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Courtesy of Miranda Marquit.
Frequent traveler Miranda Marquit doesn't always purchase travel insurance. But she was glad she did when three days before she was supposed to leave for China, she still didn't have her visa. She knew that because she had purchased travel insurance insurance, missing her flight wouldn't equate to thousands of lost dollars. She'd be able to get her money back.
Fortunately, the visa came in at the eleventh hour, allowing her to attend a once-in-a-lifetime wedding without having to file a claim. But the peace of mind provided by her insurance policy, she says, was worth it.
Marquit is a prolific freelance writer, with a career that allows her to work from anywhere with an internet connection. In a typical year, she takes four to six trips that are at least five days long.
Here are the four questions Marquit asks herself as she considers whether a trip is worth insuring.
A few years ago, Marquit booked a Viking River Cruise with her son. The trip was a year and half out, and a lot can happen over the course of 18 months.
"In that case, I am 100% purchasing the travel insurance that they offer," Marquit said. "Because if something weird happens, if somebody dies, if I get sick, if circumstances change, if I have to move, whatever it is, I want to make sure that I have that insurance."
On the other hand, when she got a last-minute invitation to see The Killers in residency in Las Vegas, she jumped on the opportunity to get cheap airfare from her hometown of Idaho Falls and free lodging with her cousin. The trip was less than three weeks away, so there was a lot less time for something unexpected to pop up. In that case, she went without insurance.
Another aspect that comes into play for Marquit is the trip costs. Her Las Vegas airfare cost her $60, and the insurance would have run her $6 (10% of her total spend). The Viking River Cruise was much more expensive at $6,000, with insurance premiums somewhere around $400, about 6% of her total spend.
While the cost of the trip does come into play, she doesn't spend a lot of time thinking about percentages before she clicks purchase. Instead, she has a squishy dollar threshold that usually triggers her decision to invest in travel insurance or not.
"I have found a lot of the time that $700 mark is about where I start thinking it's worth it to consider travel insurance with the financial risk," Marquit says.
On a $700 trip, she finds the insurance premiums tend to be around $14 or $15, which comes out to about 2% of her total spend.
Another factor Marquit considers is her credit card benefits. Sometimes, her credit card has travel insurance to cover things like lost baggage and trip cancellations. In these cases, she skips the additional travel insurance offered through the booking agency, as it's often redundant.
Marquit doesn't spend a whole lot of time shopping around for travel insurance. For example, when she booked the Viking River cruise, she simply purchased the insurance offered through Viking. While she does read the fine print to ensure she knows what is and isn't covered, the price difference between insurers often isn't large enough to make a difference.
She notes that if it were a recurring bill, like car insurance or life insurance, it might be worth comparison shopping to save that extra money in premiums every month. But since travel insurance is a one-off purchase, she goes with the most convenient option.
"For me, I have found the difference in cost has not been big enough to warrant doing a big, deep dive into trying to get a bunch of quotes," Marquit says. "Ultimately, a difference in price of between $5 and $10 is not worth the hour of my time to shop around."
