Whether you are traveling for business or pleasure, purchasing travel insurance can help save you money. It is the same principle that applies when you buy something of value like a car or a classic piece of jewelery. Should anything happen, you do not want to lose your investment in one day. Most likely, you would want that car or ring replaced at full purchase value. If you have purchased air tickets, you would want to protect that investment as well. Who wants to lose money especially in these dire economic times?
Ways that Travel Insurance Can Help You Save Money
There are at least three situations where purchasing travel insurance can help you save money:
• Cancellation of flights – If you or the airline decides to cancel the flights you are booked in, your airfare will be partially covered by travel insurance. Say if you spent $4,500.00 worth of air tickets for you and your family, and suddenly the airline closes down for business or cancels a flight for any reason, you do not lose all of the $4,500.00 because travel insurance will reimburse that amount. Of course the airline will probably refund you the money if it is their fault, but having travel insurance will compensate you for the inconvenience and trouble. Also, if you cancel the flight yourself, travel insurance will get you back your money.
• Loss of luggage – When you purchase travel insurance, make sure it covers lost luggage as well. Imagine landing in some foreign country with none of your luggage! While most airlines are efficient about recovering lost luggage and delivering them to your door, don’t rely on that efficiency. There have been instances where luggage was never recovered.
• Medical problems – You may be in perfect health when you leave for vacation but you increase the likelihood of getting exposed to viruses or bacteria either in the plane or in your country of destination. There’s also the chance that you could accidentally drink the local drinking water or eat contaminated food. Medical visits in some foreign countries can cost an arm and a leg so you wouldn’t want to spend all your vacation money on doctor’s visits! If you have travel insurance that covers expenses for brief hospitalizations, medicine and emergency situations, think about how much all these could add up if you didn’t have travel insurance.
Tips for Purchasing Travel Insurance
• Ask your insurance provider – If you have an insurance company that insures your car, house and other property, they may also offer travel insurance or they may work with a partner or affiliate who does. Because you are an established customer, they may offer you travel insurance at lower rates. It doesn’t hurt to ask. In fact, in some instances, you may be better off going with your existing insurer than purchase separate insurance from the travel agent who books your flight.
• Go for the whole nine yards – What this means is if you are traveling with the family, you might be better off buying family travel insurance instead of separate insurance policies. It also means that because traveling with children entails more risk than traveling alone, you may want to consider travel insurance that offers comprehensive coverage; that is, plane fares, luggage, and health and medical visits.
• Multi-trip travel insurance – If you make more than one trip every year, you might be better off purchasing an annual multi-trip travel insurance policy. This would save you the hassle of purchasing travel insurance several times during the year. Some travel insurance companies will usually sell you a 12-month package that is renewable yearly and this is a huge convenience if you travel a lot during any given 12-month period. The single biggest advantage of buying an annual policy is that you don’t need to worry about arranging for emergency medical coverage.
• Compare packages and prices – As for most major ticket items, it pays to shop around for insurance. If you know you will be travelling six months from now, don’t wait until the month before your travel date to do some bargain hunting. Start now so that you are not rushed about reading the fine print and you can make a more informed decision about the kind of travel insurance that is ideal for your situation.
Remember to do the cost analysis if you are ever tempted to skip travel insurance. Even if your ticket is discounted, say you paid $600.00 to go to the Caribbean. Travel insurance will cost about $85.00 to $100.00. If you are forced to cancel your trip, you lose $600.00 (restricted and discounted tickets are usually non-refundable or non-transferrable) versus the $100.00 you paid if you had purchased travel insurance. If you want to save money, put travel insurance on the top of your list.
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If you’re like most people you like to get away from time to time. If vacations aren’t usually in your budget you may have been smart and applied for a travel rewards credit card that will help you save up for airfare, hotels and the other necessities while on vacation.
While you may know the great travel items you can get from your travel rewards credit cards, what do you know about the little extras they offer? There are 4 great extras that many travel rewards credit cards offer, which many customers don’t realize.
Lost or Stolen Baggage
Unfortunately your luggage may not always stay with you on a trip. Airports lose thousands and thousands of bags a week. Many of those are found, sometimes days later. Others seem to disappear forever. What if it’s your bag that has gone missing? What would you do if you had just arrived at your travel destination? While for many people the anger and stress that goes with this situation may mark the end of their enjoyment of the trip, if you have the right travel rewards credit card, you may have a friend on your side. Many cards offer replacement value for lost bags as well as a voucher to help you get the essentials you need to continue your trip.
Trip Cancellation or Interruption
Life isn’t perfect. Often it’s not even close. In this respect it means something may come up at the last minute to make you have to cancel your trip. Most travel comes with strict cancellation policies that will cause you to lose a portion if not all of your money if you have to cancel. But, many travel rewards credit cards will come to your aid in this case offering travel cancellation and interruption insurance that will help you recoup the money you have paid in for the trip.
Medical Expense & Transportation Coverage
If you are the adventuring type, something could go wrong on your trip. If you were to get hurt in a foreign country the cost to care for you and move you to a hospital that can handle your injuries can be steep. This is a cost you usually have to pay, as your health insurance may not choose to cover certain activities or travel locations. Many travel rewards credit cards step in here offering medical expense and transportation coverage options to take care of these costs.
24/7 Travel Assistance Services
After you arrive at your destination you may be in unfamiliar territory. While a map and a little patience is usually enough to handle it, what if something goes wrong or the car breaks down? Many travel rewards credit cards offer 24/7 travel assistance services that will come to your aid.
Deciding on when to book is a bit of a gamble. While many tour operators will offer cheaper prices and early booking discounts, you may find that last minute deals are also available which will prove better financially.
There are many factors that you should take into account when deciding on when to book for maximum financial gain:
Are you flexible in terms of dates that you are prepared to travel?
Are you flexible in terms of destinations that you are prepared to travel to?
Will you be buying a package deal or will you be building your own package?
Are you considering a popular destination where many tour operators or flight companies travel?
Flexibility Is A Plus
Firstly, if you are flexible in terms of location and dates then you will almost certainly benefit from waiting until the last minute to book your holiday. Last minute deals are, of course, something that you cannot rely upon and if you are set on going to a certain destination at a certain date then last minute is far too risky. If you are planning on creating your own package then youneed to be aware that you are taking multiple gambles. For example, you need to consider your airfare, hotels and transport. Whilst you may get an excellent last minute flight, you may not be so lucky when it comes to the hotel or car hire. In fact, you may find that paying a premium for other parts of your holiday will end up out-weighing any last minute savings you have made.
If you are looking to travel to Europe, this is the time to do it! Flights are a lot cheaper during the spring months when temperatures are still relatively low.
Mexican beaches and the Caribbean islands start to see their prices drop from mid April as the weather becomes hotter. However, during the spring months, the water and air temperatures are still pleasant and the resorts less crowded
Seasonal Travel Plans
During later spring, for example May, the traditionally hot and dry countries are not in their peak seasons but have not yet become intolerably hot. So if you want to visit Morocco, Jordan or Egypt, plan a spring vacation.
Summer
Finding a bargain in summer is tricky. Americans, Japanese and Europeans are all on the move and this is also the time of year that most weddings take place, so honeymoon destinations are in a great deal of demand.
During the early part of summer, through June and July, Caribbean destinations are still good to get a deal, provided you try to book before the Europeans start to flood in during their school holidays at the end of July.
Safari holidays are a good option between June and September. High season ends in May, but the weather is still relatively dry.
Flights and hotels are still quite reasonable in Southeast Asia during the summer months, but temperatures can be quite hot, so if you can’t stand the heat, avoid this destination during the summer months.
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