travel insurance

I did check and it seems unlikely US insurers will extend liability coverage for incidents overseas, since there are different liability laws.

I think the term of art is third-party liability and it seems with most industrialized nation, such insurance is required as part of the rental, though the agencies don't really highlight what that is. Maybe somewhere in the fine print.

Anyways I asked Avis why they were prodding me to pay for additional Liability Insurance (distinct from CDW for liability on the car) and the US guy couldn't say. He said I'd have to ask at the counter when I pick up the car, because the personnel there would obviously be more aware of local laws.

Though you see reviews on TA complaining about employees of major agencies trying to scam people with additional insurance. The reviews say Sixt with characteristic German honesty is the most trustworthy.
 
We hadn't heard of Sixt before recently when we were looking for a rental in California. Sounds like they're expanding into the States. FWIW, the reviews we saw for the North American Sixt rentals were decent and I wouldn't have minded renting from them (we ended up with Hertz via Priceline) and would consider them in Europe.
 
But Sixt is more expensive.
 
audreyh1 said:
I've looked at MedjetAssist, and that looks like an OK option.

On the other (non medical, non evacuation) travel/trip insurance: I see the big deposits on cruises, and the long reservation times and how things have to be paid in advance. And I'm not sure I'd be comfortable paying so much far in advance without some decent cancellation insurance.
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The cruise I went to was back in January. I did end up going with MedjetAssist for about 15 days. Total cost for the temporary coverage as I recall, was close to $100, but I think a little less with the AARP discount.

I shied away from regular travel/trip insurance as was reading that some insurers make you jump through hoops to prove qualifications of an event. Not sure if that is the case and I assume some are better than others. MejetAssist on the other hand describes itself as similar to AAA but for your body.

But not having regular insurance was a roll of the dice as MedjetAssist doesn't cover items like trip cancellation. I got a lucky roll, as I remember I was on vacation in sunny Florida, but folks got stranded for days not able to get back to snow covered NY.
 
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I never do but happened to buy it for a transatlantic cruise from Norway.

American Airlines made us miss the ship AND they lost ALL our luggage for a WEEK.

The insurance was awesome...basically paid for our entire trip and replaced all our stuff.

for a complicated trip, you might want to consider it.
 
They paid for the whole trip even though you still went on it, despite losing the luggage?
 
I have a pre-existing health condition so always buy travel insurance. I'm pretty certain all of the trip insurance packages offered by airlines, cruises, and credit cards EXCLUDE pre-existing. But "private" insurers provide pre-existing coverage if you buy the insurance within a short timeframe from initial deposit (2 to 3 weeks).
I use Insuremytrip.com to get the right policy for me.
 
We did go on the trip but had to make our own way up to Norway from Copenhagen. We were reimbursed for all expenses. Both Princess and American also kicked in some money, for "good will".....
 
It depends on the trip. I've used insuremytrip.com before where a lot was at stake. DH and I were booked to go to Iceland this month but cancelled after he and my mother were both diagnosed with cancer. Neither is expected to survive the year.

Business class airfare on Icelandair: 100% refund. AA, greedy SOBs, charged $175 to redeposit miles for our flights in and out of BOS. I was surprised that Airbnb kept $130 of our prepaid apartment reservation in Reykjavik. Hilton redeposited hotel points, no problem. So, not much lost.

My main interest is medical and repatriation; I'm a very active traveler and want whatever it takes to get me repaired and safely back home.
 
We only bought it once - last year when my MIL was very ill. We bought a policy that only covered death of a family member, and it was not expensive. We didn't need it, but since we were on a bike tour that was already paid for, I was glad we had it.


Athena - I am so sorry to hear about your family's circumstances. I wish you well.
 
athena53 said:
It depends on the trip. I've used insuremytrip.com before where a lot was at stake. DH and I were booked to go to Iceland this month but cancelled after he and my mother were both diagnosed with cancer. Neither is expected to survive the year.

Business class airfare on Icelandair: 100% refund. AA, greedy SOBs, charged $175 to redeposit miles for our flights in and out of BOS. I was surprised that Airbnb kept $130 of our prepaid apartment reservation in Reykjavik. Hilton redeposited hotel points, no problem. So, not much lost.

My main interest is medical and repatriation; I'm a very active traveler and want whatever it takes to get me repaired and safely back home.
Click to expand...

Yes not much lost, but I'm sure that is the last thing on your mind right now. Take care of yourself...as you take care of your loved ones.
 
Anyone check out the insurance which comes with premium cards like Chase Sapphire?

I would imagine the terms are more restrictive, maybe lower limit.

Probably wouldn't cover things like medical evacuation and maybe cancellation for reasons other than medical for the insured only. You probably need to charge all expenses on the specific card.


Some years ago someone posted about some scuba diver club insurance which would cover evacuation for a low annual fee.
 
My wife and I just booked a cruise in Spain for Sept. I was advised to get coverage for medical. I instead bought the protection offered by Alaska Airlines through Aliance for $17 pp to cover the 16 days. Since I retired and lost my big corporate insurance, my wife and I choose to go our our business insurance we provide to our employees, Premera. I was shocked today to find out how good our insurance is with Premera. Not only do they provide international coverage, including airlift, they do so as if it was in-network cost due to association with hospitals world wide. They even bill direct to Premera if we choose the associated docs and hospitals. Folks might ask their insurer if they have the same, before buying additional coverage.
 
My insurance coverage has plenty of overseas options or care in most first and second world countries. Other than that I buy emergency evacuation insurance since the cost of that can be huge 20,000+.
 
We used Chase Sapphire to cover trip interruption when my wife fell on stairs and broker her kneecap midway through a tour. Chase covered unused portion of tour cost and cost non-refundable return air. Chase DOES not cover medical. We used our Medicare Plan F but it had about a 1k worth of deductibles attached to it.
Chase did a great job but it took about 3 month of paperwork being exchanged. Probably no worse than if had to make a claim on other trip insurance claim. The Medicare piece was much longer--Took our Blue policy nearly six months to get all covered--they had outsourced to a Blue in Florida who apparently handles international Medicare claims for a number of the Blues
For our current trip to Europe in the Fall we have bought accidental injury and medical through squaremouth.com which is recommended by Chris Elliott (writes consumer protection blog for travel)--Compares 114 travel insurance policies from 21 providers. For 26 day trip, $156 for 500k medical.
Nwsteve
 
I wish I had seen this post last week. We just booked an Alaska cruise for next summer & paid nearly $1K for insurance. We have three elderly parents between us. Cruise cost is $12K. I only knew of the insurance offered thru the travel agency.
 
I use World Nomads for travel medical insurance. Good prices and don't have a lot of exclusions for more adventurous trips.
 
Chuckanut said:
My insurance coverage has plenty of overseas options or care in most first and second world countries. Other than that I buy emergency evacuation insurance since the cost of that can be huge 20,000+.
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There are a lot of reasons it might be very expensive for you to leave your destination. If you're in a bulky leg cast you may need Business Class. If you need to go home early there are change fees. That doubles if you travel with someone. If the worst happens and your body has to be shipped back home that can be a huge burden. DH and I always agreed cheerfully that we'd have the other cremated and bring the ashes home if that happened, but I read one sad story (may have been here) about a woman who had to bury her husband in a Latin American country when he died on their trip. Cremation was illegal and shipping the body was too expensive.

Coverage for these things is relatively inexpensive because they're so rare, but it's important to make sure you have them.
 
We always make sure we have emergency health insurance while travelling. Don't bother with trip cancellation insurance. I figure if we can afford the trip we can afford to lose the trip. All we would be missing are the memories which we can make up later. Also, I don't have much confidence in them paying off after reading all the fine print.
 
We always get medical evacuation insurance when travelling internationally or on a cruise. One transatlantic cruise we were on had a passenger with a heart attack. The ship turned around to meet an Irish Coast Guard helicopter. I would hate to see the bill for that.:sick:
 
We get our travel insurance through the cruise line and it is about 125.00/person. We had a friend that had to use his and just needed a letter from his doc. That alaska cruise must be really long because we just paid 4k for 10 days.
 
Sarah in SC said:
I use World Nomads for travel medical insurance. Good prices and don't have a lot of exclusions for more adventurous trips.
Click to expand...

I just checked out a quote for an upcoming trip.

Has anyone ever had to file a claim?

Wonder how restrictive the conditions are for say a medical evacuation, since it's a high-cost item.

The Explorer version appears to be about 50% more expensive but has higher coverage for things like property theft though the per article limit of $1500 is pretty low.
 
I have had to make five claims over the years and I have never been hassled by the insurance companies .
 
Claims on World Nomads?

If you go to insuremytrip.com, the same trip, 2-3 weeks, have premiums of several times that of World Nomads.

That's for comprehensive trip insurance.

There are travel medical only policies for like $50.

World Nomads seems almost too good to be true?
 
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