What is Trip Insurance? A Beginner's Guide To What It Covers

What is Trip Insurance? A Beginner's Guide To What It Covers

Although trip insurance isn't mandatory, it's a good idea to have in case of any unexpected travel related issues, especially if your travel costs are expensive. This will help to avoid the risk of losing a substantial financial investment.

What Is Trip Insurance?

Trip insurance protects you from certain financial losses that might occur during your travels. These expenses could include anything from small inconveniences like delayed baggage to trip cancellations. Putting trip insurance on your packing list is essential to safeguarding your travel experiences. 

Death or illness of a family member may cause you to cancel your trip. Bad weather could result in missing your flight or delaying your trip. Your passport or baggage may get lost or stolen. These are just some of the situations in which trip insurance helps travelers. Remember that airlines, hotels, and cruises may not reimburse you for such incidents, even if it's their fault. 

Why do travelers need trip insurance?

If the Covid pandemic has shown us anything, it’s that our travels don’t always go as planned. Flights can be delayed, baggage can be lost and overseas business meetings can be canceled at the last minute. Travelers with trip insurance can protect their investment when things don’t go quite as they expect.

Beyond financial protections from Covid-related incidents, there are even more reasons travelers should opt for trip insurance. For instance, travelers might be interested in renting vacation homes for their families. The advantage with these homes away from home is that they give travelers a way to stay socially distant from other travelers. They're a good option for people still wary of traveling during a pandemic. Trip insurance can protect these investments.

Cruise travel may be another option for travelers. Cruise lines are committed to following strict safety protocols but accidents can happen. To protect yourself and your investment, buying trip insurance like SafeCruise, might be your best coverage option

What does trip insurance cover?

A typical trip insurance policy covers non-refundable expenses related to incidents like trip cancellation, trip interruption, trip delay, missed flight connection, baggage loss, and rental car coverage, among other benefits. Like any insurance plan, trip insurance only provides trip cancellation and interruption coverage for covered reasons. However, some plans do offer a cancel for any reason option, allowing you to cancel your trip for reasons that may not be otherwise covered by your policy.

Death or illness of a family member may cause you to cancel your trip. Bad weather could result in missing your flight or delaying your trip. Your passport or baggage may get lost or stolen. These are just some of the situations in which trip insurance helps travelers. Remember that airlines, hotels, and cruises may not reimburse you for such incidents, even if they are at fault.

How does trip insurance work?

You’ll want to purchase trip insurance as close as possible to when you book your trip. When you compare trip insurance plans, think about what kind of specific protections you need. If there’s a good chance your travel plans might be disrupted, postponed or canceled, you’ll need trip insurance that offers Cancel For Any Reason (CFAR) coverage. If you’ll need a rental car, you’ll want a plan that covers that. Once you know your needs, you can look for a trip insurance that covers them.

Although trip insurance is not mandatory, it’s a good idea to get coverage in case of any unexpected travel-related issues. Travelers taking expensive trips are especially encouraged to purchase trip insurance to avoid the risk of losing a substantial trip investment.

Trip Insurance Coverage Comparison

Let's look at how trip insurance could protect your next trip. There are various trip insurance coverage options you can choose from based on your needs, as well as the option of additional add-on benefits such as Cancel for Any Reason or Interruption for Any Reason coverage.

Trip cancellation

If you have to unexpectedly cancel your trip due to unforeseen events, trip cancellation insurance can help. This insurance covers some of your non-refundable trip expenses such as airfare and hotel accommodations, reducing your risk of financial loss.

Multi-trip insurance

Inclement weather conditions, flight delays, and lost passports are just some of the things that could delay your trip. Trip delay insurance covers additional expenses such as food and accommodation and additional transport costs in the case your travel plans are delayed.

Cruise insurance

Cruise insurance is short-term travel coverage that can help provide support for trip issues like cruise cancellation or trip delays, as well as medical coverage should the policyholder become sick or injured while on board.

Why Do You Need Trip Insurance?

  • Last-minute cancellations
  • Going on a cruise
  • Family travel
  • Baggage loss or delay
  • Evacuation
  • Lost or stolen passport

If you need assistance finding a plan that will work for your trip, our Customer Success Team is ready to help.