Thoughts on Travel Insurance Providers?

You can compare a number of companies and policies at www.insuremytrip.com. That website gives you comparison information from many companies so that you can choose just the type and amount of coverage that you want without something that you don't need.

We've only had to make one claim after several insured trips to Europe and we were very satisfied with the way the claim was handled and the quick turnaround. We bought a TravelSafe policy through the website www.squaremouth.com, which is similar to www.insuremytrip.com. I don't know if this is one of RS's insurance providers or not but I would definitely use them again.

Make sure aging parents are covered in the fine print of the policy. It is all in the fine print. Trip insurance does not automatically cover everything for any reason. People tend to go for low cost policy only to find out that some things are not covered.

I have only filed one claim but was 100 per cent satisfied with CSA travel insurance. You never know how good insurance is until you file a claim. CSA is a reputable company that did not try to find a loop hole when we filed a claim. Highly recommend them.

Compay, use any travel insurance company at Insure My Trip or Squaremouth.com and you wiill be safe. We like Squaremouth. We like the easy way they let you pick options and then compare multiple policies Many companies cover pre-existing conditions if you buy a policy with 15 days after your 1st travel down payment/purchase.

I had a successfull claim experience with Travel Guard. 18 pages of paperwork, but got reimbursed promptly. Read your policy details, not just the brief descriptions on the website. There are a lot of useful options that are not covered in the basic plans. Travel Guard, for example, offers cancellation coverage in their "My Travel Guard" plan (kind of an ala-carte) for reasons that are not covered in their "Gold" plan.

Thanks folks! Compay

I have used Travel Guard last year and again for this summer's trip. Compared them in insuremytrip.com. RS recommended. Have not filed a claim - thank goodness.

I bought a policy from Travel Guard for a trip to Japan that was scheduled to take place on March 12th of last year. The events of March 11th convinced me it simply wasn't safe to take the trip at that time. Travel Guard has refused to pay. The policy covered a destination becoming "uninhabitable," which, among other things, was defined in the policy to mean that there were "safety hazards" that had yet to be cleared or that the destination was without electricity. As Tokyo and parts north had rolling electric blackouts, I thought paying the claim was a no brainer. We've read more recently that the Japanese government was seriously considering evacuating Tokyo. At the time, it seemed like every country was issuing travel advisories to citizens telling them not to travel to Japan, including the U.S. Would any of you have flown into that part of Japan the day after a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami that damaged nuclear power plants to the extent that the news was reporting that the power plant managers were struggling to figure out how to shut the plants down? I'll leave it to someone else to determine if Travel Guard acted in a reasonable manner. I would not recommend them based on my experience.

We've purchased from several companies, but only had to claim from Access America (they may have changed their name). After completing all the paperwork, they reimbursed in a reasonable time. For our upcoming trip I telephoned insuremytrip and identified the coverage I wanted, and didn't want, and got a less expensive policy than I found on their website.
Good luck.

I kinda wish Rick Steve's had mentioned Travel Insurance Review. That site is more useful than IMT, in my opinion and you can research coverage and travel insurance companies at the same time as getting a quote. Take a look and if your parents have pre-existing medical conditions, you'll need to add the pre-ex waiver onto your plan for the cancellation coverage to be valid.

I would try www.squaremouth.com. They are comparison site so you can view quotes from lots of different companies.

We have always used American Express Travel Insurance and have been very happy with them. We had to make one claim, after we visited Australia for a month (2007). We just had to furnish them with a receipt for my husband visiting a doctor on Hamilton Island, Aus. It was handled quickly. We have used them for three trips to Europe, in the past three years.