Insurance

Richard, never used it before, but bought it this year through American Express Travel.

I use insuremytrip.com to compare policies and then pick the one that suits my needs. You can just get medical insurance, or you can insure more including auto insurance. It just depends on what YOU want to insure.

What do you mean by "travel insurance?" Typically it refers to insuring large non-refundable costs, such as a cruise or a guided tour trip. If you are just going on vacation on your own, there isn't much need for it.

"au contaire" Douglas. Travel insurance is so cheap, and so customnizable to YOUR needs, that there is no reason NOT to have it. With sites like InsuremyTrip and Squaremouth (our favorite) you can pick and choose what and how you may want to be insured, and then compare plans side by side. You may want trip cancelation and interruption insurance (think crabby volcano!). You may may want to be covered if you loose your job. (On one trip my boss called me in Germany and told me that I no longer had a job. Just prior to our last trip, my wife was layed off. We could have used our insurance to cancel and pay the costs we had already incurred, but we went and had a good time anyway!) You may want to be covered for repatriation (special private transportation home for surgery, etc. after an accident, etc.) You may want CDW for your rental car. Many policies will cover pre-existing conditions if you buy your policy within 15 days of your 1st vacation purchase(think plane tickets). You may want theft, lost luggage, etc coverage, even though your VISA card covers lots of this. The lo cost, and ability to pick and choose coverage that you think you may need makes "travel insurance" a valuable asset to many people.

Steve - that's partly why I asked what Richard meant by "travel insurance." It can mean different things, sort of like "money belt." Much of what you describe is not what I'd call "travel insurance." It's CDW for rental cars. Or health insurance. Or theft insurance. Most people are covered under existing policies and credit cards, or by purchasing the CDW from the rental company (required in Italy right?). But you are right, some people may need to insure specific things or supplement their own policies to cover deductables and such. I do recommend insurance for anything expensive that is non-refundable or changeable. Some airline tickets are like this. Or cruises or guided tour trips.

We just bought ours today. It covers us for reimbursement for trip cancellation, trip interruption, medical and dental care and medical evacuation plus baggage theft etc. In our case I just insured the plane tickets and the deposits on apartments and a couple of day tours. In the past six trips we've had people with lost luggage, someone who was in a car accident two days before the trip, a couple of people who were theft victims and a professor who had to rush home because her sister was close to death. A friend had a skiing accident in Grenoble a few years ago and had to purchase two first class tickets to be accommodated on the plane and that was completely covered. Also check your health insurance as you may be covered for services outside of the US and medical evacuation (I am covered by my husband is not).