What You Should Know About Travel Insurance

What You Should Know About Travel Insurance

1. To get the most benefit out of travel insurance, it should be purchased when you book your tickets. By doing so you’re protecting yourself before your trip has even started. Should your trip be affected due to a sudden illness, bad weather or a change made by an airline or travel agent your insurance would be there to cover you, News.com.au.
2. Take a look at the insurance you already have. Do you have home, health or life insurance? Some of this personal coverage sometimes crosses over to when you are abroad; find out exactly what is covered so that you know if travel insurance will be worth it for you. Some liability coverage may even provide you liability insurance if someone else is injured because of you while on vacation, HuffingtonPost.com.
3. It may not always be wise to purchase travel insurance through the airline or hotel that you are booking with (FrugalTraveler). These types of insurance come as packages and may not offer you the quality of coverage that you need for your specific trip – based on your activities or circumstances. Definitely look into what they offer, if they come as a package and offer you a deal that would actually come in handy, then it’s a bargain! Another thing to consider is what may be marketed to you by a travel agent as the “best” option for travel insurance may really just be “best” option because of the commission they will receive from it.
4. The cost of your travel insurance should range anywhere from 4 to 8 percent of your “prepaid nonrefundable costs” ConsumerReports.org. So if you’re being asked if you’d like to add travel insurance for an extra $30 when your trip is costing you $3,000 the coverage that particular travel insurance will offer you is minimal and a waste of $30. One of the more promising sites for travel insurance that has received many great reviews because of its flexible and numerous travel insurance plans is InsureMyTrip.com.
5. An unfortunate mishap while traveling has the potential to bankrupt you. Think about that. Would you get in your car and drive it without insurance? Would you go sky-diving without health insurance? An important thing to keep in mind, the longer your trip, the older you are, the more remote the location, the more dangerous the area – the more likely you are to benefit from travel insurance. If you’re already not spending too much, not taking too anything valuable, have a refundable flight, you probably don’t need it. Travel insurance is truly a decision that varies “case-by-case.”