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How to figure out the cost of a trip when purchasing insurance.

How to figure out the cost of a trip when purchasing insurance.

Old Feb 4th, 2017, 03:58 PM
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How to figure out the cost of a trip when purchasing insurance.

You book your flight but then you still have to book hotels. People advise you to buy insurance immediately after booking the flight but not from the airlines because you have more advantages when you do your own research with Squaremouth, Allianz, TravelGurard, etc. You pay more but get more especially if you have preexisting medical conditions. How do you do that if you haven't booked your hotels, how do you know how much your trip will cost? True, most hotels allow you to cancel up to the day before your reservation, so are you just insuring the flight? Restaurants, tours you are planning on your own, can you estimate them and when asked how much the trip is costing include all of the above: flight, hotels, restaurants, tours. You come up with a number? Do travel insurance companies ask for proof from the beginning? What about credit card travel insurance, let's say Chase Preferred? Some of that coverage looks pretty good. If you book other insurance and have credit card travel insurance, do they work together if there is an problem?
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Old Feb 4th, 2017, 04:16 PM
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When I purchase travel insurance, I'm buying it mostly for the medical piece - the medical evacuation just in case. I never remember to do it right away, so I always have my hotels booked already. I never book nonrefundable hotels, so any hotel costs would be any non-refundable first nights. I add up all of the non-refundable costs, which really, for me at least, aren't many.

I never include restaurant costs because I've never made a reservation for a restaurant that has a nonrefundable deposit. Tours, I would include if there's no refund policy.
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Old Feb 4th, 2017, 09:27 PM
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Agree with Lexma90. Would include apartment or house rental cost if not using hotels. Usually nonrefundable cost is quite low and as above buying for medical and medical evacuation
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Old Feb 5th, 2017, 12:57 AM
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In Australia the costs of a trip are never asked for when taking out travel insurance .
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Old Feb 5th, 2017, 05:49 AM
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I try to buy insurance within 14 days of initially booking flights or hotels so preexisting conditions are covered.
Usually I use wwe.insuremytrip.com to compare policies and buy insurance. Their phone reps have been helpful when I've had questions.
IIRC, they do ask for the cost of the trip so they know how much they're insuring. I've never been asked for proof and just give my best guesstimate.
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Old Feb 5th, 2017, 07:02 AM
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I always buy medical and evacuation/repatriation insurance. I only buy cancellation/interruption insurance if I have a big non-cancellable expense like a tour, and then I just insure that cost and self-insure the rest. On the other hand I have no pre-existing conditions, and no travel companions or dependents whose illness would cause me to cancel a trip, YMMV.
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Old Feb 6th, 2017, 11:10 AM
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Thank you all for your input. What I was confusing was comparing insurance for a tour with insurance for a trip I would be putting together. The money you pay for a tour incluedes hotels, meals, tours, guides, etc. That's a whole lump sum, whatever you paid for the trip plus airfare, there's your amount. When you do it on your own, you just have to guesstimate as someone stated being sure to include airfare, hotels and tours. Also appreciate advice re calling trip insurers. Should have realized they would be helpful. Somehow thought they would want an exact amount. You can't buy insurance before you fly, right? Agree that medical issues are paramount for us and so will work on purchasing right after we book flight. I have a Chase Sapphire Preferred card and they cover trip cancellation and some other stuff but I don't think it's enough. Definitely need the medical assurance. Thanks, again, for your help.
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Old Feb 6th, 2017, 01:13 PM
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Before you buy trip cancellation/interruption insurance, especially if your credit card offers some coverage, you need to ask yourself whether it is worth the cost. Unless you, a traveling companion, or a dependent loved one are in ill health, you are really unlikely to use it. If you did have an accident, just how much uncancellable costs would you have, and would it really be an issue to cover them yourself? After all, many hotel reservations can be cancelled with no penalty, and you don't prepay for meals unless you are on a tour.
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Old Feb 7th, 2017, 10:31 AM
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You can always amend your policy when you buy something else. For example, when I book safari, I generally book the camps first and wait and watch airfare for a few months. So I take out the insurance on the camps cost within 7 days of the deposit on them and then call later when I have purchased airfare and add it on to the original policy. It all ends up covered under the preexisting condition clause. I've done this both with TravelGuard and Allianz.
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Old Feb 7th, 2017, 01:47 PM
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Insurance is jut that. You probably won't need it but you buy it just in case.

We almost always get trip insurance. I figure the hotel rooms, and air costs but figure on the low end. Example: Air and hotel: $2500. I would pay for coverage of $2000.

This last trip to Zermatt, Switzerland we used our insurance.

HOW : Our flight home to JFK with AA was cancelled. We got a text saying it was. We called them at 6AM and had to leave a message with AA because the wait time was so long. They call back in 1.5 hours. The AA agent said she would rebook us. She supposedly rebooked us on Air Berlin for that same day.

So off we went to the airport. However, there was no record of any booking for us on Air Berlin. Unfortunately, we couldn't even book it ourselves as Air Berlin's booking engine was down. AA had <i<one, count 'em one, window open to handle 150 people whose flight was cancelled.

Finally, we we went to a travel agency in the airport. We got a flight for the next day. Cost: $1460 for the two of us.

AA refunded the part of our ticket price that we didn't use since they were responsible for the cancellation, but they wouldn't cover our expenses via the travel agent because it wasn't an AA flight.

So, for the $160 in trip insurance that it cost us, our $1460 home flight was reimbursed, along with the hotel and all our meals.

Definitely paid for us.
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Old Feb 9th, 2017, 06:55 PM
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This is all very good advice. I just booked my flight yesterday and am working on booking hotels. I will definitely look into insurance. If I understand correctly, when you are asked how much your trip costs, you estimate, come up with a number you are comfortable with, and you won't be challenged by the insurance company? I thought you had to give them an exact number. In Dianedancer's example, she gives a low ball estimate. Sounds like you purchased trip interruption, cancellation, kind of like what's is offered with Sapphire Preferred? or what's offered after you book a flight? You can go to any travel agent to buy travel insurance, even if you don't book a flight with them?
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Old Feb 11th, 2017, 08:12 PM
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Remember, if you want a pre existing condition waiver, you must purchase an amount of coverage that equals all pre-paid non refundable payments applicable to the entire trip.

While it's possible the insurance company won't challenge your numbers, why risk it? If they find that you underestimated your coverage, they could refuse to pay the claim.
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Old Feb 12th, 2017, 02:10 PM
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We add costs as we book them. So, start with airfare, then non-cancelable hotels, apartment or villa rentals.
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Old Feb 22nd, 2017, 10:27 AM
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I'm planning a trip to Scotland in September and considering insurance on the flights only. This is because I work for an unstable company and could find myself unemployed by then. If that happens, I'd definitely want the cost of my airfare back, as opposed to using the credit to book something else another time. Does this sound like a good reason to buy insurance?
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Old Feb 22nd, 2017, 06:11 PM
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Yes but be sure what you get one that has a cancel for any reason clause.
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Old Feb 23rd, 2017, 01:52 AM
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SusanM: also, be sure to check what the payout would be for a “cancel for any reason” claim. I’ve never used this kind of insurance but have read here that the benefit can be as little as 50% of your costs.

You might be better off to purchase a refundable airline ticket and book only accommodation that allows for cancellation. I use booking.com for hotels and most places allow cancellation up until 24 or 48 hours before arrival.

Check the details and do the math. Good luck with the job.
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Old Feb 23rd, 2017, 10:13 AM
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Thanks to both of you. I already have my hotels through booking.com, and I'll definitely look into the fine print on the insurance and/or getting a refundable ticket.
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Old Feb 23rd, 2017, 12:00 PM
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Right after I have paid for my flight, I buy the travel insurance and make sure that it covers the flight as my flights are expensive. As for the hotels, I sometimes book non-refundable ones as it can be way cheaper than booking refundable ones. Some other times I either don't book the non-refundable hotel rooms or haven't selected the hotels yet. If I have selected the hotel, I will sometimes buy the travel insurance to cover only the first night in case I have to cancel my trip. It depends on where I'm going like on my recent, annual 6-week, Asia trip that I just finished. I had booked all, but one hotel, as non-refundable and saved a bundle. The one that I didn't book as non-refundable was the same price either way.

Since I know about how much I will be paying for a hotel room, even if I haven't booked any hotels yet, I can still project what the cost will be and then go on www.insuremyrip.com and buy the appropriate travel insurance to cover both airfare and accommodations.

Happy Travels!
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Old Mar 8th, 2017, 02:28 PM
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Lets make this a little simpler for you. You can ONLY insure the direct out of pocket expense or money LOST that you will incur.

For example if you paid $1000 for an airline tickets and you have to change the ticket for an acceptable reason. You don't get a $1000. You get what is cost you to make the change. Probably nothing for hotel rooms since most can be cancelled up to 24 hours before. If it is prepaid room and no refund then you should get the hotel back. If it is a deposit then only the deposit. You can only get that money that is truly lost. AND you will need plenty of documentation because the insurance roll over easy.

You should expect to pay a premium of 5 to 10% of the direct reimbursable expenses.
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Old Mar 8th, 2017, 03:23 PM
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When booking the insurance, I start with flights and insure the change fee only. You have a year to use the flight credit. If I am going on a tour, I add the down payment. Then I add non-refundable hotels or apartment rentals as I book them. I keep adding as I go along, final payments on tours or rentals. I want the insurance booked within 15 days of purchasing or putting a down payment on a trip to cover pre-exisiting conditions. . It is a very fluid situation. When I get a few more expenses, I call and add them to the policy. We use Travel Guard as they paid a claim 100% when we had a medical emergency and had to cancel a month long international trip.
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