We’ve all been here. You go to purchase a flight, hotel, or vacation package, and the “would you like to protect your trip or run the risk of losing it all” bubble pops up. You sit there for 10 seconds and decide the $50 or so dollars is NOT worth protecting your investment.
Are we insane? When you think about the number of covered things that could go wrong on a trip or before one starts, the gamble is taken. And more times than not, you hear people complain about having to pay a fortune for something that would have been covered by travel insurance. So why are people choosing not to protect their trips?
5 REASONS WHY TRAVEL INSURANCE IS NECESSARY
I get it – spending more money on top of the trip you just booked doesn’t seem enticing. But I promise you when you get sick before your trip leaves and you can’t go or your luggage is lost, having that trip insurance that refunds you, is.
1. The unforeseen trip cancellation
You just paid hundreds or thousands of dollars for a trip and did not pay for the travel insurance. Suddenly you find you are hospitalized with something and cannot go on your trip.
What a shame, you just lost all that money. You could have protected the covered parts of your trip by paying that small amount for the trip insurance and re-booked at a later date.
You have to look at your trips, both big and small, as an investment. You wouldn’t drive a car or own a home without insurance. You need to protect yourself and your investment.
2. Medical emergency during your trip
Of course, no one wants to be a statistic, but someone has to be. So why not you?
No one is free from injury, no matter how careful you are. Sometimes things happen that you could never prevent, like your appendix bursts while you are parasailing in the Bahamas, 3,500 miles away from home, and need immediate surgery.
An appendix bursting is just one of the hundreds of medical emergencies that could happen on your trip. You can’t have a situation like this happen and not see a doctor where you are. You are going to be in an insane amount of pain.
If you are in a foreign country, more than likely your personal health insurance is not extended there. Coupled with not purchasing travel insurance, this medical emergency on your travels is going to come out of your pocket.
Let me be frank, it is going to cost THOUSANDS of dollars to have surgery abroad plus you will need a new flight home. Imagine if you had just covered your trip from the beginning.
3. The lost luggage scenario
It truly stinks to show up to your vacation and find out the airline has not located your luggage. So what will you wear? When will they find it? Great question – the answer no one knows.
If you have travel insurance, your policy will have a reimbursement amount for delayed or lost luggage. If you need something immediately or clothing, you will have a set amount that your insurance will return if you save your receipts for your purchase.
Say you just went to a tropical beach destination and no longer have a swimsuit or clothes to wear besides the ones you just came in with, now what? You could of course spend the money yourself to pay for items until your luggage is hopefully returned. But your trip insurance would have covered this cost.
4. The unexpected travel delay
This is probably one of the most common things to happen when it comes to flights, getting hit with a delay.
Sure, a couple of hour delay can be dealt with, but what happens when you have a 6+ hour delay? Maybe it is overnight, maybe you have kids, etc. Sure, you could pay for a hotel and all the costs associated with the delay that was unexpected.
OR your travel insurance could have covered it for you. Think about that. I have been stuck in an airport where the hotel costs are over $250 for the night because it is a last-minute booking. Never again.
5. Because no one ever buys the extra insurance when they rent a car
Why would you? You’ll be extra careful and make sure nothing happens to it. Until it gets wrecked on the highway or stolen. Then who is going to pay the $15-45K to replace it? Well, you are.
Traffic is unpredictable even when you are at your best. You cannot control those around you and therefore need to be protected.
Travel insurance may seem like just an ass-on like an excursion or pick-up at the airport, but it really isn’t. If you are willing to pay the money to travel, you should also be willing to pay to protect that investment.
There is a laundry list of things that could go wrong on your trip, and a lot of it could be covered by just having trip insurance.
So do yourself a favor, book the travel insurance and save yourself the headache.