The Ultimate Guide to Travel Insurance
Becky Hart | Feb 27, 2024
Travel can be full of surprises. Some of those surprises, like that amazing hole-in-the-wall restaurant you stumbled across, make the best stories. Others you’d rather avoid, or at least minimize their damage. For those times when the unexpected is unwanted, travel insurance can help.
What Is Travel Insurance?
When you travel, you have different options to consider depending on your needs. If you are looking for a plan that is focused on medical benefits, you can choose travel medical insurance. If you are looking to protect the money you spent for your trip (airfare, hotel, etc.), you want to consider trip insurance.
What Does Travel Insurance Cover?
Trip insurance is short-term and intended only for the duration of your trip. It reimburses you for prepaid, nonrefundable trip expenses if you must cancel, interrupt, or delay your trip due to a covered reason such as inclement weather and other situations that may take place during your trip. Reimbursement can include travel expenses such as hotel accommodations, airfare, and more.
The main types of travel insurance coverage include some or all of the following:
- Emergency Medical Evacuation and Repatriation
- Trip Cancellation and Interruption
- Lost, Stolen, Damaged, or Delayed Baggage
- Accident & Sickness Medical Expense Benefits
The type and amount of coverage depends on the individual plan and travel insurance company you choose. The Seven Corners Trip Protection plans can provide protection against some causes of trip cancellation, interruption, and delay; accident and sickness medical protection; protection for your belongings; and Seven Corners’ 24/7 non-insurance emergency travel assistance services.
It is important to know the limitations to your coverage so you aren’t hit with any surprises. Review what you’re buying and if you have questions, call and ask.
Cancel for Any Reason Coverage
Travel insurance covers a variety of cancellation triggers such as death, sickness, and injury of you, your family member, and your traveling companion. There are typically many more triggers as well. They include things like inclement weather and strikes.
These trip insurance triggers represent common reasons that could prevent you from traveling, but they don’t cover every possible reason you might need to cancel your trip. Cancel for Any Reason, or CFAR, is an optional benefit offered on certain (not all) trip protection plans that allow you to cancel your trip for any reason not otherwise covered.
You will pay an increased amount for CFAR because it increases the scope of coverage for trip cancellation. Additional terms apply. Based on our research, most Cancel for Any Reason benefits can bump the cost of your plan up by 40 or 50 percent.
Instead of being limited to canceling your trip for a specified number and a list of triggers, you can now cancel for any reason you want.
Why You Should Consider Buying Cancel for Any Reason Coverage
Over the years, Seven Corners has seen a variety of situations that lead people to choose to Cancel for Any Reason. Common reasons include fear of travel, personal or family issues, financial hardship, or simply changing your mind and no longer wanting to travel.
Purchasing CFAR coverage offers you an additional layer of protection for unexpected events that could affect your ability or desire to travel.
For example, what if you were simply afraid to travel due to world events or the state of the economy? Fear of travel is not a covered reason provided by trip protection, but it is covered by CFAR. In this situation, Cancel for Any Reason could be a good option for you.
Who Needs Travel Insurance?
Travel insurance is for anyone who will be traveling abroad or traveling within the United States. Yes, even U.S. residents traveling within their own country, like when setting out on a road trip, can benefit from trip protection like Seven Corners Trip Protection USA. The purpose of travel insurance is to protect you from the unexpected, which can happen anywhere.
Whether it’s an unforeseen travel delay, missed connection, lost baggage, or a medical emergency, travel insurance is there to keep you (and your wallet) protected. How much coverage you need may vary and impact the type of plan you get, but the bottom line is that you do need some kind of coverage when traveling.
How Much Does Trip Insurance Cost?
The cost of travel insurance depends on a number of factors, including:
- Your age
- The cost of your trip
- How much coverage you’ll need
- The length of your stay
The more coverage you need, the more you can expect to pay. Generally speaking, coverage* will run you approximately four to 10 percent of your total trip cost.
Of course, you’ll also want to consider whether you’ll be purchasing add-ons such as Cancel for Any Reason or rental car collision coverage.
The best way to determine the cost of travel insurance is to speak with a licensed agent and get a quote.
How Can I Buy Travel Insurance?
You can easily buy travel insurance* by going online to receive a personalized quote or by calling one of our licensed insurance agents.
Once you’ve received a quote, you’ll want to carefully review the plan to understand what is and isn’t covered. Buying travel insurance can get confusing. If you have questions at any point in the process, ask your agent.
When Should I Buy Travel Insurance?
When purchasing trip insurance*, it’s best to buy coverage as soon as possible because your plan may cover events occurring prior to your departure.
Consider this scenario. You book a trip for a summer backcountry hike but need to cancel in the spring due to a knee injury. To cover the cancellation, you would need the plan well in advance of your trip.
The idea of purchasing coverage early isn’t just a good practice, however. There may be some deadlines associated with your plan. For CFAR coverage (and for a pre-existing medical condition exclusion waiver, if that applies), you typically have to buy your travel insurance within a specific time period. This varies by plan. Our Trip Protection plans require you to buy your plan within 20 days of the date your initial trip deposit is received. Additional terms apply.
For example, if you paid your first trip deposit on February 1, you need to purchase a plan by February 21 to be reimbursed for a cancellation under CFAR.
Is Travel Insurance Worth It?
100%, yes.
A plan is worth purchasing to protect against costly cancellations, paying for unexpected hotel stays, medical emergencies and more. In an era when overburdened airports and natural disasters affect travelers daily, it’s important to protect yourself and the financial investment you’ve made in your trip.
* Our plans include travel insurance and non-insurance travel assistance services.
Important information from the United States Fire Insurance Company
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