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Travel Insurance
I generally either use AAA travel insurance or Tauck's travel insurance. What are the other options that people have been very well satisfied when they had to make a claim?
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I generally either use AAA travel insurance or Tauck's travel insurance. What are the other options that people have been very well satisfied when they had to make a claim?
Comments
I've been very satisfied not buying insurance, or said another way, I'm self-insured. never had a claim problem with a claim.
I used USAA on our first Tauck tour but since have always used Taucks. Never had to make a claim thankfully. Since I'd heard several people say they got better rates and coverage from USAA I recently got an estimate. By the time we'd entered the tour costs, airfare, and our ages the USAA price was double Tauck's. For younger travelers it might be a good deal. I'll stay with Tauck's Guest Protection. Easier to add and flat rate. Also we have twice done back to back tours with them only having to pay the insurance once for both.
We are in our mid 50s. Tauck River Cruise Insurance for us is $799 each.
We use USAA/Travel Insured for $280 each.
We had to cancel our Xmas Market Cruise this past Dec because my mom was sick - we were reimbursed for everything, the river cruise, train tickets, hotel in Amsterdam over $11K. We were VERY pleased and will continue to use them as it's MUCH cheaper for us.
I have friends who use Allianz thru AAA and were pleased when they had to file a claim.
Very wise that you asked for satisfaction when filing a claim. If you did not file a claim the only thing that count are costs. If you go to insuremytrip.com you can enter the details of your trip, your demographics, and come up a with a series of plans from different insurers and the prices. Check the coverage carefully, they will differ. There are reviews as well. Once again, the ones with claim experience count, all others, not so much. We need medical coverage as Medicare does not provide coverage overseas. Our supplement has some coverage but it is not comprehensive. We have another plan that just covers evacuation (to home) which can be quite costly.
We use the Tauck insurance. We have only filed one claim and it was due to a positive Covid test and not being able to return to the US when we planned. Processing was very slow but when paid, the reimbursement was what we expected. When traveling internationally, we add a medical policy (we are also on Medicare). We use GeoBlue but have never had to file a claim with them.
We always use Tauck’s guest protection. We’ve filed 2 claims over the past 14 years. One claim processed within 6 weeks (pre-Covid); the other took nearly 3 months due to the large number of claims being filed due to Covid. We’ve been very satisfied with their plan.
I use Allianz All Trips Premier Annual Plan with the $15K option. Covers all travel and car rental, and other benefits including medical while travelling worldwide for me and the wife for a year. I had only one claim with them for a cracked windshield on a rental car and it got approved without issue and reimbursed promptly. I renew it every year.
Does that mean it only covers you for a $15000 option? That is not enough for most Tauck tours these days for two people
We filed a claim for Covid in 2022 with Tauck/Aon and TravelGuard, having been partially double-covered due to consecutive Tauck and Non-Tauck tours. This claim was for Covid and both companies paid within 4-6 weeks, with the TravelGuard checks arriving first.
We filed another claim in 2023 when we had to depart a tour early because of an impending death in the family. We had 2 Tauck tours booked back-to-back. We did get reimbursed from Tauck/Aon, but Aon did not reimburse the small amount for the EasyJet flight linking the two tours, even after we filed an appeal and got Tauck to intervene for us. We were never sure why they refused to pay it, but in the end Tauck Customer Service took care of it and reimbursed us, separately from Aon. We were impressed.
@British: The $15K covers trip cancellation and trip interruption for all family members on a trip. Yes, if you have two-person Cat 7 river cruise booking it may not be enough. However, if you do multiple trips within the year you don't have to buy coverage for each trip. Also, the policy includes epidemic coverage, $50K in emergency medical during a trip, $500K in emergency medical transportation, $2K in lost/damaged luggage, $2K in luggage delay, $1.5K for delayed travel expenses, $45K in rental car damage/theft, $50K travel accident (personal injury) and Concierge service. Covers all travel within the policy year, not just one. All this for about $1,500/year.
Might there be a coverage gap on some Tauck trips depending on the tour and level of service? Yes? But that's a potential gap I can afford IF it occurs versus the scope of coverage and probability of needed the policy at all. YMMV.
That sounds good Inlanikai. Except, apples to apples, I’m assuming that does not include cancel for any reason which the Tauck insurance does. Without cancel for any reason, most insurances get reduced by about half.
When we travel with other companies or independently which we are doing more often these days and of course now we are on Medicare which doesn’t cover health, we have annual insurance for medical evacuation for any time we are more than 100 miles from home which includes cover for medical escort and getting your companion home, returning a rental car if you had one etc. That is really cheap. The company now has regular travel insurance which we have just started using for non Tauck tours. We can get the cancel for any reason coverage in addition, but it doubles the price as it does with pretty much any other company. For what Tauck insurance rates covers, it is very reasonable and possibly the gold standard. Most people seem to have been satisfied apart from delays with reimbursement during initial Covid times.
Before the company we are using offered the regular insurance, we used the Squaremouth website to choose the insurance coverage we needed. In addition, most of the Tauck tours we use are very expensive and we travel business class these days, so in most cases, $15000 limit would probably cover less than half the cost of the trip. It depends what each person feels they can afford to lose. Sometimes, even if you know you can afford to lose it, it might cause total annoyance to do so. Everyone has different tolerance of risk.
Thank you for all the advice!
British, which company are you using for your additional travel insurance?
We use Emergency Assist Plus. Originally it was just for medical evacuation stuff rather than general insurance but now they have ‘regular ‘ travel insurance. We are using it for an upcoming trip.
Thank you all for your valuable advice. As one poster said, each of us has unique priorities. I am 68 and am aware that at 70 the cost will really increase. I have been using squaremouth.com to search for and compare policies. I keep choosing Seven Corners. My main concern is medical coverage when outside the USA and the possible need to be flown back home or to a US hospital, if the doctor prescribes it, with the assistance of a nurse. Many companies bundle coverage, forcing me to have coverage for services I do not need.. I do not need coverage for rental car, sports equipment, loss of employment earnings while recuperating, or cancel for any reason. So... I look for policies that allow me some freedom to select specific coverage. I have fortunately never had to submit a claim.
Thank you British, for sharing Emergency Assist Plus. I will be researching it as an option.
This was covered extensively in another thread but we were on the Israel/Jordan trip on October 7. In addition to the incredible job they did to get us out of Israel as quickly and safely as possible the Tauck insurance worked better than I could have imagined. Two weeks after our safe return to the US we received a check for the entire cost of the trip except for the 1.5 days of our tour. They did not charge us for the four days of hotel, meals, transportation, etc. to get us out of there. No paperwork, no explanations, just a check and then they opened a claim for us with Aon for our additional airfare and out of pocket expenses. Some may say it was an extraordinary situation, and I would agree, however stuff happens on trips, transportation accidents, bad wildlife encounters, etc. Suffice it to say, we are very pleased with the Tauck insurance. We also purchase an annual MedJet policy through AARP which is very reasonable. Safe travels!!
I plan to compare MedJet and Emergency Plus Assist. I find several positive reviews for both. I’ve never had to file an Aon claim for any of my Tauck tours. I have recently been traveling to destinations Tauck does not offer, so I have been purchasing Seven Corners for trip and medical assist policies. I am so grateful that fellow Tauck travelers continue to post their experience with claims and advice for purchasing medical travel assist insurance.
We've thankfully never had to file a complaint. Next year we are planning back to back tours with Tauck (if the 2025 prices ever come out) and the best I can schedule it leaves a 4-5 day gap between tours. From what Tauck told me the last time we did some self guided touring if we get their guest protection, the coverage period will run from the flight leaving on the tour to the one coming home. I might be able to book cheaper flights on my own but it would run a risk with the gap period not covered. Plus the insurance elsewhere for 2 senior citizens would be way more than Tauck's especially since in the past they've always only charged one guest protection for both tours.
The coverage for those gap periods or if you are extending your trip has always been murky to me. It seems the air would be covered if you have to make changes, but what if you sprain your ankle or break a hip while you are not technically on a Tauck tour at that moment? It is tough to get a straight answer to that question from both Tauck and Aon. In the past Tauck has said we are covered, but Aon's response was murky. Last year we had two Italian Tauck tours back to back, one day apart, with an EasyJet flight connecting. When we had to leave after the third day, Aon paid everything except the EasyJet flight, and continued to refuse even after we submitted a request for re-evaluation with a supporting letter from Tauck. The Tauck team did eventually reimburse us which was very nice. It was a small amount but peeved me on principle. What would have happened if we had had a medical emergency on that connecting day?
Also, my understanding of Tauck air vs your own is that you are still covered the same except the exclusion of the cancel for any reason benefit if you book on your own. Maybe this has changed?
There are so many hidden details of travel insurance. We won't travel without it, but I agree that everyone has to assess their own level of risk and risk tolerance, not only for health reasons and money but also for patience.