Travel Guard has been providing insurance to smart travelers all over the world for more than 20 years. In fact, they are America's leading travel insurance plan provider. They are also TripIt sponsors, which gave us the opportunity to have a fun, in-depth look at what they do.
What’s the most common insurable incident people experience while traveling?
The most common types of claims filed with travel insurance are trip cancellation or travel delay, and medical claims. Since you never know what could happen while you’re traveling, Travel Guard plans include a wide range of coverage, including medical expense and evacuation, trip cancellation, interruption and delay, lost, stolen and delayed baggage, and 24/7 emergency travel assistance.
When traveling outside the country, what’s the greatest risk people tend to overlook?
Many travelers don't understand that their health insurance may not travel with them, or is very limited outside their home country. For example, in the case of a severe injury or illness, very few health insurance companies will pay for a medical evacuation back to your home country. Medical evacuation can easily cost upwards of $10,000.
I bet you see a lot of interesting stories – what are some of the unusual claims that you’ve seen?
We have a number of "Strange but True" travel insurance claims. Here are a couple of examples...
Hit and Run
Imagine getting run over by a taxi on some remote island, waking up a couple hours later and not being able to remember the incident. This happened to a Travel Guard policyholder who was blindsided by a speeding taxi in Tahiti. Travel Guard paid for his medical expenses, emergency medical transportation, misplaced baggage and trip delay expenses – all totaling more than $26,000.
Rotten Vacation
On a couple’s long-awaited trip to Tibet, they faced disaster when the husband stepped on a sewer cover, flipped it open, and fell in! To stop himself from falling, he put his hands out to catch himself, and lost both his bag and camera in the sewer. Travel Guard paid for his lost bag and camera.
How is Travel Guard different from other companies who sell travel insurance?
Travel Guard is so much more than travel insurance. Travel Guard's plans come packed with a host of 24/7 travel services available from anywhere in the world, like pre-trip advisories, medical referrals, last-minute flight changes, hotel and car rental reservations, lost luggage tracking, and concierge services, just to name a few. Whatever you need, Travel Guard can help. It's like having your own personal assistant just a phone call away no matter when or where you need help while traveling.
Travel Guard did not cover cancellation of a trip to Mexico at the time the GOVERNMENT was warning travelers not to go there (early May)--according to them, not a valid reason to cancel. Lost alot of money.
Posted by: Elaine Orlando | June 08, 2009 at 09:45 AM
Elaine, you should have taken the cancel any reason coverage. A travel advisory is just that an advisory.
Posted by: Brian | June 17, 2009 at 06:46 PM
Be aware: many health insurance plans give you coverage when you are out of the US, but your out of network dedactable may apply. Travel Guard will not reimburst you for the dedactable amount - see page 10 of their policy. In my case it is $2,500
That was confirmed by their representative.
Posted by: Juno A. | September 12, 2010 at 08:23 AM
The most common types of claims filed with travel insurance are trip cancellation or travel delay, and medical claims. Since you never know what could happen while you’re traveling, Travel Guard plans include a wide range of coverage, including medical expense and evacuation, trip cancellation, interruption and delay, lost, stolen and delayed baggage, and 24/7 emergency travel assistance.
Posted by: James Morgan - Puritan Financial Advisor | September 13, 2010 at 11:53 PM
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Posted by: sato travel | February 06, 2011 at 06:57 PM