Cindy

I haven't traveled that much and usually go through a travel agent who arranges everything, including trip insurance in case of cancellation due to illness, death in the family, etc. But I'm in the midst of planning a trip to Italy for next year, and was wondering if and how I could get trip insurance to cover everything (air, villa rental, car rental, etc) in case we had to cancel at the last minute. I just feel more comfortable having this insurance especially since my husband and I have elderly parents. I plan to go through Parker Villas for the villa rental, and search for best airfares and car rentals on my own. Can I just contact an insurance company on my own and tell them my plans? Do I have to do this as soon as I make any arrangements? Any help from you veteran travelers would be much appreciated! I'm learning lots from this website--so glad I found it. By the way, what exactly are Fodors pins and how do you get one?

scigirl

I bought trip insurance through Travel Guard (they have a website: travelguard.com). I was able to go through the various insurance packages and then called them with a few additional questions. You don't have to give them all the trip details. Basically, it seemed that the insurance was based mostly on the total non-refundable cost of the trip. (E.g. airline tickets, etc.). The coverage cost varies depending on the type of coverage you want (e.g. trip interuption, emergency medical evacuation coverage, etc.). Fortunatly, I did not have to file a claim - so I can't comment on how the company does if you file one. There have been some past posts on this topic in the European forum as well as the grab bag or other general forums. A search may bring up those threads. I also checked comments at epinions.com regarding the experience of people who had used travel insurance. In short, yes, you can arrange your own coverage, and it is easy to do. I hope this helps.

Cindy

Thanks a lot--I'll try that website.

greg

I have taken travel insurances only with the vendor that supplied the packages themselves. In these cases, insurances were only available at the time of purchasing the package. I have not used an independent company, but they need to protect themselves from traveller buying the insurance just before they need to cancel the trip so I am sure they would put all kinds of restrictions on when you are allowed to buy them. <BR> <BR>I have seen coverage as good as cancel allowed for practically any reason to as bad as medical reasons only backed by ten zillion certified statements send by numerous certified return requested mails. <BR> <BR>Regarding actually getting the money: I had one that gave us refund the next week. I also know someone else who is still fighting the insurance company to get his money back 7 months after the cancelled trip. <BR> <BR>The premium to coverage ratio is usually about 1:15 to 1:20 range. <BR> <BR>I am sorry to say that it is a trade off each one has to make: odd of an event requiring trip cancellation, odd of that event actually covered by the policy, and amount of possible hassle you are willing to go thru after cancelling the trip with potentially hard to work with insurance company to get your money.

elaine

Hi <BR>www.insuremytrip.com allows you to compare policies and quotes from up to five companies simultaneously. Site also has currency conversion and packing tip