International Medical Group iTravelInsured SE

A couple things to note about this policy: [1] On this trip I will be renting a car. I wanted to know whether nicks and scrapes, ones that I might ignore on my own car but that the rental agency might focus on and demand payment, will be covered. It was very hard to get an answer--several calls and emails. Basically they were saying that I'll find out what's covered when I make a claim :-( I finally got to someone who said that damage to the car would only be covered if there were a police report, which of course you wouldn't have if the rental agent tried to get you for a nick when you were returning the car. If this is not a concern to you, then the car rental coverage seems to be a good deal compared to other comprehensive policies. [2] Notice that only PREPAID expenses are covered. I looked into this policy for a trip where I am paying with points, but there will have a large monetary penalty if i have to cancel. Even if I have to cancel for a covered reason, the policy does not cover cancellation penalties--only nonrefundable prepaid expenses.

Of course, almost everyone who buys travel insurance doesn't use it, and they are only 'satisfied' because it gave them peace of mind. I bought the policy for medical coverage; fortunately nothing happened medically. But on the way home we were delayed by an ice storm for 36 hrs. I didn't realize that the delay was covered by the policy until i was shopping for another trip a couple months later and noticed that coverage. We were outside the designated period for giving them initial notice of a claim, but IMG did not enforce that on us, because we were still inside the period to document the claim. The claim process was OK, but became frustrating. I inadvertently gave an incorrect bank account number when filing the claim. I saw it immediately and wrote a secure message correcting it. I received notice that the claim was paid, but the money did not show up in my account. It took several weeks and multiple calls and emails to finally get them to send the money to the correct account. There is an important piece of information I want to share with others who need to document a trip delay: IMG does not accept cancellation emails and boarding passes as evidence of the delay. They insist on a letter from the airline documenting the extent of the delay and the reason for it. Initially I was upset by that, because I assumed that such a letter would be impossible to get, and even if you could get one, you would have to wait hours on the phone. Then I learned something that IMG [and insuremytrip.com] should have told me: many airlines, including American, have a link on their website where you can get such a letter, which comes almost immediately by email.

Although I did not file a claim for the April/May 2023 tour of four Adriatic costal countries, I had an IMG/iTravel policy for a 12-day tour of Colombia, South America. A mechanical aircraft issue canceled the Orlando originating flight, which cause me to miss the Miami connection to Bogotá. What should have been 7.5 hours total travel time turned into a 21-hour trip to hades. IMG/iTravel denied the $109 claim for not cancelling the pre-paid hotel reservation. IMG/iTravel required documentation in PDF format and would not allow the airline emails proving that a missed airline connection caused in excess of a 12-hour delay. Had it not been for InsureMyTrip.com advocating for me, when I sent the supporting emails to InsureMyTrip, the claim would not have been paid. Even with IMT advocating for me, the paltry $109 check took three months to arrive. I booked a tour for Scotland in October. There is no way I would consider purchasing travel insurance with IMG/iTravel. Unless you are a glutton for punishment, AVOID purchasing any policy affiliated with IMG/iTravel. Bon voyage.