Travel insurance is an extensive term, but don’t let that scare you away from looking at the fine print of your plan! Most travel insurance policies include typical coverage categories like trip cancellation, trip interruption, medical benefits, and loss/delay coverage. However, after reviewing the description of coverage, you might see some pretty valuable benefits you didn’t know were already included in your policy. It may be a tedious task reading fine print, but it has its perks! Become an expert traveler by maximizing the use of your comprehensive travel insurance policy. Here are seven underrated travel insurance benefits that totally come in handy for any kind of trip:
- Rental Car Coverage
- Missed Connection Coverage
- Accidental Death and Dismemberment Coverage
- Emergency Dental Coverage
- Itinerary Change Coverage
- Personal Effects Coverage
- Change Fee Coverage
Keep reading to learn more about specific travel insurance benefits.
1. Rental Car Damage Coverage
Many of our travelers opt to get around their destination by renting a car. Depending on the travel insurance provider, you may be able to add-on rental car damage coverage for an additional fee. Adding on another type of insurance might sound more expensive, but this extra cost might be cheaper than paying for the collision coverage at the car rental desk and is certainly less expensive than paying out of pocket for mishaps to your rental car. The key is to double-check if the rental car company allows outside insurance providers. Another plus about this additional travel insurance benefit is that if you do damage your rental car during your trip, your insurance rates won’t go up when you head back home!
Pro Tip: This add-on won’t cover everything, such as motorcycles or RVs, but if you’re renting a basic car, this could be a great option for you when buying travel insurance.
2. Missed Connection Coverage
Missing your initial flight or cruise departure is not the ideal way to start your trip. The good news is if you purchased a comprehensive travel insurance policy, you’ll be able to re-adjust your travel to catch up with your cruise without paying the extra costs to do so. The travel delay, or reason you missed your flight, can’t be due to any reason, though. Travel insurance is meant to protect you from things out of your control, so to obtain this benefit, the reason you missed your departure must be due to a delay at the airport, weather, etc.
Pro Tip: Missed connection insurance is ideal if you’re planning on flying to your destination or are going on a cruise. Here’s why not to buy insurance through your airline or cruise carrier.
3. Accidental Death and Dismemberment Coverage
No one wants to expect the worst on their trip, but any time you travel, there is risk involved. You’ll already be covered if a medical emergency or evacuation comes up on your trip, but this category of travel insurance offers coverage for loss of life or limb in the case of an accident. Similar to a life insurance plan, the beneficiary of your choosing would receive the benefit on your behalf if you die or become disabled on your trip.
Pro Tip: For your family, this benefit can offer much needed peace of mind!
4. Emergency Dental Coverage
Although travel insurance doesn’t provide any preventative dental care, most comprehensive policies offer emergency dental coverage. Dental emergencies can arrive from a multitude of events while traveling, but can often cause the most stress and pain if something like an injury, infection, or broken tooth ruins your vacation.
Pro Tip: So if you trip, fall, and chip your tooth while traveling, you can have peace of mind knowing you’ll be able to receive emergency dental care under the benefit of your travel insurance policy.
5. Itinerary Change Coverage
You’ll want to double-check the policy you choose has this type of coverage, since it’s not included in all plans, unlike trip interruption insurance benefits. However, this travel insurance benefit provides coverage in the case your travel supplier makes a change in your trip itinerary. For example, the airline changes your flight and you end up missing your prepaid tour or event. No worries! This itinerary change benefit would reimburse you for the non-refundable expenses or trip costs you weren’t able to use due to the flight change.
Pro Tip: This isn’t just for flights!
5. Personal Effects Coverage
Most comprehensive travel insurance policies include baggage loss and delay coverage, but what about valuable items such as jewelry, electronics and passports? Great question! If such items are lost, stolen, or damaged while you travel, you could collect a reimbursement under baggage loss. Some of our customers have lost or had their passports stolen, leaving them in a stressful situation (yikes!). This type of benefit helps reimburse you for the additional costs in replacing a passport or visa.
Pro Tip: Personal Effects Coverage can even cover fraudulent credit card expenses while you’ve been traveling.
6. Change Fee Coverage
This type of coverage is being requested more by our travelers…and for good reason. Change fees are charges you must pay to reschedule your travel arrangements with an airline or travel supplier. Depending on the type of ticket you booked, this charge can often hit your wallet pretty hard. If you’re worried about having to cancel or reschedule your flight, it’s best to find a travel insurance plan that includes this type of benefit.
Pro Tip: Changing a flight isn’t too difficult, but the travel insurance benefit of getting reimbursed for a change fee charge is a nice touch.
Hopefully these hidden benefits of travel insurance give you a sense of peace as you plan your upcoming trips. Not only will you have coverage for the main building blocks of travel insurance, but if your travel plans get a little jumbled, you won’t have to worry too much about the small stuff that comes along with it.
