InsureMyTrip Blog

Every day, it seems, the news is bringing us stories and images of destruction. In just a few short weeks, there have been widespread tornadoes, flooding, wildfires, and the first named storm of the 2013 hurricane season.  People all over the country are concerned about their homes and the damage that could be done to their communities.  While vacations may not be the most urgent worry on the minds of those who are in the path of possible devastation, they’re certainly on our minds.

This is high travel season for families — the start of summer, a time when many were supposed to be taking off for family vacations.  Unfortunately, for a family whose home  has been badly damaged by fire, flood, or storms, those vacations may not be possible any longer.  For those would-be travelers,  faced with significant repairs or total replacement of their home and belongings, the question becomes: “How can I leave my home now?”

This situation is another example of an unforeseen circumstance that can unfortunately derail vacation plans, and can be covered by a comprehensive travel insurance policy.  While we most often talk about “primary residence uninhabitable” coverage as a benefit you should seek during hurricane season, it’s certainly not exclusive to hurricanes.  Anyone whose home is damaged too badly to be used safely can benefit from this type of travel insurance coverage, which allows you to cancel your trip and recover any pre-paid, non-refundable expenses you’ve insured if you must stay where you are to deal with urgent repairs to your home.  However, as with all other travel insurance purchases, you would need to have bought your policy before the threat to your home became imminent — in other words, at a time when the fire, flood, or storm was, in fact, an “unforeseen” event.  Once a storm has been named, a wildfire has been identified, or a river begins to reach flood stage, it’s too late to call an insurance company and ask them to protect you against those dangers.

Not all travel insurance policies offer this benefit, so it’s important to read the terms of your coverage carefully.  However, another type of travel insurance that could be useful in the case of destruction to your home is Cancel for Any Reason (CFAR) coverage.  With CFAR, you don’t have to worry about individual benefits or exclusions within the policy — basically, you can change your mind about going through with your travel plans for any reason you choose, whether it’s something as serious as severe storm damage at home or something as minor as just deciding you’d rather not travel as planned.  In order to get CFAR, however, you have to follow the eligibility requirements (typically, you need to buy the policy within 7-14 days of making your first payment on your trip); you should also make sure you thoroughly understand claims requirements in case you end up needing to file a claim.  In most cases, CFAR requires you to cancel your trip and notify all your travel suppliers 48 hours or more in advance of your scheduled departure to claim the benefit — otherwise, you can still back out, but it will have to be for a reason that’s listed as “covered” on the policy.

In a stressful situation such as the one that’s faced by homeowners under threat of storms or wildfires right now, there are dozens of pressing concerns that need attention.  With a travel insurance policy that’s purchased well in advance of any possible danger — ideally, as soon as you’ve made your first trip payment, so you can take advantage of the widest range of benefits available to you — losing the money paid for a vacation that can’t happen doesn’t have to be one of those pressing concerns.  It may not be the first thing that comes to mind when you consider whether or not you need travel insurance for a summer vacation, but having the ability to cancel your plans to deal with a crisis at home is just one more way travel insurance can provide you with extra peace of mind.

The entire team at InsureMyTrip is greatly concerned this morning over the news coming out of Japan.  Our thoughts are with the residents of Japan, as well as any travelers who may be there at the moment.  We’re continuing to monitor the situation very closely and will update our customers throughout the day on our blog, Twitter feed, and Facebook page as any important details emerge.

Our Customer Care center is ready to assist anyone who has questions or concerns about coverage for travel to Japan and the surrounding region.  Customers who are currently in Japan should contact the emergency assistance line for their individual insurance providers; if you encounter any difficulty, you may also contact us so that we can assist you in connecting with your provider.  Those who have plans to travel to Japan imminently should make every effort to contact us with questions about their policies.

Again, we will be updating our information as necessary throughout the day; please feel free to connect with us to ask questions or share concerns.  We are here to help.

InsureMyTrip Customer Care Center: 800-487-4722 OR 401-773-9300 (Outside the U.S.)
customercare@insuremytrip.com

Editorial Update: We’ve added a related post about delays and damages resulting from the quake and tsunami.  Those who have more general questions about coverage may find this post helpful.

Bri, Marketing

Yesterday, as I was chatting with another IMT-er, he abruptly asked me the following question:

“Did you know it snows in Turkey?”

I’ll admit, it gave me a moment of pause.  Did I know that it snows in Turkey?  Well, yes, I supposed I did; after all, I knew that Turkey was not a wholly tropical climate, and I knew that it was perfectly possible for temperatures there to dip into the 30s and 40s, if not often, then at least every once in a while.  Logically, snow might follow.  While Turkey might not top the list in my mind of picturesquely frosted, wintry destinations, I had to answer that certainly, I could see how it might snow there.

“But I mean,” my colleague pressed, “a LOT of snow.  They don’t know what to do with it.  Look.”

He showed me the article he was perusing at the time, which confirmed that Turkey was in the midst of its worst snowfall in 10 years, and that as a result of the unaccustomed weather, air and road travel in and around Istanbul was nearly at a standstill.  Yes, I conceded, it was a lot more snow than I would have pictured if you asked me how much snow might fall on Turkey, especially at this time of year.  But with all the odd weather patterns the world has endured in recent weeks and months, how surprised could I really be?

It’s a fact of traveling that the unexpected will happen; in fact, I’d go so far as to say that from my personal perspective, if you’re traveling because you crave predictability, you may want to re-think your plans.  Fortunately, as I so often remind people, there’s travel insurance for many of those unexpected occurrences.  However, it seems to me that among people who tend to buy insurance for their trips, there are two camps: those who always buy some sort of insurance, because “you never know,” and those who only insure trips when they’re relatively convinced that something may happen — like buying coverage for a cruise during hurricane season, or making sure they have coverage for a flight to the Midwest in December.  For the latter group of travelers, I’d venture to guess that buying travel insurance for a trip to Istanbul in March wouldn’t have been a top priority.

Was the major snowstorm in Turkey a fluke occurrence?  Probably.  But then again, so was the now-legendary volcanic eruption in Iceland last year.  In some ways, having travel insurance seems to me to be a bit like traveling with your overly cautious grandmother.  You might scoff at her for packing all those extra umbrellas, fleece jackets, and mittens when you take off for a Floridian vacation; but when the temperatures dip to record lows and it rains the whole time you’re trying to enjoy the attractions, you’ll be awfully glad that Grandma came prepared.

Yes, it snows in Turkey — sometimes, apparently, quite a bit — even in March.  While the snowstorm there isn’t exactly splashing all over the headlines, it’s fairly likely that if you were a traveler whose plans got derailed yesterday by the wintry mess, it would have felt like big news to you.  None of us has a crystal ball to alert us to possible pitfalls; but we do have the opportunity to at least pack a little extra security.  And the really good news is that a travel insurance policy, unlike Grandma’s overstuffed carry-on bag, won’t take up too much space in the overhead bins.