Travel Insurance

JaniesMom · Newbie

Travel Insurance

Roy · Guru

The World Mastercard I booked my flight with automatically provided travel insurance. You might want to check yours.

Judy · Guru

We booked our summer flight directly with Aer Lingus. Our car rental and trip insurance through an agent that specializes in Irish travel. Car rental is Dan Dooley and trip insurance is with Travel Safe.

JaniesMom · Newbie

Roy and Judy,

Thank you both for your input and suggestions.

tony2phones · Guru

If you book your car and flight together be aware that there may be a que at the desk because many others who get off that plane might have the same deal. There are numerous complaints made about this more than obvious occurrence.

Michele Erdvig · Host

JaniesMom,

Welcome to my forum. Good question. There are many different types of travel insurance. Roy's suggestion to check with your credit card company first is a good one. Many provide free coverage for certain things.

Obviously if you had to cancel your trip you would need to cover the following:

Non-refundable tickets

Deposits for car, lodgings, etc.

Do you have health insurance coverage that will apply in Ireland? If not, you will need that. Some travel policies have "expatriation", which means if a death occurs they will transport the remains back to your home. Others have "medical evacuation", which will transport you home if sick or injured.

You might want to do a cost comparison: www.insuremytrip.com

I've not used Expedia insurance. My best advice is to read through all the fine print (I know - a pain!) but that is the only way you will know what is covered. That way you can accurately compare one plan with another.

When you book a "package" of a car and flight together you often do so with a travel agent, broker or consolidator. They will have different rules than if you book the car separately. Ask in advance if there are any additional costs for the car (probably will be lots). You can read the car rental thread (first sticky on the forum).

Michele

Melissa5 · Guru

JaniesMom: Everybody has given you great advice about travel insurance. I'm just going to add my 2 cents worth of advice. I like to book travel insurance on www.insuremytrip.com which is also one of Michele's suggestions. Using this link, you can compare different policies. I find that once you have spent the time to read all of the fine print...the next time you go in to buy a policy, it's easier to understand. Also, you can call or email them if you don't understand something...they are good about answering questions in my experience.

I've never had to make a claim on my travel insurance. But one thing I like to do is to buy a travel insurance policy that provides overall coverage, including medical...I prefer the ones which say they are "primary" coverage for medical. I do also have my own health insurance, but it only covers emergencies when out of the country. I don't like "secondary" medical insurance, because it is much more difficult to make claims. Just my preference.

If you buy your travel insurance within a short time (10 days?) of the day you make your first trip payment...you won't have pre-existing medical conditions excluded on many policies...which is one more way to ensure peace of mind. For many people, booking their airline tickets is the first trip payment.

Have a wonderful trip!

Michele Erdvig · Host

That should be repatriation insurance not expatriation.

Michele

JaniesMom · Newbie

Tony, Melissa and Michele,

Appreciate the info - all good advice for me to consider.

Michele Erdvig · Host

JaniesMom,

Always happy to help.

Michele