Travel insurance is an important part of vacation preparation, but many people leave it to the last minute. Whether you’re unsure about the kind of coverage you need for your trip or need to find specific coverage for certain activities, sifting through offers from travel insurance companies can be a confusing and time-consuming process.
When you buy travel insurance, you’re covered for a range of situations that can alter your vacation to the point of you losing money on deposits and prepaid packages. It covers situations from trip cancellation to baggage loss. The last thing you want is to end up with a policy that doesn’t give you the coverage you expect, which is where travel insurance agents earn their money.
Travel insurance agents are a special type of travel agent, one that recommends specific travel insurance policies and helps travel clients organize personalized policies to suit their vacation plans. In this article, we explain the major advantages of travel insurance agents to help you decide whether to use one to purchase travel insurance.
It may seem counterintuitive, but as a traveler, you typically don’t pay your travel agent. Instead, agents earn their money from commission on trips they sell, and that includes travel insurance packages.
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One of the primary advantages of travel insurance agents is their specialized knowledge of a range of travel insurance coverage options. They possess meaningful experience working in all aspects of the travel industry and know the fine points of travel insurance. They’re an ideal resource for questions about the kind of policy you need.
Some travel insurance policies are tricky to understand. They have exclusions, add-ons and specific reasons why you can make a claim. A travel insurance agent can tell you about past and current clients and their experiences with filed claims from the various insurance companies they deal with.
They can tell you which insurers are easy to deal with — and which are not. Often these agents have experience selling insurance from several companies. In addition, agents have experience with industry trends related to insurance in the post-COVID-19 area. Almost all travel Insurance companies made changes to policies in the wake of the pandemic. That’s the kind of information that can put you at ease with an insurer and a policy.
Personalized Service
When you organize travel insurance for yourself, you usually end up with a standard trip protection policy. One more benefit of working with a travel insurance agent is that you’ll receive a personalized service that often means more comprehensive travel insurance.
A travel insurance agent will listen to your travel needs and take the time to understand what your vacation will involve and what coverage you need. If a family member or anyone in your travel party has medical conditions, agents can advise you on the appropriate coverage for any medical costs that might come about because of pre-existing conditions that need medical attention while abroad.
By taking the guesswork out of travel insurance and providing a personal service, a travel insurance agent ensures you get exactly the coverage you need.
Time and Effort Savings
Most of us are used to shopping for car insurance, homeowners insurance and renters insurance. Travel insurance is a lesser-shopped insurance, which makes having to pick the best trip insurance on your own daunting and sometimes frustrating. A significant advantage of travel insurance agents helping with your travel arrangements is that they can save you a lot of time and effort and make the lead-up to your vacation more relaxing.
A travel insurance agent will handle policy research, do the comparison shopping and prepare the paperwork. This is especially useful for travelers pressed for time before their trip or who need help sorting specific assistance services.
Claims Assistance and Support
The final advantage, and perhaps the most important benefit, of using travel insurance agents is that they can help you during the claims process. If you experience a trip interruption, flight cancellations, lost luggage, travel delay or even something as serious as a natural disaster or accidental death, you’ll get agent support as you submit a claim and have access to an expert who can advise on the process.
Whether you’re trying to claim reimbursem*nt medical expenses, a percentage of your trip cost or claim some of your travel insurance benefits, a travel insurance agent can act as an advocate while you’re making a claim and help to navigate potential challenges. They’ll have a lot of experience making claims, which can be incredibly valuable when the process is long and complicated.
The Bottom Line: Should You Use a Travel Insurance Agent?
Finding and purchasing travel insurance is a key part of preparing for a vacation, and using a travel insurance agent is one of the best ways to ensure that you end up with a policy that will offer travel assistance and medical coverage if something goes wrong while you travel. You might end up saving some money if you do the work and find a provider yourself, but a travel insurance agent can make this search process faster and more straightforward, offering expert insight and advice on how to get the best possible coverage.
You should use a travel insurance agent if you’re new to purchasing travel insurance, you need a particular type of travel medical insurance, or you’re pressed for time and want to find the best insurance deal without having to do all the research yourself. Not only will you benefit from using an insurance agent to choose the best policy, but they can also offer valuable advice and support if you need to make a claim, helping to ensure you receive the reimbursem*nt you’re owed.
Frequently Asked Questions About Using Travel Insurance Agents
Using a travel insurance agent is a better option than buying travel protection online because you get a much more personalized service if you need to make a claim. If something goes wrong with your trip, you have a professional helping you fight to get your insurance claim. Often agents provide email addresses and phone numbers of insurance company representatives to help push your claim through. It will save you time sitting on hold on the phone or waiting for an email reply.
Travel insurance agents get paid by commission. This means they get a portion of the profits of every sale that they make. When an agent gets a customer to purchase insurance, they’ll get a percentage of the travel insurance cost as payment from the provider that the customer chose.
Typical travel agents are useful when you’re looking for insurance for last-minute travel plans. They can make the process of finding and buying insurance faster and less stressful. Insurance agents, specifically, may have more experience securing a specific travel insurance plan to give you more peace of mind, whether it’s trip health insurance, airfare protection or emergency medical evacuation coverage.
Charlotte Armitage is a copywriter and content manager writing for brands primarily in the travel and recruitment industries. Writing is a major hobby as well as an occupation, but she also spends her time reading, dancing and bouldering.
Tori Addison is an editor with over five years of experience in the digital marketing industry. Her includes communications and marketing work in the nonprofit, governmental and academic sectors. A journalist by trade, she started her career covering politics and news in New York’s Hudson Valley. Her work included coverage of local and state budgets, federal financial regulations and health care legislation.
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