DiveAssure insurance only available 12 months in advance for liveaboard?

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anchochile

Contributor
Messages
273
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201
Location
Northern California
# of dives
100 - 199
I just contacted DiveAssure to get a quote for travel insurance with their liveaboard rider for a February 2022 liveaboard. I was told that you can only purchase insurance within 12 year in advance of the trip. They assured me that I could go ahead and book the trip now (paying liveaboard deposit, flights, etc), and it would all be covered once I buy the insurance in February 2022.

This was surprising for a couple reasons. In an older thread, @outofofficebrb stated that DiveAssure will allow policies to be bought 18 months in advance (rather than 12). The same post also said that some of the coverage only applies if the policy is bought within 14 days after booking the trip.

Given this conflicting information, I'm curious if anyone else has experience using DiveAssure for a trip more than one year in advance - I'm trying to figure out if their policies have changed, or if I was given bad information by the agent I spoke with.

In general, it seems a bit absurd that the only company to offer specific liveaboard coverage has such a short window for buying a policy, given that many liveaboards start booking 24+ months in advance.
 
I just contacted DiveAssure to get a quote for travel insurance with their liveaboard rider for a February 2022 liveaboard. I was told that you can only purchase insurance within 12 year in advance of the trip. They assured me that I could go ahead and book the trip now (paying liveaboard deposit, flights, etc), and it would all be covered once I buy the insurance in February 2022.

This was surprising for a couple reasons. In an older thread, @outofofficebrb stated that DiveAssure will allow policies to be bought 18 months in advance (rather than 12). The same post also said that some of the coverage only applies if the policy is bought within 14 days after booking the trip.

Given this conflicting information, I'm curious if anyone else has experience using DiveAssure for a trip more than one year in advance - I'm trying to figure out if their policies have changed, or if I was given bad information by the agent I spoke with.

In general, it seems a bit absurd that the only company to offer specific liveaboard coverage has such a short window for buying a policy, given that many liveaboards start booking 24+ months in advance.

I bought mine about 18 or 19 months in advance. I e-mailed customer service and they processed it manually. The clause that mentions 14 days that you are referencing is for bankruptcy protection, should the carrier or tour operator go out of business. You must buy the policy within 14 days of your initial trip deposit in order to have that bankrupty protection. Not a big deal to me because I get it on my credit card and I paid for all parts of my trip on my credit card.

Also, they said trip interruption/cancellation wouldn't be in effect until 12 months before the trip even though I bought in advance. Not a big deal either as I have coverage from my credit card as well. I was more concerned about things during or on the way to the trip or coming home.

Standard customer service will tell you the standard answer. If you need a contact at Dive Assure who will do it for you - I think one of the original founders - I have his e-mail address. :) Just let me know.
 
I bought mine about 18 or 19 months in advance. I e-mailed customer service and they processed it manually. The clause that mentions 14 days that you are referencing is for bankruptcy protection, should the carrier or tour operator go out of business. You must buy the policy within 14 days of your initial trip deposit in order to have that bankrupty protection. Not a big deal to me because I get it on my credit card and I paid for all parts of my trip on my credit card.

Thanks. I'll email them and see what happens. I checked my credit card benefits (Chase Sapphire Reserve) to see if they cover financial default/bankruptcy. It appears they do not. Under the list of "What's Not Covered" it states:

The Trip Cancellation and Trip Interruption benefit does not apply to any loss caused by or resulting from, directly or indirectly:
.......
Default of the Common Carrier resulting from Financial Insolvency or Financial Insolvency of a Travel Agency, Tour Operator, or Travel Supplier

So it would appear I do need to make sure I can get this coverage from DiveAssure given that I will have paid my deposit long before the 12-month pre-trip window starts.
 
Thanks. I'll email them and see what happens. I checked my credit card benefits (Chase Sapphire Reserve) to see if they cover financial default/bankruptcy. It appears they do not. Under the list of "What's Not Covered" it states:



So it would appear I do need to make sure I can get this coverage from DiveAssure given that I will have paid my deposit long before the 12-month pre-trip window starts.

Oh, that's a major change. I have the same credit card and as of the end of last year, it did cover this. Good to know. One thing you can do to protect yourself is to charge your travel to your credit card anyway and you can always do a chargeback for services/goods not provided. That would at the least get you a 100% refund. If there is any financial insolvency, you can at the very least get your money that way though it might not help if you are "on the ground", so to speak, and find out the hard way that they are out of business. Let me know what you find when you reach out to Dive Assure.

Thanks.
 
Update - received an email from Dive Assure confirming that I can buy insurance 18 months in advance of the trip, and that they will honor the financial default clause. However, when I asked for something official in writing stating that they would honor the financial default clause (given that this is an exception to the actual language in their policy, which states it only applies if insurance is purchased within 14 days of initial trip deposit), they said that wouldn't be necessary. Makes me a little nervous, but I guess this is my best bet.
 
Update - received an email from Dive Assure confirming that I can buy insurance 18 months in advance of the trip, and that they will honor the financial default clause. However, when I asked for something official in writing stating that they would honor the financial default clause (given that this is an exception to the actual language in their policy, which states it only applies if insurance is purchased within 14 days of initial trip deposit), they said that wouldn't be necessary. Makes me a little nervous, but I guess this is my best bet.

Does the policy have a clause stating that modifications to the policy can only be made by certain media? If it doesn't go further than saying the usual "modifications can only be made in writing," then I would think an email is a sufficient writing.
 
The clause that mentions 14 days that you are referencing is for bankruptcy protection, should the carrier or tour operator go out of business.

Well, it's six months later, and I have hit the 18-month window before my trip. In the meantime, the world has changed, and not surprisingly, so have trip insurance policies.

Among other things, DiveAssure trip insurance no longer offers any coverage for financial default of the tour operator. Presumably, this means that if the liveaboard operator goes out of business in the coming 18 months before my trip (which I would think would be a risk for ANY business in the tourism sector right now), I would simply lose my deposit with no clear recourse.

The insurance also does not cover missing the trip due to Covid-related travel restrictions - not surprising.

So - in the current environment with these new sets of risks to consider, is DiveAssure with their liveaboard rider still my best bet, or are there alternatives I should consider at this point?
 
Well, it's six months later, and I have hit the 18-month window before my trip. In the meantime, the world has changed, and not surprisingly, so have trip insurance policies.

Among other things, DiveAssure trip insurance no longer offers any coverage for financial default of the tour operator. Presumably, this means that if the liveaboard operator goes out of business in the coming 18 months before my trip (which I would think would be a risk for ANY business in the tourism sector right now), I would simply lose my deposit with no clear recourse.

The insurance also does not cover missing the trip due to Covid-related travel restrictions - not surprising.

So - in the current environment with these new sets of risks to consider, is DiveAssure with their liveaboard rider still my best bet, or are there alternatives I should consider at this point?

For dive specific, I think it might still be the best bet especially while you are on a trip for dive specific situations and coverage but for total protection before even embarking, maybe a CFARS (Cancel For Any Reason) from someone else? I would love to hear if anyone has found anything else better or more ideal...I'd be interested in exploring other options, too.

Do you have bankruptcy/financial default protection on your credit card for operators? It might be a good reason to pay with your credit card for a trip (which is what I do). That is why I also like to book through an agent instead of doing wire transfers and the like.
 
Do you have bankruptcy/financial default protection on your credit card for operators? It might be a good reason to pay with your credit card for a trip (which is what I do). That is why I also like to book through an agent instead of doing wire transfers and the like.

I paid my deposit with the Chase Sapphire Reserve which previously offered financial default coverage as part of the card's travel insurance benefit, but it no longer does so (as discussed above in this thread).

But, if it comes to it, I wonder if filing a dispute with Chase would work, should the operator go out of business and not refund deposits - rather than going through the card insurance?

I booked the trip through a 3rd party (Bluewater Dive Travel) so I should also probably ask them what protection they offer for this occurence.

Ultimately, I need to decide if I'm getting enough coverage from the Dive Assure insurance (which is not cheap - $460-670 depending on which coverage level I choose) to make it worthwhile on top of the insurance I already have through my DAN membership and credit cards. The liveaboard rider is nice, but not all that generous...
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

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