Peter Greenberg: Buying Annual Trip Insurance
By: Peter Greenberg | Source: AARP.org | 2008-02-23
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We are frequent travelers and thus far have rarely used travel insurance to cover our trips, but as we do some long-range travel planning, this is becoming more necessary. Is it possible to buy annual trip insurance covering all possible trips during a year, or are such insurances only available on a trip-by-trip basis?
–Josef, Ferndale, Wash.
Most of the major travel insurance providers do offer something in the way of annual or multi-trip insurance. Some travel-insurance plans to consider include the following:
Travel Guard offers insurance plans which can be tailored to specific types of travel. With this, you have the opportunity to book last-minute getaways and extended trips; thus, you have flexibility in getting insured for more long-range travel planning.
Travel Insurance Center offers annual, multi-trip packages, which cover all trips throughout the year. These are subject to a maximum length of 15–180 days per trip, depending upon the plan you choose. Click here for details on the travel-insurance deals offered. There is also the annual multi-trip travel, medical, evacuation, and accident insurance for domestic and international travel—also for an unlimited number of trips over a one-year period.
Access America is one of the largest travel-insurance providers in existence. They offer five different standard, multi-trip travel plans, with the Basic and Classic packages covering most of the things an average traveler needs in coverage and benefits.
Travelex Insurance services was given the highest insurance rating (A+) by the independent travel-insurance analysts at InsureMyTrip.com (a very useful site, by the way, for comparing travel-insurance companies). For an annual plan covering multiple trips, Travelex simply provides a plan that will act to cover all of your trips for the year. The rates are also not determined by the travelers' age, but the level of flight accident coverage chosen.
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