When should you consider buying travel insurance? This is a question I am asked regularly, and frankly, it’s one I’ve been mulling over when booking my own travel adventures as well. I’ve bought travel insurance for two family trips in recent years: for a vacation to the Caribbean uncomfortably close to hurricane season, and for our upcoming two-week trip to Europe.
I don’t believe families need to buy travel insurance for every trip. How to know which ones are ‘insurance-worthy’? Ask yourself these five questions:
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1. Am I already insured?
You may assume you are not, but if you booked your entire trip on a major credit card, you may already have the perk of limited coverage. Personally, I do not book all my travel via credit card, which works for our family to reduce debt. However, I do miss out on the built-in travel insurance some card companies offer. Double check!
2. Is this a ‘bucket list’ trip?
Is this vacation a trip of a lifetime? In other words, will it be hard to financially recoup? If you will not be able to replace your trip financially within the foreseeable future, should something prevent you from going, you should consider insurance. For us, our European trip falls under this category. Should we not be able to go, it will take considerable time to make up for the financial loss.
3. Will I be traveling during the winter or hurricane season?
Flight delays and cancellations can happen anytime, but if you like to travel during the shoulder season or off-season, you may find yourself flying in extreme weather seasons more often than you’d like. If your trip will be in winter or during hurricane season, you may rest easier knowing you’re insured. The insurance we purchased for our winter trip to Europe covers weather-related delays. If our flight is canceled and we miss a hotel or apartment stay, we will be reimbursed.
4. Did I book a tour or cruise leaving on a specific date and time?
If you’re flying to connect with a cruise ship or major tour operation that will leave without you if you’re not on time, consider travel insurance! Anything can happen, and delays are, of course, a regular occurrence. Even if it’s not your fault you arrived at the cruise terminal an hour late, you’ll still be left behind.
5. Do I have a job that’s hard to leave?
We fall into this category…not because of my job, which is travel-friendly, of course, but because of my husband’s. Even after requesting (and being granted) time off, work-related emergencies are always a possibility. We found an insurance policy that included work-related trip cancellation, which is not always part of the package. Of course, any good policy will include illness or (god forbid) death-related cancellation, which is always good to have. Life is unpredictable.
Five easy steps to finding and buying insurance:
This is the easy part, believe it or not! Here’s what I did to identify and buy the right travel insurance for our trip:
- Double check that I’m not already covered (we do not have a credit card that covers us, and our medical insurance does not cover international travel).
- Compare insurers.
- Fill in the trip information needed to get a quote.
- Looking at your results, click on 2-3 policies and click on the ‘compare’ tab. Click on ‘details’ to see exactly what each section of the policy means. Decide how much medical coverage you need based on personal health and travel risks involved.
- Buy right on the site! Be sure to print your policy.
