Get travel insurance if you don’t want to forfeit the money you paid for the trip in the event of an emergency. If unanticipated circumstances force you to postpone a trip, a good travel insurance policy can help you recover your costs. In addition, it can cover additional expenses for delays and missed connections, medical costs, and more if you’re traveling outside of the United States.
To determine the least expensive travel insurance that still offers worthwhile benefits, we examined 39 different travel insurance plans. In this manner, you won’t have to sacrifice coverage in order to get a better deal on travel insurance.
Best Cheap Travel Insurance Of 2023
- Travel Insured: Best for non-medical evacuation
- Nationwide: Best for missed connection
- Trawick International: Best for medical and evacuation benefits
- WorldTrips: Best for add-on coverage
- Seven Corners: Best for average cost
How to Find the Cheapest Travel Insurance
Be a Savvy Travel Insurance Comparison Shopper
Similar to most insurance, you may be able to save hundreds of dollars by comparing policies from various providers. The majority of benefits are frequently included in travel insurance policies, but costs and coverage levels can differ significantly amongst policies, according to Steven Benna, a representative of Squaremouth, a company that compares travel insurance.
Examining Forbes Advisor’s rankings of the top travel insurance providers is a smart place to start.
An agent for travel insurance may also be useful. They can assist you in determining the coverage you need and then help you compare prices.
Understand Exactly What Can be Insured Under Travel Insurance
Knowing exactly what to insure can help you save money on a travel insurance plan, according to Benna. It’s crucial to know, for instance, that trip cancellation insurance will only pay for non-refundable and pre-paid travel expenses. Benna advises against purchasing coverage for the portions of your trip that are refundable.
For instance, you would insure the $1,000 if you had paid $5,000 in total for a five-night hotel reservation, but there was a $1,000 cancellation fee. Refundable amounts are not eligible for reimbursement under travel insurance.
Check Your Credit Card’s Travel Insurance Benefits
Travel insurance benefits are integrated into the best credit cards for travel insurance. The important thing to remember is that credit card needs to be used for the entire trip.
According to Benna, “this benefit can include luggage coverage as well as some cancellation coverage for travel expenses paid for with that card.” He makes the point that you can save money by using the cancellation benefits of a credit card in place of paying for a travel insurance policy.
Benna points out that you can purchase travel insurance to cover the remaining amount if your trip expenses exceed the credit card’s coverage limit. Compared to covering the full cost of the trip, this will lower the premium for the policy.
Methodology
Cost (25% of score): For trips to the well-known locations of Italy and Mexico for typical traveler profiles, we calculated the average cost of each travel insurance policy.
- 30 year old couple traveling to Mexico for $3,000
- 40-year-old couple traveling to Italy for $6,000
- A $15,000 trip to Italy for a family of four
- 65-year-old couple traveling to Italy for $6,000
- Age 70 couple traveling to Mexico for $3,000
Travel insurance policies that offer coverage for Covid-related medical expenses were given points (10% of the total score).
Medical costs (10% of score): The level of coverage was used to evaluate travel medical insurance. The highest points were awarded to travel insurance policies that included medical expense benefits of at least $250,000 per person.
Medical evacuation (10% of score): The amount of coverage was used to evaluate emergency medical evacuation and transportation. The highest points were awarded to travel insurance policies that included medical evacuation expense benefits of at least $500,000 per person.
Upgrades that allowed for “cancel for any reason” (10%) were rewarded with points for travel insurance policies. Upgrades with a 75% reimbursement level that allowed for “cancel for any reason” received extra points.
Required waiting time for baggage delay (5%): Points were awarded to policies whose benefits began to accrue after 12 hours or less.
Benefits for baggage reimbursement (5%): Points were given to travel insurance policies that offered benefits for baggage reimbursement of at least $2,000 per person.
Weather and hurricanes (5%); plans were awarded points if there was a 12-hour minimum waiting period before receiving hurricane and weather coverage.
Upgrade for “interruption for any reason” (5%): Points were given to policies that provided an upgrade for “interruption for any reason.”
Pre-existing medical condition exclusion waiver (5%): Policies that cover pre-existing medical conditions provided they are purchased within the stipulated time frame received points.
Required waiting time for travel delays (5%): Points were awarded to policies whose benefits begin to accrue after six hours or less.
Travel insurance with trip interruption (5%): If the reimbursement for trip interruption was 150% or more, points were awarded.