Do you buy the Trip Insurance

[mommyceratops]

Hi! This is our first DVC trip and I am looking at the trip insurance? Do you buy thiers or someplace else? Or not at all?

Thanks!

Kim

 

[manning]

I would say it makes sense if you are going to travel outside of the USA only that you buy health insurance. The majority of companies health insurance will not provide coverage outside of USA. My company does because, I believe, it is an England based company. At least that is the only reason I can come up with. The company I worked for was a domestic company and Insurance didn't cover international travel. That changed after the buyout. However we have to pay the bills ourselves and file a claim.

 

[mommyceratops]

I would say it makes sense if you are going to travel outside of the USA only that you buy health insurance. The majority of companies health insurance will not provide coverage outside of USA. My company does because, I believe, it is an England based company. At least that is the only reason I can come up with. The company I worked for was a domestic company and Insurance didn't cover international travel. That changed after the buyout. However we have to pay the bills ourselves and file a claim.

We live in the US I was just thinking if we had to cancel? They send you that blue paper in your reservations about the insurance?

Thanks,
Kim

 

[bicker]

Kim: I feel folks in that situation are best "self-insuring". Insurance is a for-profit business, so on average, you're going to pay more in than you get out. The only time you want to buy insurance is when you cannot afford to pay for your "losses" from your own savings.

For example, medical evacuation from a cruise ship costs tens of thousands of dollars, so it is worth it to me to pay a little bit for each cruise for cruise insurance on the off-chance that I might, on one of the handful of cruises I'll take in my lifetime, incur that "loss". By contrast, canceling a DVC vacation costs me practically nothing at all (the money is spent already), so insuring against that "loss" is always going to be a bad financial decision IMHO.

 

[Doug Wolfe]

I have never done the insurance. But this year I will at least look into it.

Why? My trip is to Vero Beach.

Vero Beach + Atlantic Ocean = $ Hurricane $

If it makes sense, I will purchase it. If not, I'll just run the risk. It is true I may never use the trip insurance, but I have fire insurance on my house and have never used that either.

 

[JimMIA]

The problem with using travel insurance for a DVC points stay is: "What is the value of the points?" If you are a renter, obviously the value is whatever you paid, but if you're an owner, it's hard to set a value.

For that reason, the only company I know who will insure points is Travel Guard, through the DVC flyer you mentioned. But they only pay $5 per point, I believe. That's less than the real value of the points (for me, at least), but better than nothing. You just have to look at the cost vs. what you would receive.

Also, be very sure you understand what would be covered. If a storm threatens, and you are afraid to go, they may NOT cover that. If a storm messes up your travel, but doesn't affect VB, they may NOT cover that. There are a lot of issues with hurricane coverage, so check carefully.

The good thing is, the Travel Guard people are very knowledgeable and will go out of their way to explain everything to you. Give them a call.

 

[toesmom]

We're going end of august and asked about insurance due to hurricane. We were told only way insurance would apply is if the hotel wasn't able to run because of hurricane, otherwise wouldn't work.

We declined insurance.

 

[Doug Wolfe]

Vero Beach of course was closed for several months in 2004 because of a hurricane. So it does happen. Decisions - Decisions.

 

[Cruelladeville]

A couple of years ago there was a power outage all over the Eastern Seaboard, and I was stuck at the airport. I stayed overnight, but the next day they wouldn't let us out until very late, and it was only a weekend trip. Trip insurance covered the hotel, not the airfare, and not the points. Why? because you have to ask DVC to restore the pts, and reschedule the airfare. since MS put the pts back into my account, and NWA gave me a replacement ticket, the only cost I had was $103 for the hotel and a meal, which the insurance paid. However, the insurance cost more than that. I won't ever get trip insurance again for Florida.

 

[mommyceratops]

So sounds like it is and isn't worth it.

Last year we had bought the insurance through Disney (before DVC members) and it was worth it because I ended up needing surgery and my doctor would not let me travel. So we had to postpone. It was not a problem because we had the insurance.

My son has asthma so that is why we bought it thinking if he got sick we would have to postpone.

So my thinking is if someone gets sick what happens to our points?

Thanks,
Kim

 

[dis-happy]

I booked a ressie with MS last week and was kind of suprised that the CM seemed to be "pushing" the insurance. Not sure what was up with that!