You want to always consider getting some type of insurance when you travel because it will help with your journey, just in case. It helps you with trip cancellation, medical costs, and other things that can go wrong. Yet you also don’t want to have travel bills and insurance bills when you are done with your trip, so it’s important to factor in the costs.
The key indicators when it comes to what your insurance for travelling is going to cost are age, how long you’re travelling and what it costs, and how many people are travelling. Typically the average cost is around five to six percent of the total cost of your trip.
Let’s see how we can get good insurance at a great price below.
Always compare your options and go shopping
We’re back to looking at all our insurance options from all the various providers. Yet doing this can easily save you a few hundred dollars when you put in the effort. Mike Benna, who works at Squaremouth, which compares travel insurance, said that the benefits of travel insurance are typically the same, but the pricing and what the insurance covers can easily vary.
We may want to go directly online to find something, but working with an agent in travel insurance can help with the heavy lifting of research and insurance shopping while getting you the coverage you would actually use.
Knowing what is covered by your Insurance
Take the time to see what the coverage looks like in any plan that you take out, and you’ll save money, says Benna. He continues with his advice saying that items such as insurance for a cancelled trip will only help to reimburse parts of the trip that were either paid in advance or not able to be refunded. That means the refundable parts don’t need to be included in the plan.
Here’s a quick example of booking a hotel for two weeks for a total of $7,000. If the cancellation fee is only $500, but you get the remainder back, then you only need to include cancellation insurance of up to $500.
Don’t waste time on insurance you won’t use
There’s no need to get extravagant with insurance, such as an option to cancel anything that comes up. However, it tends to be quite expensive, up to 50% extra, and covers those items not listed, which can be simply, ‘work didn’t approve my time off.’
Benna says, “travel insurance covers actual concerns and issues related to travel, such as when you need to cancel due to illness. This is actually covered by some plans and doesn’t require the premium option.”
Unless you’re relocating your life, you can skip insurance on your baggage for thousands of dollars when you have only beachwear in your luggage worth a few hundred dollars.
If you’re staying domestically on your travels, you won’t need additional medical travel insurance either. Your current insurance typically covers you within the country during this type of vacation. Also, if you find yourself booking at the last moment, you probably can forgo any insurance related to cancelling your trip.
Just focus on what you would actually use.
Buy longer-term insurance
If you find yourself taking more than a couple of trips a year, an annual plan for travel insurance may be a better option. They’ll be priced better and saves the time and hassle of always getting insurance for each trip. But, again, this is more for those with airlines flying around than simply going on multiple or extended road trips.
Even with an annual policy, they’ll still cover things such as your trip getting cancelled or interrupted on a limited basis.
Your credit card may come with built-in insurance
Nowadays, your credit card may already offer some type of insurance while travelling as part of its benefits package. However, the incentive typically comes with the requirement to make the entire trip purchase on the card itself.
Benna continues here and says, “there are generous coverage plans such as cancellation reimbursement and luggage coverage that come with credit card benefits.” In fact, he went on to say that most credit cards already have built-in cancellation benefits you can use for many purchase types, including travel.
Benna also mentioned that “you want to check your coverage maximum on the credit card, and if you don’t feel it’s enough, then consider getting additional travel insurance for the additional coverage you want.” This helps you still have travel insurance but at a reduced cost.
Remember to check those benefits and not only focus on low prices on Travel Insurance
There’s nothing worse than spending money on travel insurance that doesn’t cover anything relevant and is just spending money.
Lisa Cheng, who is a spokesperson at a travel insurance company called World Nomads, says, “Look for Value.” “Those lower-cost plans may end up having higher costs (such as deductibles) or lower limits on your total benefits.”
Cheng provides an example of travel insurance that was cheap and ineffective that only covered a certain amount of medical costs on a trip. Still, the overall hospital bill you obtained was much higher. Therefore, put value into those areas related to medical protection and when your trip may unexpectedly cancel or need to be cancelled.
Cheng states that medical coverage could be the number one thing that needs to be in the plan versus other items, such as insurance on your luggage. This is especially true overseas, where your domestic medical coverage may not cover you.
Some insurance plans can offer huge coverage amounts. For example, GoReady goes up to $50,000 in coverage for medical expenses for each person’s insurance. Some others, such as USI Affinity Travel Insurance Service, Tin Leg, Seven Corners, HTH Worldwide, and Cat 70, give half a million dollars worth of coverage.
Everyone has different needs of what they actually will need to be covered with the additional travel insurance, so always focus on what will matter the most for you.
