Travel insurance

[aquabluegreg]

They rely upon the customer to provide correct information. They assume you will insure what would be your actual loss. If a customer insures a flight that they know is a fully refundable ticket and try to collect a canceled flight from the airline and the insurance company, that would be fraud. Probably not a good idea. Why would a customer insure a full refundable air ticket..? They probably would not. In your case it would be your actual loss, whatever you determine that to be. Remember if you claim a $1000 resort loss, you might need to provide an actual paid booking for $1000.

 

[Damselfish]

How much travel insurance do I need? When I fill out the aggregator's estimate tool, it asks for the total cost of the trip. Air, hotel, diving will cost about $4,500.00, but I only put a deposit on the diving and I will get a full credit on the airfare from Delta. I will only be out about $1,500 if I need to cancel the trip. Does the insurance only care what about the absolute loss, or will they say I didn't pay enough coverage for the entire trip?

I don't buy insurance often, but when I it's usually for a big complicated trip where this is tricky. Often I am putting only a deposit and paying the rest in installments much later, but for features like "cancel for any reason" you need to do insurance soon after the initial booking. Often I am not buying a plane ticket until much closer and really don't know how much it will be, or I might be hoping to get a free ticket with miles. Sometimes we book a liveaboard or a trip through a shop far in advance, with the intention of adding time someplace before or after, which we would not do until much closer to the trip and really have no idea early on..

You can read policies and FAQs - things I've read tend to say the entire cost of the trip must be insured or they won't cover anything, which is vague and of course works in their favor. (They would seem to say even free tickets or fully refundable hotels need to be included.) More productive is to email or call customer service - I've done this and been told you can update/add to a policy later. The websites may not allow for doing anything more complicated than an initial basic purchase or very simple changes, but it seems they may be perfectly happy to have someone call a human to take care of more complicated things, especially if it involves you sending them more money.

 

[aquabluegreg]

This is very accurate. I always suggest folks with specific questions call the customer service. Travelex has people, not robots. They have worked me through a number of questions. I don't try to weasel out of answering questions but find if I place myself in the middle of the conversation, something usually gets lost in the translation. I have had a couple of updates from them specific to COVID because of the changing entry requirements by some countries. Turks & Caicos was one of the first to require medical that would cover you if you got sick in T&C. T&C did not need the burden of taking care of tourists on top of already strained medical systems.

 

[Scubadiver446]

OK..., that's a little nebulous. I don't need insurance for the full trip, only the hotel and scuba deposit. Do I risk not being paid at all if I don't insure the other items that will be reimbursed by others (the airline, and the remainder of the diving costs)?

I wouldn't risk it, try a company like Sports fs for Scuba they are very efficient and helpful, as for the hotel I'm unsure

 

[aquabluegreg]

Another issue may be when did you make your deposit...? With two companies I work with you have to purchase insurance within two weeks of paying the deposit. You can't buy insurance for the trip a year later.

 

[Snoweman]

I wouldn't risk it, try a company like Sports fs for Scuba they are very efficient and helpful, as for the hotel I'm unsure

Another issue may be when did you make your deposit...? With two companies I work with you have to purchase insurance within two weeks of paying the deposit. You can't buy insurance for the trip a year later.

I lucked out that I didn't purchase any insurance, and the trip went according to plan. Thank you for the advice.

 

[bobfmdc]

Whatever travel insurance you consider, please do the following.
1. Take whatever information you get from an insurance salesperson over the phone with a huge grain of salt. Verify by doing #2 below.
2. Read and understand every sentence in the actual policy you are considering, looking for words or phrases that might enable to insurance company to disallow your claim.
3. Do not make any assumptions as to what is, or is not covered.
4. Remember these policies are written by lawyers whose job it is to protect the insurance company.
5. REREAD AND UNDERSTAND THE ENTIRE POLICY. This is something few people actually do, and is often a costly mistake.

These steps are time consuming and a pain in the butt, but may save you a lot of headaches and money should a claim need to be filed.

Speaking of reading the policies, has anyone had the trouble I have had getting the POLICIES for what we buy from DAN? I think their employees do not understand the difference between the info brochures they publish and the actual policy contract between the purchaser and the underwriter. Technically, DAN, as the seller of the policy, is the equivalent of the insurance sales agent.

I just asked for a copy of their current dive insurance policy and got two website links for their summary brochure. This is not the first time that has happened. Paraphrasing Altamira, you cannot understand what you are insured for unless you read the policy--a coverage summary is NOT a policy.

 

[Snoweman]

Speaking of reading the policies, has anyone had the trouble I have had getting the POLICIES for what we buy from DAN? I think their employees do not understand the difference between the info brochures they publish and the actual policy contract between the purchaser and the underwriter. Technically, DAN, as the seller of the policy, is the equivalent of the insurance sales agent.

I just asked for a copy of their current dive insurance policy and got two website links for their summary brochure. This is not the first time that has happened. Paraphrasing Altamira, you cannot understand what you are insured for unless you read the policy--a coverage summary is NOT a policy.

Have you had a problem being covered by DAN for an incident? I haven't. Been to the hospitals in Coz and Bonaire. Coz was covered without me paying first. I was reimbursed for my BON visit.

 

[tursiops]

Have you had a problem being covered by DAN for an incident?

Yes. I caught Covid in Egypt and was not allowed to go on the liveaboard. I spent the week I was supposed to be on the boat in a hotel in Hurghada and then went home (US). DAN Annual Travel did not cover it as trip interruption, explaining my trip was not interrupted because I was in a hotel rather than a dive boat. However, after discussion with DAN Customer Service my Enhanced Guardian DAN Dive Accident Insurance did cover it, as an unanticipated illness. It would not have been covered without the Enhanced, or at a lesser level than the Guardian (the highest).