10 Tips for Purchasing Travel Insurance

I get asked about travel insurance from time to time and the first question tends to be “is it actually worth it?” Now while I will never advise someone to purchase travel insurance for a quick getaway, I do believe it is a good idea when planning an expensive trip.

In order to not lose sleep days and weeks before you even depart on a dream vacation, here are a few tips on buying travel insurance.

Most people that purchase travel insurance tend to go for what is called a “bundled” policy. This plan covers trip delays, cancellations and interruptions due to illness, weather and other unplanned events. A customer can expect to pay anywhere between 4% to 9% of their trip for premiums on comprehensive travel insurance.

1) Never purchase a plan until you shop around first. Collect various travel insurance quotes to ensure you’re receiving the lowest price. Sites like Squaremouth.com and QuoteWright.com are great resources to help you compare.

2) Read everything! Yes it might be boring, but browse through the whole certificate of insurance, not just the summary. The insurer’s website or your travel agent can provide you with a copy.

3) The most important sections to read thoroughly include “limitations and exclusions“, “pre-existing conditions” and “covered reasons.” Each insurance company is different and you may only collect for their listed reasons.

4) Check to see how long your covered under the policy. Ask if it is a short term policy or an annual travel insurance policy. If you are planning to travel for an extended period of time,then you’ll want to choose the latter. However, understand that annual travel insurance policies do not always cover trip cancellations.

5) Once you know you’re headed somewhere that you feel should be covered with travel insurance, buy it as soon as possible. Some insurance companies can play games and drop your coverage for pre-existing conditions unless you purchased it within two weeks of making your first trip deposit.

6) Check to see if your insurance covers natural disasters. Sounds odd, but many people were stranded last spring due to the Icelandic ash cloud disrupting flights. Some policies covered only some of the extra expenses, while others did not pay a dime unless flights were grounded for a full 24 hours.

7) Always call your insurer before making any major changes to your trip, such as canceling or postponing it. Make sure you know what you’re covered for before doing anything you might regret later.

8) Remember, while travel insurance may be helpful, it is not the answer to everything and will not cover all scenarios.

9) Make sure you save, save, save all your trip documents in case your insurer needs them mailed or faxed over to their office to help file a claim. If you do need to film a claim, do it quickly and with lots of documentation.

10) Finally, if you have any questions or you are confused about something with your plan, pick up the phone and call your insurer way ahead of time. The stupidest question is the one never asked. Request answers to your questions be emailed to you in order to save them in case you need them during your trip.

This post originally appeared September 15, 2010 on The Brooklyn Nomad travel blog.