The coronavirus or COVID-19 was officially recognized as a global pandemic on February 3, 2020. In the following months, travel worldwide essentially came to a standstill. Cruises, tours and trips were cancelled or postponed and the question everyone was asking was: will my travel insurance cover it?
Unfortunately, epidemics and pandemics are listed as exclusions in most travel insurance policies. The reason for these exclusions is because insurance companies must be able to assess the risk for a covered event to determine the pricing of the product. In cases like pandemics, the risk is extremely difficult to calculate because of its unpredictability.
Cancel for Any Reason (CFAR)
Cancel For Any Reason (CFAR) is an extremely flexible benefit that allows you to, you assume correctly, cancel your trip for any reason at all for reimbursement of 50-75% of your insured trip cost. Since pandemics and global travel warnings are still exclusions, it’s likely you’re going to need this type of coverage if you have concerns you’ll have to cancel your trip for one of those reasons.
However, there are some requirements you must meet in order to qualify for this specific type of benefit.
- You must purchase your policy within 14-21 days from your initial trip deposit date.
- 100% of your nonrefundable or prepaid deposits or payments must be insured under the policy.
- Your trip must be cancelled at least 48 hours prior to your trip departure date.
To see if you’re still eligible and compare travel insurance policies with this benefit, run an instant quote and select the filter displayed below.
Bankruptcy / Financial Default
Your travel insurance policy is likely going to have a long list of “covered events” that allow you to cancel and be reimbursed for your insured trip cost. Be aware that some events, like if your travel supplier declares bankruptcy or financial default, may not be automatically included in that list! Be sure to review the complete list of trip cancellation events when comparing policies. Like CFAR, this type of benefit is sometimes a time sensitive benefit to the deposit date.
To ensure you’re quoting a policy with this specific type of coverage, run a quote for your upcoming trip and select the filter below.
Provider Position Statements About COVID-19
All the major travel insurance providers have released position statements regarding the coronavirus outbreak about their policy benefits and exclusions. Click through the links provided below to review each position statement.