Trip insurance - how to ?

[Schwob]

This is on trip insurance, especially for a cobbled together trip, not dive insurance.

I never bought trip insurance yet and in essence I do not really know how to buy meaningful trip insurance. Can you help me out, maybe by explaining how it would be done in this example:

Say I will buy a week of LOB from a US based dive booking company for an LOB trio in Egypt. Say the actual LOB provider sits in Egypt (no idea really).
Say I already have flights purchased to Europe for a multi week stay.
Say I will buy other flights from Europe from amn airline there to Egypt... and yet another flight (maybe same provider, maybe not) back to Europe.
Say the Egypt stay lengths is 9 days or so (could be longer with additional travel). Say there are eventually also a couple of hotel stays booked (booked through whatever website or the hotel, whoever has the better deal) and a couple of 3h transfer rides booked from an outfit in Egypt.
Booking all that won't all happen at the same time.

So, then, when in that process does one purchase what kind of trip insuracne and typically, what does it cover and what not?

Does one buy it immediately with the booking of the first thing and then, somehow, add to it or does one (need to) wait until the last thing is decided on and booked... or?

Does one insure the whole trip as one thing or the Europe trip separately from the Egypt trip within - or?

I.e.: does the insurance cover all cost if i.e the Europe to Egypt carrier goes out of business ... or just the Egypt related part or nothing because that's not covered somehow...

Yes, I know, there are a lot of threads and if the how to and does and don'ts of such a cobbled together trip in terms of trip insurance were covered somewhere I must have missed it.

 

[Edward3c]

When I buy trip insurance for my diving abroad, I use a specilist company. I do this before I purchase flights, accommodation or diving - through different providers. Any element I purchase before getting the insurance sorted wouldn’t be covered if I had to cancel before starting the trip.

I don’t bother with trip insurance when diving in the U.K. as its not necessary.

 

[ThatDogDontHunt]

Insurance available to you is based on where you live, not where you are going. You need to buy from a company licensed to sell insurance where you reside.

You also need to purchase early, generally within a short time of booking. No one will sell you last minute insurance as generally you only want to buy it last minute because you already know you can not go...
Anti-Selection

 

[Aviyes]

BLUF...it depends on the travel insurance company used.

Based on policies of the company I use:
Typically you can buy the insurance when you have a good estimate of the cost. The company I use allows you to make increases in the covered costs and changes in the travel dates, up to the departure date. Decreases to the covered amount on the other hand have a more limited 14-day window after initial insurance purchase. They don't care about how you are getting there or what specific companies are being used. They are insuring a specific amount of coverage based on estimated trip cost, duration, destination, current residence, and # travelers that you specify.

The rest of your questions on what is covered varies by travel insurance company and their different coverage plans.

 

[Jackie Treehorn]

Look into certain credit cards too. I had a credit card (Citi AAdvantage Executive) that included trip cancellation/interruption insurance if I put the trip on the card. They recently changed their services and suspended this benefit though.

If you can find one, its automatic and no additional cost. Read the fine print closely before selecting.

 

[ThatDogDontHunt]

BLUF...it depends on the travel insurance company used.

Based on policies of the company I use:
Typically you can buy the insurance when you have a good estimate of the cost. The company I use allows you to make increases in the covered costs and changes in the travel dates, up to the departure date. Decreases to the covered amount on the other hand have a more limited 14-day window after initial insurance purchase. They don't care about how you are getting there or what specific companies are being used. They are insuring a specific amount of coverage based on estimated trip cost, duration, destination, current residence, and # travelers that you specify.

The rest of your questions on what is covered varies by travel insurance company and their different coverage plans.

Good explanation for trip cancellation insurance. You pick a trip cost you want to insure and the insurance company will give you a price. The higher the cost the higher the price. There will also likely be a maximum cost limit they will insure.

This is for cancelling a trip before it happens.

Depending on the insurance it may also include non medical trip interruption coverage - same limits if something non medical happens in the middle of your trip.

Your trip is normally defined as the time period from leaving home and getting back to your home. No such thing as a partial trip.

 

[ThatDogDontHunt]

Good explanation for trip cancellation insurance. You pick a trip cost you want to insure and the insurance company will give you a price. The higher the cost the higher the price. There will also likely be a maximum cost limit they will insure.

This is for cancelling a trip before it happens.

Depending on the insurance it may also include non medical trip interruption coverage - same limits if something non medical happens in the middle of your trip.

Your trip is normally defined as the time period from leaving home and getting back to your home. No such thing as a partial trip.

Medical trip interruption is different as it generally has much much higher cost limits as they assume they need to pay for some medical treatment that happened during your trip which caused you to interrupt your trip.

For trip cancellation the cost limits can be as low as $5000 per person per trip ( or lower) while medical cost limits may be as high as $5,000,000 per person per trip.

 

[ThatDogDontHunt]

Medical trip interruption is different as it generally has much much higher cost limits as they assume they need to pay for some medical treatment that happened during your trip which caused you to interrupt your trip.

For trip cancellation the cost limits can be as low as $5000 per person per trip ( or lower) while medical cost limits may be as high as $5,000,000 per person per trip.

It is often confusing since trip cancellation, trip interruption and trip medical insurance are commonly combined together in a single product.

They have different limits, coverages and exclusions.

 

[outofofficebrb]

This is on trip insurance, especially for a cobbled together trip, not dive insurance.

I never bought trip insurance yet and in essence I do not really know how to buy meaningful trip insurance. Can you help me out, maybe by explaining how it would be done in this example:

Say I will buy a week of LOB from a US based dive booking company for an LOB trio in Egypt. Say the actual LOB provider sits in Egypt (no idea really).
Say I already have flights purchased to Europe for a multi week stay.
Say I will buy other flights from Europe from amn airline there to Egypt... and yet another flight (maybe same provider, maybe not) back to Europe.
Say the Egypt stay lengths is 9 days or so (could be longer with additional travel). Say there are eventually also a couple of hotel stays booked (booked through whatever website or the hotel, whoever has the better deal) and a couple of 3h transfer rides booked from an outfit in Egypt.
Booking all that won't all happen at the same time.

So, then, when in that process does one purchase what kind of trip insuracne and typically, what does it cover and what not?

Does one buy it immediately with the booking of the first thing and then, somehow, add to it or does one (need to) wait until the last thing is decided on and booked... or?

Does one insure the whole trip as one thing or the Europe trip separately from the Egypt trip within - or?

I.e.: does the insurance cover all cost if i.e the Europe to Egypt carrier goes out of business ... or just the Egypt related part or nothing because that's not covered somehow...

Yes, I know, there are a lot of threads and if the how to and does and don'ts of such a cobbled together trip in terms of trip insurance were covered somewhere I must have missed it.

It's complicated...but you knew that already, and that is why you are here, right?

I don't generally insure 100% of a trip. I step back and take a look at what parts are non-refundable if something dire were to happen to me before I left on a trip (accidents, etc.) and then what issues can arise during travel (delays, cancellations, liveaboard issues like a diver getting bent or mechanical issues) that can affect my trip and whether I show up or not at a particular hotel/resort/liveaboard. This is the part where you have to look at all the issues you are worried about happening and during which parts of the trip.

Don't forget you have some credit card coverage for trip cancel/interruption so look at what that covers. Look at what the trip insurance you are looking at will cover and see if there's overlap. Break down your trip in parts to see what you think you can claim for free on your credit card coverage and what you think you won't be able to claim and will need travel insurance for.

Generally, trip insurance will have fine print that states when you need to purchase it by in order for it to cover certain things like bankruptcy or particular parts of the trip. It really varies with each insurer. What it covers will also vary.

My credit card will cover against bankruptcy of the common carrier (with definitions), as does my travel insurance. However, my travel insurance stipulates I must have the policy purchased already or purchase it within X number of days of purchasing the travel on common carrier for my trip.

I will generally insure the dollar value for my round trip airfare home, include the portion of air to get me to the dive resort/liveaboard. I do some multi city or one ways home and will let my credit card coverage pick up on those parts if there are delays or cancelations - it's not as big of a deal if I get home late or if it's cancelled interrupted vs on the way out, I can miss out on prepaid diving at resorts, liveaboards, etc.

In general, you tell them how much you want to insure the total trip for and the dates of your travel. I've had to change the dates and amounts before, and they will change it for you. You don't give them any details as to the logistics of your travel so think about it more on how much the max amount you think you will need to get paid out if you were to claim and get benefits. It will also require you to comb the fine print. Some things to consider. Does that help a little?

Typical coverage for me:

Include round trip airfare (international), include airfare to dive resort/liveaboard, include the dive resort/liveaboard with a liveaboard rider, include anything major that's non-refundable that isn't covered with credit card trip cancel/interruption. Add extra to cushion.

I've claimed on both CC and travel insurance for an event before, but not for the same expense at both. Dive Assure travel insurance with liveaboard rider on secondary coverage (not an issue for claims, I've claimed before) is about 5% of whatever coverage amount you want.

Feel free to PM me if you have a specific Q.

 

[outofofficebrb]

@chillyinCanada Hi, Chilly. Can you please move this to the insurance part of the boards?

Thanks.