What you didnt know about hurricanes and travel insurance

What you didn’t know about hurricanes and travel insurance

St Pete Beach, FL, Aug 29 2005 – As hurricane Katrina bears down on New Orleans, a little known clause in most travel insurance policies could really make a difference, but only if you know you are eligible to make a claim:

Most travel insurance policies have a clause allowing the insured traveler to return home if their home is rendered uninhabitable.

One insurance agent (http://www.squaremouth.com) routinely checks through its database during severe weather events for customers who live within the affected area but have already left on vacation. They then contact the traveler, letting them know they can return home and make a claim.

Chris Harvey, President of squaremouth.com says “We are based in St Pete Beach in Tampa Bay, Florida, so we are acutely aware of the issues surrounding the potential damage to your home from hurricanes. If you are on vacation and your home is damaged we know you will most likely return home immediately. We also know you probably will not make a claim for the return flight or the unused portion of your vacation because you may not realize you can. If you are insured through us and you live in an affected area, we will contact you as soon as possible to let you know you can claim, so there is one less thing to worry about.”

Other facts about how hurricanes and severe weather impact travel insurance:

1 – You can claim if your flight is cancelled because you are either traveling to or traveling from an area affected by the hurricane.

2 – You can claim if you are in an area that is under a mandatory evacuation and you have to leave for a few days.

3 – You can claim if you are in an area that is under a mandatory evacuation order and you have to either cut short or extend your vacation.

4 – You can claim if your home was rendered uninhabitable by the storm.

5 – You cannot make a claim if the hurricane or storm was named BEFORE you purchased insurance.

This is an important part of any type of insurance and is referred to as a “named event”. Chris Harvey explains: “A named event clause exists within most policies to protect the insurance companies by stopping people buying insurance when they know something bad may happen. As soon as a tropical depression becomes a tropical storm and gets a name, insurance companies will not provide coverage. This clause is also relevant for other events like terrorism and airline strikes”

http://www.squaremouth.com is a website that specializes in comparing all the major travel insurance plans. The site has unique research capabilities as well as providing instant quotes, coverage and immediate confirmation.

For more information contact Chris Harvey at 727-490-5802 or charvey@squaremouth.com or visit http://www.quotetravelinsurance.com.

CONTACT:
Chris Harvey
squaremouth.com
Toll Free (800) 240-0369
charvey@squaremouth.com
http://www.squaremouth.com
http://www.quotetravelinsurance.com

Ways to avoid buying the wrong travel insurance.

St Pete Beach, Florida – March 2005 - If an emergency occurs during your vacation it could be a major disaster if you do not have the right travel insurance. Quotetravelinsurance.com President Chris Harvey offers some advice gleaned from his experience building the website that compares and dissects all the top travel insurance policies in the USA.

Where should I buy insurance?
Beware of the hard sell - Insist on choice!
This is very important as most travel websites and tour/cruise operators either automatically include or will hard sell you their own policy. This is usually inferior to the freely available packages and can be much more expensive as it could include large “administration” charges. Your cruise operator may insist that customers take out its insurance as a condition of the booking. If you are in this position and still want to make the booking, print out your policy EOB (evidence of benefits) page and compare it to the market leading policies using comparison tools such as www.quotetravelinsurance.com. At least you will know if you are missing out on any vital coverage.

If you are making your own arrangements or are using a travel website or agent that will allow you as much choice in insurance as they give you in vacations, save time by using a comparison. This saves you jumping from site to site and typing the same details over and over again.

When should I buy insurance?
Most insurers will offer full coverage for any pre-existing medical condition if you buy their policy within 10 to 14 days (depending on insurer) from the date you made the first payment towards your trip. They will also throw in bankruptcy coverage if you meet this requirement.
Don’t worry if it’s already more than 14 days since your deposit as medical coverage is provided for any new emergency that’s not connected to an existing condition. Most insurers also only look back 6 months to determine pre-existing conditions.

Not withstanding the advice above you could purchase your policy anytime up to the day you are traveling although if you leave it this late beware that coverage does not start until midnight on the day of purchase.

Your policy will cost the same whether you make the purchase a day or a year before you travel (as its cost is determined by your age, length and cost of trip and number of travelers). So it’s always better to purchase sooner rather than later as you get the extra cancellation coverage without extra charge.

How much should I pay?
Every identical policy is sold at the same price regardless of who sells it! Look for added value and insist there are no extra “administration” charges added by anyone other than the insurance company.

Average family of four – expect to pay around 4 to 7% of your total trip cost.Single traveler under 50 – expect around 5% of total trip cost.If you are over 60 but under 70 - expect to pay around 6 to 10%.Over 70 – you should expect insurance to cost up to 12% but you may find as low as 9% of your total trip cost.

We explain to our customers that they usually do not loose benefits by buying the cheapest policy and in most cases get much more coverage than the most expensive package on offer. One reason for this is insurance companies aim their products at certain types of traveler. When policy A is cheapest for a family all aged under 40 years old, it may be close to the most expensive if the travelers are over 70. A good, easy to use comparison site is a must have for this type of research as there is no way to tell this unless you can easily change information while looking at comparative quotes.

How do I know if an insurer will look after my family in an emergency?
The short answer is in most cases you don’t unless you have successfully claimed from them before. www.quotetravelinsurance.com offers a zero complaint policy which means an insurer selling products on its site does so only while it has maintains a flawless record with its customers. “If even one of our clients has a complaint that we cannot resolve to our satisfaction, we will remove that insurer from our site.” Explains Chris Harvey, “it’s the most important thing we do, it’s way too late when you are in the middle of an emergency in a foreign country to find out you made a bad choice in insurer”. “We sell a large number of policies and know that an insurer would not want to loose that business by having one complaint. We choose the insurers on our site very carefully and stand behind their quality.”

Where can I get further information?
http://www.quotetravelinsurance.com is the most comprehensive travel insurance comparison site in the world and offers easy to use yet powerful tools to allow you to make the most informed choice available. Alternatively you can call its help line toll free at (866)874-7226.

CONTACT:
Chris Harvey
Quotetravelinsurance.com
727-363-3731
charvey@squaremouth.com
http://www.quotetravelinsurance.com

quotetravelinsurance.com changes its name, reports 300% second year growth and releases more industry first features

ST PETE BEACH, FL Feb 16 2005 -- www.quotetravelinsurance.com today becomes www.squaremouth.com and launches the latest in a long line of industry first feature additions to the site which allows travelers to compare every travel insurance product instantly, research insurance plans and purchase -- all from one simple interface.

"We have taken great care to create a comparative quote engine that is unique, simple, fast and much more than just a list of products" said Chris Harvey, President of squaremouth.com. "No other site out there matches squaremouth.com’s comparative tools, ease of use, depth of information or unique rating tools."

squaremouth.com visitors can obtain and compare quotes from over 60 plans by answering just eight questions. Visitors can then compare plans side-by-side, show any individual coverage benefit for all plans, check rating for each benefit and purchase plans directly with instant PDF policy documentation.

Travelers who require in-depth information before making a purchase can view a rating for every single benefit within every single policy, choose to research from 18 different lines of coverage, ranging from bankruptcy protection to medical insurance. Those wanting even more information before purchasing policies can research insurance carriers and view full policy certificates online. All carriers are hand-picked based on our own rating system and also ratings from insurance industry watchdog AM Best.

"squaremouth.com is an independent travel insurance agency that has just completed its second full year in operation posting a 300% increase in premium over year one. Each member of our team has over 15 years experience in the insurance marketplace," Matt Outten, CTO of squaremouth.com explained. "We provide quotations only for products and companies that meet our standards of excellence. If a company has made it to our list, travelers can rest assured we will stand behind our recommendations. If we ever find the service our customers receive does not meet our expectations, we will remove the offending carrier from our site and no longer sell its products."

Kevin Herlihy, National Account Manager for Travel Insured International, which is one of the top travel insurance carriers in the USA, stated, "This is one of the best travel insurance quote engines I have seen. We are excited to be a part of it."

For more information contact Chris Harvey at 727-363-3731 or charvey@squaremouth.com.com, or visit http://www.squaremouth.com.

CONTACT:
Chris Harvey
squaremouth.com
866-874-7226
charvey@squaremouth.com http://www.squaremouth.com

How to avoid confusion and questionable practices when buying travel insurance.

The best way to compare travel insurance plans is to visit a comparison website. However, some comparison websites make the process very confusing and some even mislead the unwary.

Make sure you receive an immediate policy number
Look for the ability to purchase on-line or over the phone and immediately receive a policy number along with a PDF printable copy of your policy documentation. The insurance carrier should also send out a hard copy within 10 days unless you have purchased one of the few email only policies.

Some websites are not automated however, they make it look like they are. If you do not receive an immediate policy number then you have ordered from a site that simply holds your data until an operator manually types your order onto the insurance carriers website. You would have been much better off had you done that yourself!

If this happens to you, cancel the policy. An agent is required by law to give you a full refund (minus a small admin fee of around $5) within 10 days of your purchase.

This practice is very dubious for a number of reasons. There are many potential problems such as issues with security, typing errors and privacy. Lets say you place an order the evening before you leave on your vacation. If this is done on a fully automated site then the insurance is in force at midnight. If you placed the same order on a non-automated site the insurance carrier would not know you were covered until someone arrives at the office the next day and gets around to manually typing in your policy by visiting the insurance carriers website and entering your order along with their agency number. Even if they enter your order that day, the policy is not in force until midnight. Unfortunately, you have no way of knowing you are not covered and you have already left on your vacation!

Is the agent affiliated with the insurance company?
Call an insurance carrier to check if the website and agent you are using is in-fact an agent of theirs. Some websites show and sell policies for carriers even though they are not agents.
This practice goes hand in hand with the non automation issue above as it is impossible to be fully automated if you are not an agent. The websites that engage in this activity normally have an arrangement with another insurance agent that allows them to enter the other agents number as they manually type in your order.

Is the agent regulated by the Better Business Bureau?
Finally, look for the agent to be regulated by the Better Business Bureau and have a link to see their track record. Call the BBB to check if the agent has received any complaints. Some websites use a sound alike organization. Only the BBB is fully regulated with a bona fide complaints procedure. In other words only trust the Better Business Bureau.

Does the site sell you products you should not be able to buy?
Some websites lack the ability to accurately determine which products you are able to buy. Policies are available or not depending on a number of factors such as the State you live in, the length of time since you made your trip deposit, your age, the number of travelers in your party etc. Websites that engage in this activity either inform you after you have made your purchase, switch products or a combination of both.

Does a site list each plan up to ten times?
Some websites do not allow you to change or select policy options. Options allow you to change benefits such as selecting $500,000 death benefit instead of the $100,000 that comes standard. Most travelers do not change the policy options however, some websites list each plan multiple times as they lack the technology to allow options to be selected by the user. Unfortunately, this makes comparing policies very confusing because you are presented with a single plan 10 times, each with only very minor changes. Look for a site that lists each plan once and allows you to select options. Also make sure that the site remembers you changed that option as you check out different plans. Some websites do not remember the options you changed which means you have to buy the plan you changed before comparing it with other plans or it will re-set to the basic plan as soon as you move away from the policy view.

Does the agent offer a carrier performance guarantee?
Look for a company that will guarantee to get involved on your behalf if you have problems. Travel insurance agents should add value to the purchase otherwise why not buy directly with the insurance carrier?

Does the site rate each benefit and allow you to view all plans for the one benefit you find most important?
Look for a site that rates each benefit within the policy and allows you to easily view a specific benefit for all plans simultaneously. This is important as most travel insurance buyers have one coverage such as medical, evacuation or cancellation that is the driving factor in making that purchase. As most policies are package plans you could easily get lost in the detail of benefits that are included but have no relevance to you so look for the ability to show only the important benefit for all policies and rate that benefit against its competitors.


There is only one travel insurance comparison site that can provide all these tools and services, is a long standing member of the BBB, has thousands of repeat customers, grew 300% in 2004 and is currently 200% up for 2005.

http://www.quotetravelinsurance.com

What is Travel Insurance

Travel insurance protects a traveler's vacation cost against cancellation and interruption while also providing medical, lost or damaged property and travel delay coverage. Travelers are reimbursed if they have to cancel or interrupt their travel, they are also covered should the need arise for emergency medical treatment, medical evacuation and a number of other situations.

Travel insurance can be broken down into the following major categories:

Trip Cancellation – Reimburses travelers unable to take their trip due to Illness or death (of the traveler or a family member), weather, airline strikes, terrorism, bankruptcy, becoming unemployed, jury duty or their home being rendered uninhabitable due to fire/flood etc.

Trip Interruption – Reimburses travelers if they have to cut short their trip due to Illness or death (of the traveler or a family member), weather, airline strikes, terrorism, bankruptcy, becoming unemployed, jury duty or their home being rendered uninhabitable due to fire/flood etc.

Medical/Health – Reimburses medical and emergency dental costs. Almost all travel insurance plans work by reimbursing the traveler after they have paid locally for treatment. Claims are usually paid within 7 to 10 days. Pre-Existing conditions are covered by most policies if the policy is purchased within (at the most) 21 days from the date the traveler made the first trip payment (deposit).

Medical Evacuation – Provides emergency transportation to either a local hospital in the event the traveler is unable to get there by themselves or back to a hospital near the travelers home. If family members are covered on the same policy they can return home also.

Accidental Death – This coverage is split into 3 parts –

Air Flight Accident – Covers death or dismemberment during an air flight only. Usually provides the highest amount of coverage due to a lower risk.

Common Carrier – Covers death or dismemberment while traveling on public transport such as, plane, ferry, train, bus or taxi.

Accidental Death – Covers death or dismemberment at any time on your trip. Usually provides the lowest amount of coverage due to a higher risk.

Travel Delay – Reimburses travelers for hotel, food or clothing expenses in the event of a flight delay. Some plans also cover costs associated with catching up to a cruise should a delay cause the traveler to miss embarkation.


Baggage Loss – Reimburses travelers for lost, stolen or damaged personal items. This coverage is usually for the duration of the trip and not confined to baggage damaged or lost by the airline. There are two policy limits, total claim and per item maximum. Some policies also place limits on the type of items that can be claimed for such as jewelry, laptops and sporting goods.

Rental Car Damage – Reimburses travelers for damage or loss to a rental vehicle. It is designed to allow the traveler to decline CDW (collision damage waiver) coverage offered by the car rental companies. Liability coverage should still be purchased through the car rental company. Rental Car Damage coverage is also often included with the credit card used to pay for the car rental which is often identical to the coverage provided in the policy.

Assistance Services – Provides a 24 hour collect call advice and assistance service to travelers. This service can be used anytime a traveler needs advice.