Expert Tips & Ultimate Recommendations To Buying Travel Insurance
Why Purchase Travel Insurance?
Well, you’re here! That must mean you are on the fence about purchasing travel insurance. Well, first off…YES, YOU NEED TO PURCHASE TRAVEL INSURANCE TO PROTECT YOURSELF AND YOUR INVESTMENT. But I am also going to assume that since you are here, you don’t know much about travel insurance and are probably looking for a guide and top tips for purchasing travel insurance! Well, my friend, you have come to the right place!
I’m Sydney, I am a travel blogger and travel advisor. I started off my career in travel blogging when I moved to Florence, Italy, in 2016. I became a travel advisor in 2019 and have been advising through some of the most tumultuous times travel has ever seen and a time when travel insurance sales skyrocketed. Here I offer you my advice, guidance, and recommendations! While some of these links may be preferred partners of mine, and affiliate links, that has by no means swayed my opinions. They ARE my preferred partners because of the way they have treated me and my clients.
So, without further ado, here are my top tips for purchasing travel insurance!
Are you looking for help planning your dream getaway? If you’re feeling overwhelmed by all the options on the internet or just don’t have the time to get into planning your dream trip – I really encourage you to check out my travel planning services! You can download my “How We Work” guide here – or submit your inquiry here!
TOP TRAVEL INSURANCE COMPANIES
My Top Provider for Travel Insurance: Travel Insured
Other Recommended Providers:
WHAT DO THE POLICIES MEAN?
Not all policies are created equal. The ones you book at the end of your flights are bare minimum coverage and are used just to get extra cash in the airlines’ pockets. Often, they will also ONLY cover the flight, and you will have to purchase supplemental travel insurance anyway.
Do your research and purchase a policy that works for you.
I have a year-long policy plan, which is a base package. For different trips, I can combine it with different add-ons for more comprehensive travel insurance coverage. Getting a yearly plan is one of my top tips for purchasing travel insurance, as you are ALWAYS covered in some way. Depending on the cost of the trip, you can add more to your plan to cover what you need.
For example, I might not make my weekend trip to Copenhagen fully covered, with car insurance and full medical coverage, though I may add on the cancel for work policy as I know there is a chance I will have to stay in Palma for work. However, my trip to South Africa is going to have full medical evac coverage and cancel for any reason, but I will still not do the car rental add-on.
These combinations of add-ons and a-la-carte services are why Travel Insured is my favorite and go-to choice for purchasing travel insurance.
WHAT IS COVERED WITH MY TRAVEL INSURANCE?
This is all dependent on the policy!
Many travel insurances will cover cancellation for the following reasons, but ALWAYS check your policy to see what is and is not covered.
A few common cancellation reasons are listed below:
- Divorce
- Death
- Hospitalization
- Freak events of nature (Hurricanes, Tornado, etc.)
- Car Accident on the way to the airport
- Birth of a family member’s child
- Fired from job
- Terrorist threats
On top of a “cancellation” policy, many good travel insurance policies will pay you back for your travel inconveniences, such as the following
- Delayed flight
- Delayed baggage
- Canceled flight
- Missed tours/transfers because of canceled/delayed flights
As always, check with the specific policy for what is included in your plan.
One of my biggest Top Tips for purchasing travel Insurance is to ALWAYS save your documents! Lost or delayed baggage?!? Save everything you can regarding this! If the airline does not offer you documentation, ASK FOR IT! Without this documentation, you cannot claim anything back with the airline or your travel insurance!
WHAT IS ‘CANCEL FOR ANY REASON’ TRAVEL INSURANCE?
Cancel for any reason travel insurance is the golden nugget of travel insurance. If you don’t take any advice in this post, listen to this.
My number one top tip for purchasing travel insurance is to book a Cancel for Any Reason Policy, ESPECIALLY if it is a big trip that is costing you a lot of money. Cancel for any reason policy means that if you cancel your trip, no matter what the reason is, you are going to get money back for your non-refundable items. In the state of the world that we live in, when people ask if they should wait to book their trip or not go because of the unpredictability surrounding us, I tell them no – you should absolutely book. Absolutely go. But do so smartly. Book a travel insurance policy that is going to give you peace of mind with your investment.
If you take anything away from my tips for purchasing travel insurance, please let it be to consider the cancel for any reason policy.
Not all cancel for any reason travel insurance policies are going to have the same policy, but my favorite, Travel Insured, gives you 75% back on your non-refundable items. Those flights that are non-refundable and you spend $1000 bucks each on? You’re getting $750 back, no matter your reason for canceling. Of course, if you cancel for a covered reason, you’re going to get back more of your money, but the cancellation for any reason gives you no excuse to not book travel insurance.
WHEN SHOULD I PURCHASE TRAVEL INSURANCE?
My top tip for WHEN to purchase travel insurance? As soon as you’ve booked the first part of your trip. Many policies will not allow you to choose a “cancel for any reason” option 5 days after your deposit, so it is imperative to purchase your travel insurance as soon as you make any payments towards your trip.
Travel Insured allows up to 21 days from deposit to purchase Cancel for Any Reason travel insurance, so this is just another reason why I love them so much!
HOW MUCH SHOULD TRAVEL INSURANCE COST?
You’ve probably seen wildly varying costs of travel insurance all over the internet. But I’m going to let you in on a little secret and one of my top tips for purchasing travel insurance. Travel Insurance rates should cost somewhere between 5-10% of your total trip cost.
When booking a $10,000 honeymoon for clients, travel insurance will usually cost them $450 – $1100, depending on how comprehensive their coverage is.
If you are seeing anything that varies wildly outside of that 5-10% range, you may be looking at a scam, so do your research and dig a little deeper into your policy and the company you are looking at.
IS IT REALLY WORTH IT TO PURCHASE TRAVEL INSURANCE?
In short, yes! If you are not purchasing travel insurance for your vacations, you are missing an essential part that could be detrimental to your finances and your vacation. Some countries even require you to purchase travel insurance before you travel. One of my favorite examples of this is Costa Rica during the pandemic. While you didn’t need to be vaccinated to enter Costa Rica, you did need to have a travel insurance policy that would cover your accommodation if you contracted COVID-19 while traveling. This stressed out a lot of travelers, who then came to me asking for help planning their trip and with this travel insurance requirement.
Thankfully, our preferred vendor, Travel Insured, offers “bed rest” coverage, meaning that if something happened and you were ordered by the doctor to stay in bed, for whatever reason, and it required you to extend your stay in a country – your travel insurance had you covered.
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UNFORTUNATELY, AS RABBIE BURNS ONCE WROTE, EVEN THE BEST-LAID PLANS OF MICE AND MEN OFTEN GO AWRY. THAT IS WHY WE STRONGLY RECOMMEND TAKING OUT TRAVEL INSURANCE TO COVER ALL EVENTUALITIES. OUR PARTNER, TRAVEL INSURED, IS OUR PREFERRED VENDOR FOR OUR CLIENT AND PERSONAL TRAVELS.
Great blog! The expert tips and recommendations for purchasing travel insurance are very informative and practical. Thanks for sharing!
Glad you found them useful! Happy travelling!