Most travel insurance policies have coverage for trip cancellation. The catch, however, is the reason for cancellation.
In order for the benefits to be paid, the reason for cancellation must be outlined in the policy; deaths in the family, personal injury before departing, loss of home to fire, loss of employment, etc.
In other words, if you just decide a week before your vacation that you don’t want to go anymore, you will not me covered. A good example would be the thwarted terror plot earlier this month. There were certainly travelers who did not want to fly after the incident, but their standard travel insurance policy would not cover it.
There are two companies, however, that do offer “cancel for any reason” options on the trip protection policies. This allows the insured traveler to literally cancel for any reason, up to 2 days before the trip.
TravelSafe Insurance and M.H. Ross Insurance broker (which operates tripinsurance.com) offer “cancel for any reason” options for some of their policies, offered at InsureMyTrip.com. The “cancel for any reason” aspect in an option you can elect to add to their existing products.
“Cancel for any reason” covers 75% of the non-refundable trip cost, and requires that:
* The plan be purchased within 15 days of trip deposit;
* “Cancel For Any Reason” option must be selected by the purchaser;
* All pre-paid, non-refundable trip costs are insured;
* Your trip is cancelled two (2) or more days before the departure date.
In other words, you need to buy it close to when you start planning the trip, be sure to check the “cancel for any reason” box, insure for the full trip cost, and make your decision 2 or more days ahead of time.
“Cancel for any reason” can add a significant amount to your policy premium. Also keep in mind that the paid benefits are not full reimbersment, but 75% of the total trip cost. If it still makes sense to you, buy it and rest easy knowing you can back out from the trip and not suffer a total trip cost loss.
Related Links
“Cancel for any reason” page at InsureMyTrip.com
Article from SmarterTravel.com
