dental emergency, you might find yourself with a huge bill. With travel insurance, potential nightmares would just be a momentary bad dream.
Travel insurance is not a one-size-fits-all product, so you want to compare policies to make sure you’re buying a policy that best aligns with your needs. Some of the potential benefits you could find in a travel insurance policy are:
- Trip Cancellation/Interruption Coverage
- Travel Delay Coverage/Missed Connection Coverage/Airline Ticket Change Coverage
- Cancel for Any Reason Travel Insurance
- Emergency Medical/Dental Insurance/Medical Evacuation Coverage
- Lost or Delayed Baggage Coverage
- Accidental Death and Dismemberment/Repatriation of Remains
- Auto Rental Coverage or Short-Term Rental Coverage
Although I have some travel insurance benefits covered by my credit card, I usually buy an independent policy for each trip since my credit card doesn’t provide all the coverage I need and doesn’t have the coverage amounts I want for some things. I generally use Travel Insurance dot Com for my travel insurance needs.
The website is very easy to use—you just plug in your travel details (age, area of residence, area of travel, expected dates, first trip payment date, and estimated trip cost) and Travel Insurance dot Com will search policies for you. At your fingertips are the basics for each policies. You can see what type of coverage they offer and for how much. It is so easy to compare policies and find the cheapest for what you need.
Since I started using Travel Insurance dot Com, I have gotten the best price for my travel insurance and my policy premiums have blown away the cruise insurance, flight insurance, etc. quotes that I’ve been offered when booking trips. I like that I can see the coverage details up front before making a decision—that often doesn’t happen with the cruise insurance or other travel insurances I’ve been offered. When I’ve asked for details, I find that they offer less coverage than what I can buy on my own through Travel Insurance dot Com and they charge 2-4 times as much!
Once you’ve compared policies, you just click “buy now.” The system will lead you through the policy purchase and details. After payment, your certificate of coverage, policy number, and other details will be emailed to you by the travel insurance provider you purchased your policy from. From then on you will deal directly with the travel insurance company you’ve bought the policy from. It’s easy-peasy and I love that once I purchase the policy that the third-party is out of the picture and I deal directly with my new insurance company.
An important question you might be wondering is if Travel Insurance dot Com costs more than buying individually through the individual travel insurance company? No, it does not.
I’ve put a gallery of pictures in this article that shows the process (except actually purchasing) of using Travel Insurance dot Com. For this example, I used 2 travelers, ages 49 and 45, from Michigan, USA, going to the Caribbean for a total cost of $3000 for a week. Remember, you only need to buy as much insurance as you need, so in this case, I’m only hypothetically buying insurance to cover the cost of the cruise ($2000), flights ($800), and one night in a hotel ($200).
This is an example of coverage and prices for a $3000 trip to the Caribbean in December for two Americans in their 40s (I just picked the four cheapest). You can see the trip details in photo #1 and then the comparison of coverage and prices in the next photographs. As you can see, coverage details are prominent and Travel Insurance dot Com shows you the ratings for each insurer, too, so you’re able to adequately evaluate the policies.
I started this story off mentioning how some travelers had difficulty getting reimbursed. I have had to only make a few claims in my life, but when the incidents happened, I contacted my insurer and documented everything; the reimbursement policy was smooth (even though they were different travel insurance companies for the two different times). As I mentioned before, we once went five days before our bag caught up. Our travel insurance paid us money for each day we were without our bags. I just made sure to make a claim for our luggage with the airline and notify our travel insurance company that there was an issue. We also had a dental emergency and our travel insurance picked up what our dental insurance company wouldn’t pay for.
I recommend documenting everything as it happens to ease the claim process. Get as much documentation in writing from travel carriers, doctors, or any other person you think will help expedite the claim. Write down what happened and how it happened as you go along, since details can be forgotten while on vacation. Keep all receipts. If possible, call your travel insurance company when it’s happening and let them know there is an issue, so they can note your account and verify coverage. These little steps have helped us have smooth claim processes.
In all, I think travel insurance is essential most of the time. As soon as I make my first down payment on a trip, I go to Travel Insurance dot Com and get a policy. Although you can buy travel insurance policies anytime before they are actually needed, it’s best to do it within the first week after making the down payment. Most travel insurance companies require you purchase insurance within 7-14 days of making a down payment in order to cover you for preexisting conditions and other issues. It’s okay if you don’t know how much insurance you will need yet or exact travel dates—you can adjust those later—the important thing is to get the policy started.
I suggest you use Travel Insurance dot Com for your next trip. Happy travels!
Travel Insurance.Com: https://www.travelinsurance.com/?utm_source=pap&a_aid=65590b3a60c44
Want to know more about travel insurance? Check out my blog “Travel Insurance: Your Guide to Protecting Your Adventures” https://roaminghistorian.com/2024/02/04/best-travel-insurance/
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