# Insurance



## cindi (Jul 17, 2011)

How many of you purchase travel insurance?

You can get it everywhere now and I just don't know which if any are worth it.

You can get insurance when you purchase your airline tickets.

You can get insurance when you book your timeshare.

When you add up the costs (if you were to purchase both) is it even remotely worth the cost?

Which, if any, do you guys purchase? 

I have on occasion purchased it and then I forget which one of my trips I got it for.  And of course it is never on ones that I have had to cancel for various reasons.


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## WinniWoman (Jul 17, 2011)

I always do the RCI insurance when I exchange. I do not take out the airline insurance because there are too many exclusions - need to read the fine print. When I rent a timeshare and have airfare and car rental expenses, etc., I take out insurance. Took out one with CSA for an upcoming trip to Yellowstone in Sept. Believe me, I examined all the fine print and made a ton of calls to insurance companies before I chose them. My mother was very ill, and I wanted to make sure if something happened we would be covered. Also, my husband has high blood pressure, so I wanted to make sure there were no exclusions or that they considered this a pre-existing condition. Timing is also important - you have to find out when you need to take out the insurance (sooner rather than later). If you have to cancel an expensive trip and it is covered, it is definitely worth it.


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## x3 skier (Jul 17, 2011)

If we are traveling overseas or a cruise or anything like that requires a major outlay, I buy insurance as my wife has COPD and needs O2. In case of an emergency or a need to cancel, it is well worth the minor expense. Prior to that particular problem, I never bought it.

If we are driving somewhere and staying in a hotel or condo with minimum or no cancellation fees, I do not.

Never had to use it yet but I feel it is a good bet, especially the type that covers pre-existing conditions.

Cheers


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## dougp26364 (Jul 17, 2011)

Typically, we only buy the insurance for cruises. I have occasionally bought insurance when traveling to destinations at risk for hurricanes but not very often.

Travel insuarnce is unlike most typical insurance policies in that it covers SPECIFIC perils. It's not a comprehensive type policy that covers everything but a few exceptions. It's actually just the opposite. It only provides coverage for what is listed.

For instance, we missed a flight out of Barcelona, Spain due to a wildcat fishermans strike. We lost the value of our return flight because we didn't contact the ailrine (cruise line PROMISED they were doing this but did not), we had additional meal expenses, cab expenses and hotel expenses. When I submitted our claim it was denied. The reason was the only public transportation workers strikes were listed in the coverage. Fisherman were not public transportation workers and the delay caused by their strike was not covered. We were out around $2,000 additional dollars getting back home.

Another example was from this year. We had a cruise booked for January. My wife became ill in November which eventually required hospitalization. During the time it took to properly diagnos her we missed our cruise. Illness of a family member was listed as a covered expense and we were properly reimbursed all the fee's we were out except for the airline change fee when we change the reservaiton. The reason that was not covered was that the TA had not included airfare for the trip since we booked our own airfare. That was my mistake and I won't allow the TA to purchase the insurance for us again. I'll do it myself and include the airfare (or estimated airfare) in the total coverage amount. 

I don't buy insurance on airline tickets anymore because it tends to be very limited coverage. There are so few things it covers that it's unrealistic to expect it to actually pay out very often. The one time I thought I had a claim, I didn't. Sure it's cheap but, you get what you pay for. 

I believe all insurance has a 10 day free look provision where you can cancel it for a full refund if you don't believe the coverage meets your needs. Most websites only list amounts covered, they don't actually list the conditions for which coverage is provided. If you buy a travel insurance policy, read it VERY CARFULLY. Sure it's boring but you may find it doesn't cover nearly what you either think it would cover or you need it to cover.


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## DeniseM (Jul 17, 2011)

I buy timeshare owner travel insurance for $99 a year.  It covers all timeshare related travel, including exchanges.  See the travel insurance sticky for more info.


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## WinniWoman (Jul 18, 2011)

But that's only available in some states. I live in NY and couldn't get timeshare insurance.


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## dougp26364 (Jul 18, 2011)

DeniseM said:


> I buy timeshare owner travel insurance for $99 a year.  It covers all timeshare related travel, including exchanges.  See the travel insurance sticky for more info.



$99/year? I'm not finding that in the sticky on travel insurance above. In fact, when I go to get a quote for $2,000 worth of coverage (air and MF's), the quote is more like $150 for the one trip, not for all our vacations in a year.

From the sticky 





> Good travel insurance doesn’t come cheap. A worthwhile policy for a couple in their early 50s for a $5,000 trip is likely to cost $200 to $400.


 I have found this to be a true in most situations when I've shopped insurance coverages and when they'll actually pay out. 

Marriott and DRI both offer policies but, Marriott can't answer questions about their own policy, specifically if it's per trip or all trips regardless of how many weeks you vacation (we take 2 to 4 Marriott timeshare vacaitons/year) and DRI's policy is cost prohibitive for the coverage it provide IMO.

I would like to look over a $99/yearly policy that covers all timeshare related travel. I would have to read the fine print before being convinced that it would actually pay out should it be needed. As I've said before, all travel policies I've read through cover losses only for the events listed. Some of those are the type the cover for a loss caused by a hail storm in the middle of August while riding a zebra backwards down Main St. at high noon.


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## DeniseM (Jul 18, 2011)

Doug - it's not per trip - it's a Vacation Guard policy for one year that's based on the number of timeshares that you own.  It covers all trips (including exchanges) that you take using your timeshares.


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## WinniWoman (Jul 18, 2011)

DeniseM said:


> Doug - it's not per trip - it's a Vacation Guard policy for one year that's based on the number of timeshares that you own.  It covers all trips (including exchanges) that you take using your timeshares.



But not if you live in NY


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## DeniseM (Jul 18, 2011)

mpumilia said:


> But not if you live in NY



Yes, but Doug lives in KS, and I was responding to him.


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## bobpark56 (Jul 18, 2011)

*Fine Print*



DeniseM said:


> Doug - it's not per trip - it's a Vacation Guard policy for one year that's based on the number of timeshares that you own.  It covers all trips (including exchanges) that you take using your timeshares.



Have you read the fine print? I looked into Vacation Guard not long ago, principally for medical coverage and emergency return transportation if one of us should have problems while overseas (i.e., the big ticket items). Some of the exclusions were not to my liking. Among other things, I don't think it covered traveling to a timeshare we did not own (my memory may be faulty here. If you check and find otherwise, I'd like to know.). It also did not cover if you had to cancel inside of or outside of something like a 30-day date (I don't recall which). I discussed this in another TUG thread. At this point, my conclusion is that (for me) Vacation Guard is not worth it.


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## DeniseM (Jul 18, 2011)

It's been a while since I bought the policy, but this is my understanding:

It covers travel using your own timeshares - or timeshare exchanges for which you traded your own timeshare.  It does not cover other types of travel.

I believe the 30 day limit refers to when you buy the insurance.  For instance, if I buy the policy today, it's not active for 30 days - so it would not cover travel within the next 30 days. But on the 31st day, it would cover me for the next 365 days.

I will have to see if their coverage has changed.


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## carl2591 (Jul 18, 2011)

DeniseM said:


> It's been a while since I bought the policy, but this is my understanding:
> 
> It covers travel using your own timeshares - or timeshare exchanges for which you traded your own timeshare.  It does not cover other types of travel.
> 
> ...





http://www.vacationguard.com/Static/VGT-0411_0202_00000.pdf

here is link to policy for timeshare.

they also sell Resort and Leisure Policy's..


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## Timeshare Von (Jul 18, 2011)

I had never purchased it before our Alaskan RV trip last summer.  That trip, we bought through InsureMyTrip.com with TravelGuard and mostly to protect us in the event of weather cancelations/delays or if a vendor we had paid in full in advance when under.

For my upcoming safari trip, I also purchased it again (also through InsureMyTrip.com) out of concern for a vendor doing out of business, but also to protect against missed connections and flight delays given the complexity of the travel to get to Kenya.  This policy also had a very good "loss of job" clause that provided full coverage if I were to lose my job.  As it turns out, I did just last week, but this close to the trip and with all of it fully paid, I decided not to cancel the trip and file a claim for the forfeited deposits.  Had I lost my job 6 mos ago, I would not have had that luxury.

It is good advice to read the fine print and what is covered and what is not.  If your risk isn't that much, then it may not be worthwhile purchasing.  In nearly 30 years of timeshare travel, mostly through exchanging with RCI, I have never bought their coverage.  The only two times I had to cancel RCI exchange related vacations, I was able to cancel and get my traded week back so it turned out A-OK.


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## isisdave (Jul 19, 2011)

Insuring the nonrefundable trip expenses is the more expensive part of trip insurance.  What's relatively cheap is the emergency medical and evacuation insurance, and I wouldn't travel anywhere but maybe Europe without it.

Also, when I had elderly and infirm parents still living, and we were going somewhere from which it would be expensive to return suddenly, I bought it then, although I never had to use it.

But last year, when an older relative in iffy health was going with us to Hawaii, I bought travel insurance for him and his wife. Sure enough, two weeks before the trip he sort of tripped and slid down his stairway on his backside.  While there was nothing really permanently damaged, five hours in an airplane seat would have been way too much, and we did collect on a claim for his airfare. That was with the CSA protection from Marriott.


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## dougp26364 (Jul 19, 2011)

DeniseM said:


> Doug - it's not per trip - it's a Vacation Guard policy for one year that's based on the number of timeshares that you own.  It covers all trips (including exchanges) that you take using your timeshares.





carl2591 said:


> http://www.vacationguard.com/Static/VGT-0411_0202_00000.pdf
> 
> here is link to policy for timeshare.
> 
> they also sell Resort and Leisure Policy's..



At first blush, this isn't a bad policy. After briefly scanning it, there are some important points.

It does have limitations and doesn't necessarily cover "all" timeshare vacations. The policy limits payouts for interuption/cancelations at $5,000. For the average timeshare owner, this would cover all their timeshare vacations. Right now, our MF's for all the timeshares we own total a little over $6,000/year. So it would cover most, but not all of our vacations. 

This policy covers a lot of possiblities but, when you read through it, you find there are only 16 covered reasons where a claim will be paid. This means that are a lot of reasons they won't pay. You really have to read the policy and understand exactly what will be paid, because if it's not specifically listed, it likely won't be a paid claim. 

The main reason I would see for carrying this policy would be sickness or injury. Past that it might pay or it might not. It is a typical travel insurance policy and excludes many possiblities by virtue they are not listed as one of the 16 covered reasons. While it seems as if those 16 cover just about every possiblity, you'd be surprised how often something else crops up to keep you from taking your vacation. 

If the price is only $99/year then, IMO, it's worth the cost of the coverage. It won't pay for any reason but, it does cover some of the biggies such as sickness, being laid off (within 60 days of departure) and most natural disasters including hurricanes.

Of note weather cancellations for travel to your timeshare has to be for 24 hours. It's not often that an airport shuts down for a full 24 hours. Anything less than 24 hours and there is no coverage. It will be up to you and the airline to work out the arrangements. If you lose part of your week because the airport shuts down for 23 hours, you may be out of luck if you expect reimbursement for part of your MF's or additional expenses caused by the trip interuption. Also of note, strikes must last 48 hours in order for a valid claim to be filed. If the strike lasts only a day but causes enough interuption that you incure additional travel expenses, you may not have a claim

As I've mentioned before it's always very important to read a policy carefully. It may seem as if it covers a lot of things when in reality the restrictions are such that even the covered reasons are hard to qualify as a valid claim.


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## bobpark56 (Jul 19, 2011)

*Coverage for extended trips*

Suppose you extend your vacation by staying at a getaway, hotel, B&B, or rented property...as my wife & I often do. Do any of these policies cover you then? My understanding is that Vacation Guard does not.

(FWIW, I am principally interested in medical and evacuation coverage when traveling outside my native country.)


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## dougp26364 (Jul 19, 2011)

bobpark56 said:


> Suppose you extend your vacation by staying at a getaway, hotel, B&B, or rented property...as my wife & I often do. Do any of these policies cover you then? My understanding is that Vacation Guard does not.
> 
> (FWIW, I am principally interested in medical and evacuation coverage when traveling outside my native country.)



I have only scanned the vacation guard insurance policy but, it doesn't appear that you have to list each trip before taking them. It appears to be a blanket policy, providing up to $5,000 maximum payout per year. I would assume, buy you'd better read the policy carefully, that if you extend you timeshare vacation it would be covered. 

The trick, as I see it, would be how you extend that vacation. If it's in rented accomadations, my first instinct, without reading the policy in more detail, is no. This policy appears to protect you from loss when staying at a timeshare you either own or exchange into, and does not provide coverage for rented units or hotel rooms. 

Like any travel insurance policy the devil is in the details. There can be many reasons for a trip insurance policy to NOT pay a claim, and considerably fewer reason FOR it to pay a claim. The biggest area for coverage is sickness/injury for you or a travel partner. Anything else can be a gray area.


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## bellesgirl (Jul 19, 2011)

I am not aware of any other travel insurance policy, other than Vacation Guard, that will insure a timeshare loss of use.  I have had their policy for 2 years but I wonder how they would calculate lost maintenance fees under RCI's new TPU valuation in the event of a cancellation.


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## jancpa (Jul 25, 2011)

*Technical comment regarding Vacation Guard*

I just got off the phone with their representative.  The policy covers the time you own for which maintenance fees have been paid to your Management Company by you.  Theorically, if you own 8 timeshares you could have 8 policies.  If 3 properties are managed by VRI or HGVC for example, the others would be not be covered.  Since you are not required to specify a resort at time of enrollment, all is good until you file a claim.  Once that claim is filed and a resort is identified, the other separate resorts for which separate maintenance fees have been paid go unprotected.

Like all insurance policies go, I guess the trick is never having to file a claim.


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## cindi (Jul 25, 2011)

So if I understand that correctly, it only covers your own timeshares? It does NOT cover exchanges?

I tried to read through the fine print but I still don't understand.


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## DeniseM (Jul 25, 2011)

jancpa said:


> I just got off the phone with their representative.  The policy covers the time you own for which maintenance fees have been paid to your Management Company by you.  Theorically, if you own 8 timeshares you could have 8 policies.  If 3 properties are managed by VRI or HGVC for example, the others would be not be covered.  Since you are not required to specify a resort at time of enrollment, all is good until you file a claim.  Once that claim is filed and a resort is identified, the other separate resorts for which separate maintenance fees have been paid go unprotected.
> 
> Like all insurance policies go, I guess the trick is never having to file a claim.



I can't see anywhere in the policy where it says that all the covered timeshares must be with the same company?

Maybe the policy has changed dramatically, but when I bought, there were different kinds of policies.  If I bought their policy through Starwood, then only my Starwood timeshares would be covered, but if I bought a policy independently, all my timeshares would be covered.  I wonder if that is what the Rep. was trying to say?


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## dougp26364 (Jul 25, 2011)

DeniseM said:


> I can't see anywhere in the policy where it says that all the covered timeshares must be with the same company?
> 
> Maybe the policy has changed dramatically, but when I bought, there were different kinds of policies.  If I bought their policy through Starwood, then only my Starwood timeshares would be covered, but if I bought a policy independently, all my timeshares would be covered.  I wonder if that is what the Rep. was trying to say?



I agree, when I scanned through the policy, it appeared to me that it covered any timeshare stay, owned or exchange. There was simply a cap of $5,000 per year in benefits for lost MF's and exchange fee's. Without re-reading the policy, I'm pretty certain I remember that lost exchange fee's were covered. 

Again, it's important to really read through a travel insurance policy. They all vary to some degree. The one time we had a claim turned down by the company we had purchased through, other travelers in the exact same situation had their claims paid. All travel policies are not created equal.


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## jancpa (Jul 26, 2011)

*Reclarification of Terms*

You can buy a Vacation Guard policy offered through management groups such as VRI, HGVC, Starwood, etc. which will insure all the time you own through them.  Such a policy called Travel Plus typically costs $59 for $10,000 total coverage.  Exchanges are covered because it came about from time you owned.  If you only owned Disney and Starwood, you would need two policies to be fully covered.

The $99 retail policy with the $5000 cap is only viewed as a blanket policy for all your timeshares because you are not required to specify a resort or resort group at time of enrollment.  Once a claim is filed and that resort or group is specified, the other resorts go unprotected.


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## AnnaS (Jul 26, 2011)

We also buy travel insurance if we are cruising or going overseas.


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## 1950bing (Jul 27, 2011)

I did one time while doing a cruise and dealing with kidney stone issues. No health issues while on the cruise.


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