Trip Insurance
 

My husband, young daughter and I will be traveling to Paris this fall and staying in an apartment. Because we're booking so far in advance, and the apartment has a stricter cancellation policy than a hotel, I've been looking into trip insurance. I'm really only interested in covering our airfare and apartment rental, totaling around $5000.

I've never purchased insurance before, and was wondering if there were companies that were recommended more highly than others. I called AAA, but the company they use, Access America, seemed to have a better plan on their website than what was offered by AAA (Access America family Basics).The quotes on insuremytrip.com really ran the gamut. Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

TravelEx probaby has the best coverage in the market, but make sure it will cover your length of stay.

I feel most comfortable with TravelGuard when I've compared prices on isuremytrip..they seem to have the easist recovery options.

To save a few dollars, would it be a good idea to cover just the part of your airfare that it would cost you to cancel or reschedule your trip?

We have taken many trips without insurance. Next we travel to Eastern Europe so for the first time I purchased the policy. It is hard to decide which is best but I picked TravelEX. No matter which coverage one selects, it seems to increase the trip cost 6-8% I think thats a lot.

I use TravelGuard whenever we travel. We actually had to cancel a trip and we got all the money back that I had insured for with no hassle or questions.

My US Airways Card has worldwide protection.

make sure your health insurance has repatriation. If it doesn't, I would suggest getting this in your travel ins. package.

Thanks for your suggestions. I'm comparing TravelEx, TravelGuard and Access America, which are all within $40 of each other (between ~$150-$190) and seem pretty comparable. It doesn't sound like anyone who's replied has had experience with Access America, so I'll factor that in as well.

I have used Access America several times--when I traveled to Egypt and it was fine--gave me peace of mind, however, I never needed to use it so I cannot say how their customer services dept is. I have since switched to Travel Guard--they are more user friendly.

Hi EuroJen,

I thought TravelGuard was the easiest to use as well, and ended up going with them. Their rates were also the best. Here's hoping we don't end up using the insurance!

I just bought the Travel Guard Protect Assist Plan for my trip to Munich next month. I had them email me the policy and I printed it out on my computer. I like the wallet size cards with all the 24/7 phone numbers...just in case..LOL I agree, I hope I do not need it!

I've checked several policies on insuremy trip and I always end up with Travelguard!

I had Travel Guard for my planned trip to Scotland in 2006 that got cancelled due to an injury suffered by my travel companion 28 days before we left. They were easy to deal with, and paid every penny of unrefundable costs.

If you've got "nonrefundable" air fare prepaid, they will pay you the full value, then recover whatever value they can on the ticket from the airline through their subrogation department. For an apartment, you will need to have the cost documented--an invoice or letter setting forth the terms, and then correspondence between you and the landlord advising of your cancellation and confirming what will and what will not be refunded.

It's probably best not to obsess over it.

Since you probably won't need it, go for the more deductible than premium.

And, be sure to read the EXCLUSIONS before purchasing.

How soon should you buy trip insurance? I bought my ticket I am leaving March 8th for Italy.

miz: With most trip insurance, it's best to buy as soon as you book your airfare (which is usually your first non-refundable expense). If you buy within a short time of booking the trip, pre-existing conditions are often waived. If you wait, and have your trip delayed by a pre-existing condition, you may not have coverage.

You don't have to have incurred all your insured expenses at the time you buy your policy--just make sure that your coverage limits are large enough to cover whatever amount of non-refundable expenses you expect to incur. That number will determine your premium.

I have a question about travel insurance. I have never purchased it but am thinking about it for an upcoming trip. If one plans a trip with friends, and decides to cancel because one of the friends cannot go due to illness or injury, would I then be allowed to cancel my own trip?

Yes. Take a look at insuremytrip.com
My upcoming trip is the first trip for which I have purchased trip insurance except for cruises. I really hesitated initially but feel much better now.

I've bought one from Travelex which seemed like a good policy, although I never used it. A lot of the main players have very similar premiums, so you need to check the limits on what is most important to you (trip cancellation, health, whatever).

As for friends -- probably, but you have to check individual policy rules, as they vary and you can buy some policies that will cover you if you cancel for any reason. Of course, those are a lot more expensive. But if not, most define who is considered in the policy as a legitimate reason for canceling, and I think most include a traveling companion regardless of who that is. However, most wouldn't cover cancellation if a friend died and that wasn't your traveling companion (but they would if your mother died, even though she wasn't a travel companion).

ekscrunchy: As mentioned above, it depends on what your policy says. But, the Travel Guard policy I bought charges one premium for your entire party (want to be sure and buy it that way, not individually), and, if a member of the party cannot go for a covered reason, then the entire party can cancel the trip and get a refund. Again, the reason for cancellation must be covered and you must buy it all under one premium, but it is possible to obtain this type of coverage.

TravelGuard has a "savvy traveler" page, I think you should start with a usual quote, and later it takes you to the lower rate page.

I've used Access America for several trips, but have never had a claim. Maybe I'll check into Travel Guard for my next trip, since some of you have had good experience with it. I'm sure I compared when I bought, but don't remember the reason I used Access America.

TWK thank you.

So, just to get this straight, I can and should share the insurance package with my traveling partners, even if they are unrelated to me.. That way if one of us cannot go due to illness or accident or death of a family member not on the trip, and the others do not want to carry on, we will each get reimbursed for cancellation.

Yes, you should be able to buy a policy where all parties should be able to cancel the trip and receive a refund if you buy it under one policy with one premium. Travel Guard will ask you the names and ages of all travelers, and they will ask about familial relationships (but, I believe that has more to do with your premium, as children, spouses, etc., may result in a different premium than for unrelated persons).

Thanks for this information. I will look into TravelGuard and other companies this week. I did a quick look at their site and the premium would be very high for our upcoming trip. I am wondering about the feasibility of insuring part of the costs and just taking my chances on the rest.. Sorry if I sound like a novice here..it is my first experience with trip insurance.

It looks to me as if the participants in this discussion are American, whereas I live in Europe. It interests me that nobody has mentioned annual policies that cover all your trips for a year. Is such a product not available in the USA?

Herself and I are covered for a premium that costs less than would be required for two trips, which suits us very well as we make about half a dozen trips a year.

Padraig, I live in the US. I am very poorly educated about insurance matters, but I do not think that these types of policies are available. Do you mean you are covered for medical costs incurred while traveling? Or for reimbursement of your paid costs if you get sick and have to cancel your trip?

Herself and I are covered for all trips outside Ireland (where we live) for medical costs, cancellations, loss of property, and the like, whether we travel together or separately. It's very convenient.

I'm pleased never to have to find out how well our insurer behaves if we make a claim.

There is an annual policy, but it covers only the flights, I think. Not sure. I remember reading a brochure in a US airport.

I was wrong, there are several annual travel insurances, just google, and you'll see!

Thanks..I will look into it. But what about the portion of the trip other than the flights? Could I just insure a part of the total and take my chances with the rest? Thanks for the help..

Is travel insurance so expensive that you would consider leaving part of your trip uninsured? Again, there might be a difference between the US and Europe, and I don't think twice about the cost of my cover: it seems trivial.

The main thing that concerns me is not the cost of cancellation or lost/stolen property. I mightn't like it, but I can take those hits. I am more interested in the cover for illness or accident. The costs there can be very serious, and can wipe you out.

actually, the cost of illness isn't that negotiable on those policies and you can't leave it out exactly. Policies have set limits on various coverage amounts, and that's what it is. For example, you can buy one with health insurance repatriation limits of maybe $50,000 and one at $100,000 or something like that. I forget out the illness things varies, but there are probably differences there.

However, the fixed amount you decide to insure for (at least, on the ones I considered) is something you decide and may be $5000 or $2500 or something. That is the max. they will pay for the other costs you decide to insure in lost prepaid fees. I pick a policy with a very low limit on those as I don't have hardly any prepaid fees and don't really care about insuring for them at all. I put in a a little as mainly if the trip got cancelled or somehow I missed a flight due to a problem, the cost of buying another flight at the last minute could be high.

I don't think the cost of medical coverage usually would ruin most people, as Europe has much more reasonable costs than the US. My health insurance covers me abroad, anyway, so I don't worry about that. I don't think it would pay for repatriation, of course, but to be honest, I don't really care much about that and could pay for it if I really had to (I'd be dead anyway, so wouldn't care if it was a significant cost as no one else deserves my money). Now people who worry about leaving money to dependents, etc., have a different concern. The odds of that are extremely minute, anyway, so I personally am not concerned about the risk, but others might be.

IN any case, that isn't the set amount you decide is your max. coverage for cancellation, etc., and I think that is the part that jacks the premium up a lot, not the health insurance part.

Just to clarify, I was not thinking about the repatriation part or the chance of medical problems once overeas. . What I am interested in is purchasing insurance that will cover me in case I have to cancel the trip at the last minute. (I should divulge here that this trip will not be to Europe but you are all so helpful here that I thought I would ask my questions on this board.)
Apart from the airline flights, this trip will involve pre-paid hotel reservations and internal flights ...since there will be three of us traveling, there is a chance, I hope very remote, that one will have to cancel and I would be worried about all of us being out a substantial amount of money if that happens.

Thanks to everyone who has offered/will offer advice and opinions....

Hi ekscrunchy,

We bought our insurance for the sole purpose of refunding trip expenses in case of having to cancel at the last minute. The other insurance that comes with it was just a bonus, as I never think of those when traveling, and my other policies cover medical, etc.

Thanks, tpl..I have to book the airline portion today for a trip in September so will look into buying the insurance soon after I buy the airline tix and send my deposit for the rest.

I have yet another question about travel insurance. I have looked into Travel Guard and the prices seem very high. There does not seem to be a deductible for their "essential expanded" policy, which is the cheapest of several they offer. For those of you who purchased Travel Guard, did you purchase the Essential Expanded plan?

This subject is making my eyes glaze over; it is much more fun to research restaurants than it is to investigate travel insurance!

Agree that this subject is a real yawner -- I put it off as long as I could before researching/purchasing. You might want to just call TravelGuard and talk to a rep -- that's what I did, and they were able to answer all my questions. There were 2 plans that sounded similar, but 1 covered children at no charge and the other didn't. Yes, I purchased the "essential expanded' plan.

Thanks, Tpl...sorry to be such a droner! I did call them and ask a few questions. I will call back tomorrow and settle this once and for all...otherwise I will put myself and countless others to sleep discussing the subject! Thanks again.