Trip insurance companies....who is the best?

As I prepare to write my check for my rental next month, it is time to get some trip insurance (for the H-Word possibility).

I looked through insuremytrip.com and was completely overwhelmed!!

Can anyone recommend a particular company? All the companies I looked at seemed to have coverage for land only trips and only require that it be purchased within 15 days of inital payment (which I am making now even though our arrival date is only 4 weeks away).

Thanks for any recommendations.

Trip insurance companies....who is the best?

Did you ask your rental company? Since aobut 96% of our tourist drive in rather than fly, it would not surprise me if the local companies recommend someone with those stipulations.

I would ask the rental agency who they recommend.

Trip insurance companies....who is the best?

Thanks, Semco....that was a very simple solution...DUH!! :)

So, I asked and the rental folks said that they can%26#39;t recommend a company because their renters do not typically purchase insurance. So, I asked if they offer any sort of protection at all. The reply was that they refund for any unused days due to mandatory evacuation.

What more would an insurance company give me? I don%26#39;t mind picking up a policy if it will give me something more, but also don%26#39;t want to throw my money away if the protection they offer in regards to hurricanes isn%26#39;t much different than what is automatically provided.

I%26#39;ve never bought insurance before :)

Thanks!

Bigmacfan, I made reservations through Crye-Leike and also purchased travel insurance . They use CSA Travel Protection. You can view a copy of the policy for your state at this site: www.vacationrentalinsurance.com/home.do

I hope this helps!

Correct me if I%26#39;m wrong, but trip insurance usually covers more than just evacuation. So if you are concerned about illness or death in the family etc, then insurance may still be something to look at.

I%26#39;ve never used it myself...

Yes, trip insurance does cover more than an evacuation.

bigmacfan, here is a good example. We have a tropical storm heading our way, we go under tropical storm warnings. These warnings post just a couple of days before you are too arrive.

You are looking at tropical storm conditions, rain wind, and decide it would be better to wait until the next week or so to try to avoid the weather. CALL TRIP INSURANCE COMPANY, tell them the threat of storm.

The rental agency said it would cover days during mandatory evacuation. What about volunteer evacuations?

I dunno. I think it may be a good idea and it has taken me two seasons to decide this. However, I have no idea if any claims have been paid.

That is what I was wondering about. I guess I can call an insurance company and ask what EXACTLY they cover for weather. I don%26#39;t know if even an insurance company would cover for non-mandatory evacuations?

I did know about the other coverages for illness, etc and that is a consideration.

I guess I don%26#39;t want to buy a policy that really doesn%26#39;t give me any more (for weather coverage) than is already covered in the rental.

I think I will call a company or two and talk with them.

Has anyone used trip insurance in the past for a land based vacation and had a claim paied for weather??

Update....just putting information out there in case anyone else is interested. I called the company listed in the above post and here is their coverage for hurricanes:

Mandatory evacuations only (no voluntary)

cover for water, electric,sewer being out as result, BUT has to be out for the whole service area, not just one house as result of storm

Do NOT cover for things specific to the house, like big gaping hole in the roof, etc

Only covers for storms that are NOT NAMED at time of purchase. Example: Erin is churning out somewhere and if someone would purchase this policy now and travel near Erin, no damage from Erin would be covered as it is already named. However, damage from the F-named storm would be as it isn%26#39;t named yet.

Just want to share in case anyone else is considering insurance....I can%26#39;t be the only one, can I?? LOL

BigMacFan, did you call Travel Guard?

I just called ResortQuest and spoke with this HORRIBLE RUDE girl named Lisa. . FINALLY I persuaded to get the telephone number for Travel Guard.

1-866-221-0577

I am not sure of their coverage and didn%26#39;t want to stay on the phone and be abused anymore. Boy, I will say one thing, they sure don%26#39;t pay attention to why you are calling there...

Semco, you are just too good to me :)

I just called TravelGuard. They cover:

mandatory evacuations only (no volunatary)

home becoming ';uninhabitable'; They didn%26#39;t have the same requirements of a wide spread outage, but said that the insurance adjustor for the home owner would have to make it ';uninhabitable';

Only cover non-named storms

Cost for a more stripped down policy (coverage as above plus the medical stuff, but lower medical evac and baggage coverage due to driving down) total cost $85 for the two of us.

Honestly, if you are going to purchase it, I would do it now. We know Erin or Dean are not going to affect us, but this is the most active time of the season. Currently there are no systems they are watching. They just stopped watching another one.