Most people buy their travel insurance from a travel supplier, their cruise company, or their travel agent. They don’t realize they could buy better coverage for less money by purchasing the insurance themselves on the internet. Here are some of the most common myths regarding buying travel insurance.
1) The coverage I buy from an airline is cheaper and will cover my entire trip. Actually it won’t. Airline travel insurance typically has a limit to the trip cost they will cover. If you are traveling internationally, particularly in business or first class, this limit generally won’t even cover your non-refundable fare. In addition, the covered reasons for cancellation are often more restrictive than a policy you buy from a third party. This leaves the question – if you have to make a claim, will the coverage be there for you? When you look at this from a value standpoint, buying this coverage is a poor choice.
2) I have to buy my travel insurance from my travel agent, or they won’t book my trip for me. This is not only wrong, it is illegal. It’s illegal in all 50 states to force someone to buy insurance from a particular supplier, or to bundle travel insurance with other travel products and sell them together. They can offer you the option to buy insurance, but they cannot bundle it, they cannot offer you a discount on the insurance, and they can’t force you to buy the insurance in order to book your trip for you. Tell your travel agent that it’s illegal and buy your insurance on0-line from a third party where you can compare rates.
3) All travel insurance policies are the same – the only difference is the coverage limits. Unlike homeowner’s or auto insurance, travel insurance does not use a standard form. Every policy is a little different, with different language, and different coverage features. This means that reading the policy declarations is very important to make sure that the coverage features you need, are included in the policy.
4) If the price is lower, the travel insurance has less coverage. This is also wrong. The same policy, under the same name, is priced the same whether you buy it from a travel agent or an online comparison website. But some policies have better coverage features and are priced better based on how they are sold, or how they are priced. By comparison shopping, you will get a better value. Some insurance companies target their rate tables for particular age brackets, trip lengths, or trip costs. By doing a side by side comparison of the coverage features and prices, you will get a much better value.
TripInsurance.com has a unique business model. We sell travel insurance direct from the major underwriters at a savings for 40 percent or more. These are the same underwriters that back the brands you buy from your travel agent, or other comparison websites. Our exclusive agreement lets you buy direct and take a couple of layers of middlemen out of the channel so that you can get a much better value in your travel insurance coverage. It pays to compare coverage. If you have any questions about a particular plan, please let us know how we can help.
