Hurricanes and Travel Insurance
Does Travel Insurance Cover Hurricanes?
With all the hurricane activity these days, we’re getting a lot of questions about hurricanes and travel insurance.
First of all, here are a few rules of thumb to consider when shopping for travel insurance:
- Don’t just look for the lowest priced travel insurance. Not all policies are created equal, and if you have a claim, you don’t want to have to hire an attorney to get paid.
- Take 30 minutes to read and understand your policy. Again, better to know up front what is covered and what is not.
- With just a few exceptions, if you desire the pre-existing medical condition waiver, you must purchase your travel insurance with 14 or sometimes 21 days of your first deposit on the journey.
Trip Cancellation and Interruption Coverage in the Event of a Hurricane
Now, I have not taken the time to explore every conceivable travel insurance policy on the planet. If you are traveling to a destination during hurricane season, please make certain that you understand the coverages available to you.
Here’s the “covered reasons” language from one of our trusted travel insurance partners:
- Common Carrier delays resulting from inclement weather, or mechanical breakdown or organized labor strikes that affect public transportation
- Arrangements canceled by an airline, cruise line, motor coach company, or tour operator, resulting from inclement weather, mechanical breakdown or organized labor strikes that affect public transportation
- Your home made uninhabitable by fire, flood, volcano, earthquake, hurricane or other natural disasters
- Your destination made uninhabitable by fire, flood, volcano, earthquake, hurricane or other natural disasters
- Mandatory evacuation ordered by local authorities at your destination due to hurricane or other natural disasters
So, as you can see, a good travel insurance policy will protect your travel investment if a hurricane affects your home, your destination, or your travel carrier. And again, this language is not found in all travel insurance policies. For example, mandatory evacuation at your destination is not covered in many policies.
You should also know that attempting to purchase travel insurance once a hurricane has been named is folly. You will not be covered. Purchase your travel insurance up front and give yourself a little piece of mind should a covered event ruin your travel plans.
Last, a good travel advisor can help you sort this all out and will always recommend travel insurance to protect your travel investment.
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