Do I Really Need Travel Insurance?

In many cases, vacations can involve thousands of dollars and months of advanced planning, organizing and saving. So, if you’re wondering if you should get travel insurance, the answer is often yes. Like any other investment of this magnitude, it’s important to make sure you have adequate insurance to protect your nonrefundable trip costs should the trip be cancelled due to severe weather, natural disaster, injury, illness (including COVID-19) or some other unforeseen event that upsets your vacation plans. Certain nontraveling family member illnesses can also trigger coverage benefits

Meemic has partnered with AAA and Allianz Global Assistance to offer you expertise, stability and peace of mind to make your travel plans.

Travel insurance can be purchased as a packaged plan with a variety of benefits, including Trip Cancellation and Interruption, Travel Delay, Baggage and Baggage delay, Emergency Medical, Emergency Medical Transportation, 24/7 Travel Assistance and much more. Let Meemic and AAA help find an Allianz Travel insurance plan that fits your needs.

Travel insurance typically protects you from financial losses should certain circumstances prevent you from taking the trip. Each plan includes a list of named occurrences that are covered for trip cancellation. Look to the specific plan to determine covered reasons, but most will include circumstances like jury duty, military duty, a covered tour operator or cruise line going out of business, personal or family illnesses, and the death of a family member.

The plan may also reimburse you, under the Trip Interruption benefit, for any unused, nonrefundable portion of your vacation should you become seriously ill or injured once on the trip.

Travel insurance costs vary based on the benefit levels, the nonrefundable trip cost and the age of the traveler. Depending on which plan you choose, cost can be as little as 4-5% of trip cost up to 10-12% of trip cost. An investment in travel insurance not only protects nonrefundable trip costs but also protects the traveler during the trip.

Keep in mind that trip cancellation benefits aren’t the same as the cancellation wavier your tour operator or cruise line may offer you. While the waiver is relatively inexpensive, at around $50 to $150, it must be purchased when you book your vacation. These cancel-for-any-reason waivers usually result in a future travel credit if you cancel, while more traditional travel protection pays cash back when you cancel for a covered reason. The waivers are usually accompanied by multiple restrictions, such as not covering a cancellation occurring near the date of departure or once the trip has begun. It’s important to remember that a cancellation waiver offered by a cruise line or tour operator isn’t insurance and isn’t regulated by any agency, which means it might not be worth the paper it’s printed on if the business goes bankrupt or closes.

Ask your health insurance carrier what type and degree of coverage you’ll have on a trip to a foreign country. If your health insurance policy doesn’t cover you at all or leaves you under-insured while visiting a foreign country, then you may want to consider a travel insurance plan that includes emergency medical and emergency medical transportation. These benefits, along with the 24/7 travel assistance, can ensure that you are well protected if you experience a crisis during your trip. The plan can provide benefits for medical transportation to a hospital capable of treating your illness or injury, hospital stays, and, should you be seriously ill or injured, transportation home.

With more frequent severe weather conditions, travel delays are becoming increasingly common and can create extra, unplanned travel expenses like meals and accommodations. With travel delay benefits, you can be reimbursed for additional expenses like these during a covered delay. If you choose, you can opt to receive a flat, $100 payment per insured traveler for your covered delay. And if your plan includes SmartBenefitsTM*, your payment can even be sent to you automatically for tracked delays when you provide your flight details ahead of your trip.

Many travel insurance plans provide benefits should your personal belongings be damaged, lost or stolen during a covered trip. This protection is limited to the max benefit, typically ranging between $500 and $2,000 per person, depending on the plan.

Baggage delay benefits can also reimburse you for the purchase of essential replacement items after a covered baggage delay.

You'll also want to determine if your homeowners or renters insurance covers off-premise thefts of high value items. Items not covered by your travel insurance policy could possibly be protected under your homeowners or renters policy.

If you have a travel emergency or mishap, help is just a phone call away with round-the-clock assistance services wherever you’re traveling. These services include, but aren’t limited to, medical triage with referrals to local, prescreened medical providers and ongoing medical monitoring, payment guarantees, emergency medical transport arrangements, help making alternate transportation arrangements after missed flights, making accommodation arrangements for a quarantine and more.

A typical auto insurance policy only covers your vehicle within U.S. states and territories and Canada. You can check with your auto insurance carrier to determine how your auto insurance will apply to your vacation destination and mode of transportation – rental or personal vehicle. Should your trip include renting a vehicle outside the areas specified in your personal auto insurance policy, then you’ll need to purchase coverage applicable to your destination. With Rental Car Damage Protector from Allianz Global Assistance, you can get up to $40,000 of primary coverage benefits for loss or collision damage, which can help avoid a personal auto insurance rate increase, offer protection with a $0 deductible and protect you from additional auto rental charges like “loss of use” for the time the rental vehicle is out of commission while damages are being repaired.

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