Why I Always Buy Travel Insurance

A travel agent recently commented on an old post on whether we really need travel insurance. She said:

I highly resent the implication that we are “scamming” the public to steamroll our clients into purchasing insurance.

Our post on the issue of travel insurance was pretty balanced, examining reasons why people might not need that insurance but concluding that it was wise to be insured, so I didn’t think the commenter was taking exception to what we had said on the insurance issue. More likely, she was blowing off steam because of things that others had said in other places. But I thought I’d expand on my response to her.

When I travel, I always buy travel insurance. No exceptions. Ever.

That’s because of things that have happened either to me or to members of my family, where not having that insurance could have been very costly. Just to give a few examples:

  • There was the time when my mother made a trip from Canada to New Jersey and her luggage was lost – forever. Having travel insurance means that if the stuff in your case is worth more than the airlines’ standard cover you can get it replaced.
  • There was the time a friend’s plane was delayed so she missed her connection. It had something to do with the weather, so the insurance paid for her hotel and meal rather than the airline.
  • There was the time my daughter was ill while we were visiting the US (I’m from the UK). Having travel insurance with medical cover meant that we could go into a hospital to get her treated without worrying about taking out a second mortgage.

Having said all that, there’s still some wiggle room when it comes to travel insurance. Sometimes it’s worth shopping around to customize a policy so you don’t duplicate the cover you already have. Not buying travel insurance is not the same as refusing to take out an extended warranty on your new TV. In the case of the TV, it will probably cost you less to repair it than to have the warranty. But you can’t always say the same about replacing your possessions or safeguarding your health, can you?

(Photo by: http://www.flickr.com/photos/muha/)

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This entry was posted on Thursday, December 10th, 2009 at 5:15 am and is filed under Travel Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

2

Comments

  1. Travel Moments Says:
    December 14th, 2009 at 7:22 am

    I always buy travel insurance as well. It’s better to be safe than sorry. One should always choose carefully the insurance company (I see almost every year at TV during summer vacation many people complaining about thins uncovered by travel insurance). One should always check what that insurance covers.

  2. Sharon Hurley Hall Says:
    December 15th, 2009 at 7:03 am

    Exactly! The fine print is very important in this case.