Travel Insurance

How can you expect anybody to sensibly tell you who is the most honest of all the companies in the sector?

By definition if they are licensed they are honest until proven otherwise at which point they are in danger of losing their license. Most honest? Surely it is either honest or not, not a scale of honesty.

Or have I misread your question?

With your name of trustin' soul aren't you one?

I don't think anyone here is going to be able to tell you which insurance co is the 'most honest' because, as Nigel said, if an insurance co wasn't honest they wouldn't be in business. They may offer different coverages with different premiums, have different practices and procedures regarding claims, etc but I think they're basically all honest.

You would have to compare policies to see which seems right for your purposes - go to insuremytrip.com or squaremouth.com to see many different companies and policies. I have used Travel Guard myself but never had to make a claim so don't know how that goes. I usually don't use trip insurance anymore, just medical insurance while out of the country, but I don't go on tours anymore just independent travel and I book hotels that can be canceled without penalty so there's not a big outlay of money at the beginning of a trip.

As to when to get it, that also depends on the policy. Most companies require that you purchase it within a certain time after making the first payment on anything you want covered (airfare, tour payments, etc), others can be purchased up until the time you leave on the trip.

Thank you Nancy - very helpful.

Have sent you a pm about this. TC

You will get a travel ins info when you get your trip package from RS after your deposit is received. I shopped around found the one that comes in the RS tour package is pretty well priced. Figured if I'm paying RS for his tour will go with what he recommends???? Just my view;)

For various reasons I don't take travel insurance....but I have taken tours with various companies. My observation is that the insurance offered by the tour company providing the tour is often pretty reasonably priced (for what you get) compared to the "common market." That may not always be true, but so far that is my thought. Also, look carefully at what any travel insurance company is offering.... often a word or two difference in the policy can make a large impact on the actual protection. In general I have found RS to be a pretty straight up company and doubt they would offer a terrible insurance product. I also think (again from observation more than experience) that you want to buy insurance near the time you purchase the trip. If you wait you will likely find some companies will not sell it to you (they assume something has come up between the time you purchased your trip and when you want to purchase the insurance), it will cost more, or it will offer less.

Not a sarcastic word there. And you chose your name, I'm just asking about it.

Too bad you didn't like my answer, very similar to the one after.

I use the travel ins offered by the agency setting up the trip. I can pay for it with my deposit (6 mos in advance) or with my final payment which is usually due 3 mos before departure. (Non-RS tour)

If you want to check the reputation of a company, check w/ the Better Business Bureau in the city where their main office is located.

My 2-cents worth.

Nigel wasn't being sarcastic. It would be impossible for anyone to tell you who is the "most honest" company, unless they have used several and have had problems on every trip, thus gaining experience with how they handle claims. And even if they did, how do you measure honesty from one company to another?

I always check insuremytrip.com and compare the rates and the coverages. Last 2 trips I have gone with Travel Guard, never had to make a claim. Look at the different coverages they offer and figure out which part of the policy is the most important to you. I need the clause that they will pay for preexisting conditions. None of mine are serious, but just in case. Also,
some of them offer "cancel for any reason" if you buy the insurance within 2 weeks of making your first reservation. I would never wait until right before my trip to buy the insurance. I buy it right after we make our reservation for the RS tour.

good luck and good travels.

When I look for travel insurance, I want to know how the company pays on a claim. (do they look for loopholes, are they prompt, do they give you the runaround). I assume this is what you meant by "honest". I filed a claim with CSA travel insurance in 2008. They paid it in full, quickly, and without me even having to contact them again. One thing to be aware of...read your policy and know what you have to do if something happens. The insurance company will have instructions on what you have to do in order for them to process and honor your claim. In our case, we did everything but one step. (It was not possible for us to do that step because of lack of cooperation from someone we were dealing with). They still honored our claim. I find their rates pretty competitive, and I will even pay a tad bit more just for security of knowing they are a good company to work with. If you want more info on my experience please feel free to PM me. (before Wednesday, since I am leaving for a month....Paris, London, England, Scotland and yes, I have purchased my travel insurance from CSA.

Having just finished the last of my adjustments to the travel insurance for our trip this fall, I can vouch that prices may be all over the map. I talk to the people at Insure My Trip each time I buy, and we do insure for every trip overseas.

This time I learned that the company I normally used would not work because we are going to be gone for more than 30 days, door-to-door. We had to switch to something that gave us more coverage than we wanted, and it's much more expensive this time.

The agent told me that there are 3 things that the rates are based on:

1. The ages of the travelers. (We are 66 and 68. We both have health issues and always make sure to get the insurance early enough to qualify for the pre-existing condition coverage. We always want coverage to be returned home if needed.)
2. The total cost of the trip. (About $6300 prepaid. Insurance cost is based on prepaid expenses only.)
3. The length of the trip. (36 days. This was the red flag I'm glad they noticed. All our previous trips were for less than 30 days, so it was never even mentioned before.)

As with all insurance, we hope we won't need it. We also hope that if we do need it, the company will keep up their end of the bargain.

BTW, I got the insurance as soon as I paid the deposit and knew we had confirmed spots on our RS tour. That was our first expense for the trip and it was way back in January.

This is a second for CSA. We have used them for years but fortunately have never had to make a claim. The travel agents I know rate them highly as does insuremytrip.com.

My main concern is healthcare insurance while on a long trip. Medicare doesn't provide coverage outside the U.S.--including Canada and Mexico.

I checked, and my healthcare insurance is good worldwide. The Medicare Supplement for my wife provides healthcare insurance worldwide. We are both in reasonably good health and active for our ages.

We do self guided travel, and not expensive tours. The only monies out of pocket on front end is the flights, and we're also budget shoppers there--choosing to travel in less than peak months.

Therefore, we choose not to take out travel insurance.

When you book your RS tour you get a brochure from Travel Guard and if booked within 15 days of when you pay your deposit you get some extra benefits.

I am in Paris now and finished a RS tour last Monday, which was the first day of the Air France strike. A number of people had flights cancelled on Air France and its code share airline Delta. Those who had Travel Guard did receive assistance with rebooking from them instead of dealing with the airline. Others spent more time dealing directly with the airline.

I, too, found what Lo did regarding prices jumping after 30 days. It's something to consider when planning the next trip.