How to buy trip insurance

 

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If you've never looked into travel insurance before, you might not know that you can customize a policy that pays you back when covered things go wrong on a trip, whether they're big problems or small ones:

Big problem: For instance, getting hurt or sick while traveling is a big reason to buy travel insurance, especially when you consider how expensive medical care can be in other countries.

A flight delay at an airport is annoying, but it's not a big deal. Because of the delay, you might have to spend more money on things like food and toiletries while you wait.

If you buy the right policy, you can get all of that money back from your travel insurance.

Here are some of the best ways to buy travel insurance, along with a few things to watch out for.

It's important to have trip cancellation coverage, but you should also look over the acceptable reasons.

A good plan for travel insurance will include a number of useful benefits. Trip cancellation coverage is one of the most-used parts of travel insurance. This gives you money back for fees you paid ahead of time and can't get back if you have to cancel your trip.

The catch is that you can only get money back if you cancel for one of the reasons listed in the policy. Most of the time, these are good reasons:

You or a family member getting hurt or sick seriously

A recent terrorist incident at your destination

A loss of a job

A natural disaster, fire, flood, or other problem that makes the place you want to go unlivable.

Your home has been hit by a natural disaster

Getting into a car accident on the way to where you're going

Read the fine print to find out what your policy covers and what the rules are for each reason. For example, terrorism at your destination might be a good reason to cancel, but only if it happens within 30 days of your arrival date. Or, if you're going to the Caribbean and a hurricane has already started, you can't buy trip cancellation insurance.

What if you all of a sudden get scared of traveling? Normal trip cancellation insurance will not pay for that. "Cancel for any reason" coverage, on the other hand, costs about 40% more than "cancel for any reason" coverage. With this add-on to your travel insurance, you can cancel your trip at any time and still get a portion of your non-refundable trip costs back.

The fine print says that you won't get back 100% of your trip costs, but only 50% or 75%. Still, you can cancel for whatever reason you want and get some of your money back.

Buy a lot of medical insurance and emergency evacuation insurance.

Travel medical insurance and emergency medical evacuation coverage are two other important reasons to buy travel insurance.

When you go somewhere, you always run the risk of getting hurt or sick. Medical bills can quickly become too expensive to pay for out of pocket.

It's important to know that most foreign countries don't accept health insurance from the United States. Medicare is also not. Since you probably won't have health insurance outside of the U.S., travel insurance is a safety net. The medical expenses part will pay for trips to the doctor, visits to urgent care, surgery, prescriptions, and ambulance rides.

Emergency medical evacuation coverage will save your life if your condition is serious enough that you need to be moved to a specialized hospital. During this kind of emergency, you don't want to have to figure out what to do in a place you don't know well or in the middle of nowhere. If you need very serious medical care, this benefit can get you flown to a specialized treatment center or even back to the United States. If you paid for this yourself, it could easily cost more than $100,000, and in some remote places it could cost as much as $250,000.

The best travel insurance plans will cover medical costs up to $500,000 and medical evacuation up to $1 million.

Check out the rules for travel delays.

There are times when a vacation hits some pretty big speed bumps. Another important benefit of travel insurance is getting money back if your trip is delayed. If you can't get to your destination because of a delay that was out of your control, you can get your money back.

For example, if you miss your flight because of bad weather or a problem with the plane, travel delay insurance can pay for your hotel, food, medicine, transportation, or even rebooking your flights.

It is important to know, though, that there may be a delay of up to six hours before benefits start. There is also a limit on how much you can get back each day, which can be $150 or more per covered traveler.

As long as the reason for the delay is covered by the policy, you can also get reimbursed if the delay causes you to miss pre-paid, non-refundable activities.

Find Out the Limits of Your Baggage Coverage

If your bags are late or, even worse, get lost on the way to their final destination, it's both frustrating and costly. Under the baggage coverage part of your travel insurance plan, you can get money back for things like clothes, medicine, and toiletries that you need.

Experts say to be careful when packing expensive jewelry, electronics, or other valuables because most travel plans have a "per item" limit, such as $250 per item, up to a total limit, such as $2,500 per person. If your lost bag only had swimsuits and light clothes, this cap won't be a problem.

In this case, the fine print says that you need proof to file a claim. You'll need to make a list of the things that were lost or damaged and how much they were worth. You may also need to show receipts for some of the things. It's important to be very careful and keep all of your receipts, even ones for things you bought on vacation that were in your lost luggage.

Also, reimbursement is based on the "actual cash value" of the items you're claiming, which is the value of the items after they've lost value. So, if you had five pretty dresses in your bag that you bought three years ago, you won't be paid for new pretty dresses.

How to Choose the Right Travel Insurance

If you've never bought travel insurance before, don't be scared off by the different types of coverage you might not know.

Talk to a travel insurance agent and tell them what you're most worried about for your trip. They can find a policy that will cover your trip the best.

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