Plenty of travel websites offer great pricing on last minute vacations. Everything-flight, hotel, taxes, administrative fees and even travel insurance-is bundled together in one nice neat package into one nice neat price. But, breaking down the price reveals an interesting opportunity to save money, like when you’re purchasing travel insurance for your trip.
If you were looking to book a last minute all-inclusive week long vacation for two, you’ll notice that travel insurance is bundled into the package; typically at a cost of about $200 depending on the site you book through.
Travel insurance is usually optional with these types of vacation packages, and believe it or not, it’s a pretty good idea to opt-out of including it in your overall trip price. Are we saying not to buy travel insurance – absolutely not – however, $200 is definitely not your best deal for coverage.
At about $200, travel insurance packages like those described above are probably all inclusive policies. All inclusive travel insurance offers coverage for your flight, baggage and medical expenses while vacationing, and can usually be found by shopping around for around $120. However, for most people taking a last minute vacation the amount of coverage in an all inclusive package is excessive and, quite frankly, a waste of money even if you were to buy it at $120.
Why?
Since you’re booking a “last minute” vacation, you probably don’t need your flight covered since you’ll be taking off in a few days or even tomorrow. At that point, it’s safe to say you’d know what the weather forecast is for your take-off day, and you’d also know if you had any medical concerns that would make a doctor recommend you not travel at all. Since trip cancellation coverage takes into account these types of situations, you likely don’t need it. You’re also probably heading to a beach somewhere so you’d more than likely carry your contents with you in a carry-on bag – there goes the need for baggage protection since you’ll be the only one in contact with it.
So what should you do?
- Waive the travel insurance included in your online travel package
- Consider sticking to basic emergency medical coverage. Depending on your vacation plans, purchasing anything more is most likely not in your best interest.
- If you take more than one trip a year, whether it’s a last minute deal, a quick shopping trip across the border, or even a month long trek through South America, consider a multi-trip policy instead of a single trip policy. Multiple-trip policies mean that for one annual rate, you will have emergency medical travel insurance coverage for every trip you take within the year after the policy is issued. Quotes for a variety of trip lengths are available too.
- Shop around for travel insurance. You’ll be able to find ample coverage for a week long trip for 2 people for as little as $16, which gets rid of the majority of the cost you would have paid for coverage in your last minute online deal. Get quotes, compare and buy–it’s easy and can be done all online, just like you probably did with your trip package in the first place.
Make that last minute travel deal an actual steal! Check out all your options for alternate travel insurance coverage in minutes at kanetix.ca today.
This article was written by kanetix.ca and was reproduced with permission on tripatlas.com/new.