The devil is in the details when it comes to travel insurance | Travel ...
I am still going back and forth about travel insurance. ?Our health insurance already covers medical care abroad. ?Trip cancellation and trip interruption insurance is appealing, but the claims process looks arduous and filled with little loop-holes and exceptions for the insurance companies to justify denial of a claim. ?If the volcano blows in Iceland and the airspace is closed, canceling our flight, is that considered an "act of God" that would not be covered? ?
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In researching on the internet I've come across so many stories of seemingly unjust denials of claims. ?Looking at the contracts, which are pages and pages of small print legalese, it makes me wonder if battling the insurance company would make whatever crisis we may find ourselves in even more difficult.
The devil is in the details when it comes to travel insurance | Travel | The Seattle Times.
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After reading this article about a claim being denied because the cost of the airline ticket was off by $2.50, I wonder how on earth I can calculate our costs to even insure us. ?The insurance company wants the costs broken down between the four of us, but how do I do that accurately when the kid's tickets cost a percentage less for some things, or were part of a "family package" for other things? ?For example for our prepaid train tickets in Norway the children were free since we purchased a family rate ahead of time, but if we had to purchase replacement tickets that offer would not be available and we'd have to pay more. ?What if I'm off by 2 cents? ?Will the insurance company deny even the smallest claim? ?Probably.
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For our rail passes we bought replacement insurance for them. ?We already have health insurance. ?Because we already have these things insured, will the travel insurance deny us coverage for being doubly insured? ?I've heard that can happen.
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Here's an excerpt from a posting on the Rick Steves travel board about an insurance hassle, and how even having four types of insurance you can find your claim denied:
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"So here's the wonderful news about travel insurance: fine print. We were insured four ways: 1. Trip TravelGuard 2. Car Rental TravelGuard 3. VISA purchase/rental insurance 4. Homeowner's Insurance. My wife's purse had the usual: credit card, driver's license, health insurance card, passport, a camera with 300-400 photo memories of our trip, and about $350 in cash. All evaporated. The purse content amounted to about $700 out of pocket. Hassling all four insurance contracts for weeks after we returned, we find that none of the policies cover the loss. One said "you didn't have tire/window insurance so you're not covered" and "we don't cover cash." Another said this policy is for your plane flight and luggage only. A third had a deductible/pro-rate policy that made it ridiculous to bother filing the paperwork. And the fourth also didn't cover cash and had an $1100 deductible.
Bottom line: TravelGuard insurance premiums added another $150 to our $700 losses and I'll never bother to buy it again."
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Adding $600.00 of travel insurance to the escalating cost of our upcoming trip is sobering, especially in light of the chances of the insurance actually helping us. ?I'm OK buying insurance and never having to use it. ?I'm not OK buying insurance and then having them forsake us in our hour of need. ? We'll probably err on the side of caution and get travel insurance, but if disaster strikes and we need to file a claim, I am going to be burning mad if they give me a hard time.
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