# Travel Insurance - Yes or No?



## flowergurl (Aug 20, 2005)

I am new at exchanging through RCI.  I booked a couple weeks through them, received my confirmations and I'm a happy camper.  But now I'm wondering if I should purchase the travel insurance they offer for $25.00.  Could some voices of experience and advice help me out here, please?

Thanks, 
Diane


----------



## dougp26364 (Aug 20, 2005)

flowergurl said:
			
		

> I am new at exchanging through RCI.  I booked a couple weeks through them, received my confirmations and I'm a happy camper.  But now I'm wondering if I should purchase the travel insurance they offer for $25.00.  Could some voices of experience and advice help me out here, please?
> 
> Thanks,
> Diane



For the most part, when traveling inside the United States I pass on the travel insurance offered by either RCI or I.I. it's cheap enough but doesn't really provide all that great of coverage. The one exception is if I'm traveling to hurricane country where a resort can be damaged severe enough as to close for several months after the storm. Then I'll buy their coverage.

A good travel insurance policy should provide enough coverage to cover lost/delayed luggage and trip interuption (airlines failure to get you there resulting in added hotel/meal/transportation expenses). This is were the exhange compaines policy's fall short IMO.

Most of the time I'll shop at http://www.insuremytrip.com and compare policies and prices to see what's available. Some of them even offer car rental coverage in the package deals, which is a little extra piece of mind if you're renting a car.

For vacations that are drive to vacations, I never purchase the insurance.


----------



## Liz Wolf-Spada (Aug 20, 2005)

I usually purchase the insurance and have used it twice. Once my mom was in the hospital and once I hurt my back. To me, it's worth it.
Liz


----------



## flowergurl (Aug 20, 2005)

*Thank you!*

Thank you Liz and Doug for your thoughts.  I think I will purchase it partly because my mom is 84 and you never know when a health issue and hospitalization will arise.  Four days before Christmas 2003, she fell and broke her hip and we all (brothers and sisters) lived at the hospital for the entire two week Christmas school break.  Better to err on the side of caution now that I think about it. 

Thanks, 
Diane


----------



## dougp26364 (Aug 20, 2005)

Liz Wolf-Spada said:
			
		

> I usually purchase the insurance and have used it twice. Once my mom was in the hospital and once I hurt my back. To me, it's worth it.
> Liz



It would be in those cases but, wouldn't your own insurance cover you if you remained in the U.S.? I don't believe the RCI insurance provides hospital coverage and most other travel insurance policy's on provide secondary coverage (after your own insurance has paid).

For most peole this becomes redundant coverage as may CC's cover lost luggage and travel delay within the USA, their own health insurance covers medical, car insurance policies cover car rental damage and home owners policies cover theft of personal belonging.


----------



## JoAnn (Aug 20, 2005)

When I book an exchange a  year or so out, I'll buy the insurance.  Twice I was happy I did because due to serious illness we had to cancel at the last minute and we got back part of our insurance/exchange fees.  And every time we travel out of the country (on organized tours) I buy the insurance Grand Circle offers because Medicare will not cover us out of country, or if we have to cancel we will get almost all (if not all) of our money back.  Since we are both older we feel it's the best thing to do.


----------



## Liz Wolf-Spada (Aug 20, 2005)

Having the insurance didn't have any effect on medical treatment, but it got us back our exchange fee and our week to use at another time. So, if I have paid maybe $150 for 6 exchanges to include insurance, I got it back on the first time I needed the insurance just for the exchange fee.
Liz


----------



## philemer (Aug 20, 2005)

This insurance, offered by https://www.vacationguard.com/insurance/quote.cfm  is better, IMO, than RCI's at $25 per week, *IF* you own up to 31 days of T/S and *IF* you use different T/S exchange companys. It's a flat $109/yr. and it covers up to 31 days of T/S vacation per year- no matter who you exchange through. I use Trading Places International & RCI and it covers both. Also covers you if you use your *OWN* week.

Phil

It's not such a good deal if you own 1>12 days of T/S. The cost is $79.


----------



## KenK (Aug 20, 2005)

Phil:
   If you only OWN one week, but L/O for two weeks, or rent a week from II, RCI, DAX, SFX, TPI or any other T/S elated company, will the $109 policy cover?  Or only on what you own?  (And is a L/O really considered 2 weeks?).

BTW= IMO I think travel with 84 Years Old mom ought to have some kind of the insurance.... The one Phil mentions even has some medical.  But just getting fees & weeks back has to be better than losing the time.


----------



## Liz Wolf-Spada (Aug 20, 2005)

This looks good, I have to check and see if I bought RCI protection for one week next summer. I was going to contact SFX to see if they had something like this.
Liz


----------



## Dave M (Aug 21, 2005)

Vacation Guard pays *only* with respect to stays where you are occupying what you own. It does not cover exchanges.

There is some language referring to reimbursement of "Exchange Fees" in the terms that might make someone think that exchanges are covered. However, the covered "Exchange Fee" is the fee, if any, that the owner must pay for substitute accommodations where the owner's week becomes uninhabitable, such as after a hurricane.

You can see all of the terms here - http://www.vacationguard.com/documentation/NWT05001.pdf


----------



## dougp26364 (Aug 21, 2005)

Liz Wolf-Spada said:
			
		

> Having the insurance didn't have any effect on medical treatment, but it got us back our exchange fee and our week to use at another time. So, if I have paid maybe $150 for 6 exchanges to include insurance, I got it back on the first time I needed the insurance just for the exchange fee.
> Liz



I can see your point. Since we don't exchange very often this thought has never occured to me. Most of our exchanges have been our LO units for a one bedroom unit in Branson, MO. We then use that reservation for a long weekend trip rather than a weeks vacation, so losing it wouldn't be a big deal to us. 

If, however, we were exchanging more weeks for real vacations, it would make a difference to us if we lost one or two of them. In that case, paying the $25 would make good common sense.


----------



## ronandjoan (Aug 22, 2005)

*Elderly parents? It's worth it*

Just to put in my 2 cents worth that with both of our parents ederly, I feel so much better booking vacations in advance since I can get the insurance.  We had to use it last November when my mother-in-law went into the hospital after planning to get together for over a year and we received our change fee AND our week back right away


----------

