I have traveled a lot internationally (mostly Europe) but never purchased travel insurance. In perusing the Trip Advisor forum, I see quite a few mentions of travel insurance in general and specifically with respect to rental cars. My wife and I (mid-50's) will be spending 18 days between Australia and New Zealand. We will probably rent a car in Cairns and Christchurch. We have already booked all of our flights and pre-paid for some lodging. My questions are 1) What does travel insurance usually cover? 2) Should I get it (I think I already know the answer) and 3) Where can I get it? TIA!
Posted by
Central Indiana, USA
357 posts
Places to compare and buy policies
Posted by
OP
Charleston, SC, USA
926 posts
Thanks for the replies! I did a site search after posting my question and found the great article on it. I appreciate the links for insurance!
Posted by
Mid-Atlantic area
7206 posts
I get my rental car and trip insurance through Allianz. Rental car insurance is $9 a day and the site will tell you what all is covered.
Posted by
Lynnwood, Washington
8913 posts
Check what coverage you may have available through your credit card. You might be surprised.
Posted by
Seattle
191 posts
When I travel I am less concerned about trip expenses and more concerned about medical evacuation so I could get back to the states. I have purchased Travel Guard from AIG but have thankfully never had to use it:)
Posted by
San Francisco
1008 posts
We always purchase travel insurance, more to cover if something catastrophic happens... it is not very expensive. I am about to file a claim since we were delayed in London a day on arrival.... so we will see if it pays! :)
Posted by
San Francisco
1008 posts
We always purchase travel insurance, more to cover if something catastrophic happens... it is not very expensive. I am about to file a claim since we were delayed in London a day on arrival.... so we will see if it pays! :)
Posted by
Atlanta, Georgia
63 posts
Like Stephanie above, I am more concerned about health insurance overseas and just found out that Triple A offers a package through Allianz. AAA can also separate the package and just sell me the health and repatriation insurance part. They have to have your departure and return dates (you have to have booked your tickets) and you have to purchase the insurance at least two weeks before starting your trip. The preexisting conditions time period is 120 days. This is what I understood from talking to the agent but I'm sure this is pretty general and the particulars will vary for each individual.
Posted by
NYC
12 posts
I can't speak about insurance for your car on your trip, but travel insurance is usually a waste of money. First, check with your credit card company. They usually provide trip cancellation or trip interruption coverage if you paid for your trip with that credit card. Second, call your health insurer. If I have to go to the doctor while I am in another country, my health insurer treats it as out-of-network and will reimburse me for 80% of the cost. As for coverage to be evacuated, if you have a serious health problem and/or are traveling to a country with not so great health care facilities, then you may want to purchase that coverage. I did that once for a boss who was traveling to Asia and had serious food allergies (i.e. allergic to soy and shellfish, among other things). But if not, I don't know why you would need that.
Posted by
Washington
470 posts
We never got travel insurance, but after I had to be hospitalized overseas we changed our mind. :)
We relied on our United Club card for coverage and our Kaiser health coverage promises. The Club card benefits turned out to be minimal, and it took three months of constant diligence and additional paperwork to recover the amount we did. In the end, they would not cover our change fees or the additional cost of new airfare when we had to reschedule our flight home. Most of the reimbursement from United came in the form of "store credit" which is worthless if you aren't medically approved to travel.
Kaiser did indeed reimburse us 100% of our costs, but it took three months to get that check. (Not to mention several phone calls when the first check they mailed us never arrived.) We naively believed that our aging parents would be the reason for trip interruption, but it never occurred to us that it could be one of us who fell ill.
From now on we will always buy travel insurance, buying it within the time limit so that pre-existing conditions are waived and including medical evacuation. After checking several options we decided on Travel Guard. The testimonials on this forum from people who actually had to use their travel insurance and had Travel Guard were a big help in our decision making.
Posted by
1531 posts
A co worker of mine was hospitalized halfway thru a tour. Her trip insurance paid for a hotel for her husband (who also left the tour to stay w her) and airflights back to the us for both of them, even upgrading her to 1st class when the doctor wrote a note saying she needed to be able to lie flat for most of the trip. I ssume it also enventually covered something towards the portion of the tour they missed, but she was mostly thrilled w the new plane tickets that did not require any cash up front from her.