travel insurance

I have had Travel Guard but never used it. To compare details, I'd use a site like Squaremouth or Insuremytrip to look at the fine details between policies and your specific need for coverage (which varies by type of policy, age, and destination). Both sites include reviews from customers. You can also search the forum for prior posts on both companies https://search.ricksteves.com/?button=&date_range=2y&filter=Travel+Forum&query=allianz+and+%22travel+guard%22

I agree with CL. I have used both Travel Guard and Allianz in the past but have never had to make a claim. If you do an online search you will find complaints about ALL insurance companies so I would just pick one of these which are both fairly well-regarded.

Are you within 2 weeks of paying your initial down payment? That is the time frame on most policies for having them waive the pre-existing conditions clause if that makes a difference to you.

The insurance I would NOT use is AON. There are so many complaints about this company. It is who Road Scholar contracts with and I see complaints on the Road Scholar FB pages all the time.

I made a claim with Allianz last year and I am pleased with how quickly they paid it. All done online, and as with any insurance claim, a lot of documents required. We get an annual travel policy from them.

We have always used Travel Guard so cannot compare it to anything else. But we did have a good experience with them a few years ago when we got COVID on a Rick Steves tour. They were responsive, and helpful; we were compensated for the difference between the prorated tour refund and the total cost, medical costs, meals, and hotel expenses. We also learned to get receipts for everything!

We have used Allianz for four trips to Europe and have made one claim, for expenses related to a cancelled flight out of Florence and a delay getting home. I was anticipating problems but had none - it was easy to make a claim on-line, and we were reimbursed promptly. It was a very pleasant surprise.

We have used Aardy an on-line travel insurance broker. ( https://www.aardy.com/ ) They provide quotes from multiple companies and with different levels of coverage. This year I found when comparing to others their quotes were very competitive.

I use World Nomads. They provide the best value for a low cost.

I have AAA membership and get a discount on Allianz insurance. I have insured five trips and had to file my first claim this past December. Virgin Atlantic cancelled my flight. My agent at AAA filed the claim for me, even though I have the app. I submitted the documents and received my reimbursement quickly.

I was also pleasantly surprised by how easily and quickly the claim went through.

I have a trip to Scotland planned in June, so I will be using them for coverage again.

Good luck with your decision, and Happy Travels!

A word of caution. We had a trip booked to Israel right before the war started. We had travel insurance with Travelex through SquareMouth. Berkshire Hathaway handled the claim. It didn't go well. We lost quite a bit of our trip money because "acts of war" was an exclusion. It was considered an act of terrorism, but the claims examiner's decision was not to refund our expenses due to the war exclusion. We were very thankful that we did not arrive just as the conflict started, but also very sad to have lost our hard earned savings.

Have saved up once again and will try the UK this time (first time was right before COVID and had to cancel). Have to say Virgin Atlantic was WONDERFUL to work with after our flights were cancelled. It took some time, but their communication was excellent.
That's a story for another time. :o)
Safe travels!

GeoBlue seems to have the best price if you travel multiple times per year.
Price includes ALL trips for 365 days from the date you book.
But we have never needed to file a claim...