Travel insurance companies know how to play into your vacation anxiety to sell you
extra coverage that most travelers never use. Between flashy marketing and worst-
case scenarios, it’s easy to overspend on unnecessary protections while failing to get
the truly essential coverage.
Here is a clear look at which insurance features actually matter and which you can
likely skip.
Cancel for Any Reason Coverage
This tends to be an expensive extra, adding 40-50% to your premium, and it only
reimburses 75% of the trip cost. Most frequent causes of cancellation are already
covered under a regular trip cancellation policy, including illness, injury, and bad
weather.
Rental Car Collision Coverage
Most credit cards offer rental car protection as a regular benefit. Check your card’s
benefits before you pay extra for superfluous coverage, which can cost as much as
the rental itself.
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Lost Baggage Protection
Airlines have to reimburse you for lost bags up to certain limits, and many credit
cards offer additional coverage. Additional baggage insurance rarely pays off unless
you’re traveling with extremely valuable items that you should insure separately
anyway.
Trip Delay Coverage
Most basic policies already include adequate delay protection, so you won’t need to
pay extra for premium upgrades. Most travelers never experience delays long
enough to trigger those extra coverage levels that premium policies afford.
Medical Evacuation Insurance
While this is important for remote destinations, this coverage is extraneous and
terribly expensive for travel to developed countries that have good medical facilities. In general, standard travel medical policies offer adequate evacuation benefits for
most destinations.
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Accident Insurance
Since conventional travel medical insurance already covers accidents, supplemental
accident policies are unnecessary and redundant. These policies generally have
tight definitions of what constitutes an ‘accident’ to which a claim is payable.
Work Conflict Coverage
Special work-related cancellation insurance costs extra but rarely pays out due to
very strict conditions. Most work conflicts either fall under standard cancellation
coverage or outside of even premium policy terms.
Sports Equipment Coverage
Basic baggage insurance usually covers sports equipment well enough. For
professional gear or extremely expensive equipment that should be separately
insured anyway, extra coverage may make sense.
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Weather Coverage
Standard trip cancellation already covers severe weather that prevents you from
traveling. Extra weather protection generally only adds coverage for perfect beach
days or ski conditions – luxuries not worth the additional premium cost in most cases.
Upgraded Medical Coverage
While medical insurance is important, premium upgrades are often overkill in terms
of coverage levels. Standard medical coverage limits are sufficient for most
destinations, especially in countries with reasonably affordable healthcare costs.
Missed Connection Protection
When flights are booked on one ticket, airlines can usually help out in case of a
missed connection, so additional insurance isn’t necessary. Extra coverage mostly
helps out when flights are booked separately – a risky practice best avoided anyway.
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Baggage Delay Coverage
Basic policies usually provide enough delay coverage to suffice most travelers’
needs. Premium coverage generally only adds in reimbursement for luxury items or
extends time limits beyond what is practically needed.
Identity Theft Protection
This is because identity protection services are normally issued through credit cards
and bank accounts. Paying more money for travel-specific coverage is, in one sense,
doubling up on protections that are already there and offers very little in terms of
added benefits.
Pet Care Coverage
Extensions for pet care, in the event of delays in travel, may sound good, but the
additional cost will seldom be warranted. This is because standard trip delay benefits
normally have adequate compensation to allow for unexpected kennel extensions.
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Additional Hotel Expense Coverage
Basic trip interruption benefits tend to cover necessary hotel stays appropriately.
Premium upgrades, in most cases, only increase luxury levels without adding
essential protections.
Focus on the Essentials
Smart travelers concentrate their energies on essential coverage, including medical
insurance, basic trip cancellation, and appropriate evacuation protection based on
their destination.
Features hawked as ‘must-haves’ often do little more than pad the profits of
insurance companies without adding value.
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