While the peak summer travel season has been in full swing for a while now, there’s still time to grab a trip or two before fall — and the cost of insuring your trip is starting to drop. According to travel insurance company Squaremouth, the average premium is currently $280, up from $315 last week.
The exact amount you will pay to insure your trip will depend on your destination, how many people are traveling and several other factors.
Weekly travel insurance rates at a glance:
Average premium: $280.01
Average trip cost: $5,988.37
Average trip duration: 16 days
Average cost of travel insurance by trip
The more you spend on hotels, flights and pre-booked activities and the more you travel, the more you’ll spend on travel insurance.
According to the Travel Insurance Association of the USA, travel insurance generally costs between 4% and 8% of the total trip. We’ve calculated the average cost of travel insurance for both domestic and international travel using the lower and upper ends of that range.
Source: SquareMouth
Average cost of travel insurance by most popular destinations
When controlling for cost, the destination does not change the amount you will spend to insure your trip. It’s worth noting that some countries are naturally more expensive with flight and accommodation costs, which can ultimately increase your travel insurance costs.
Here’s how prices go up:
Source: SquareMouth
When people buy travel insurance
According to a AAA travel survey, 88% of travelers say that reimbursement after canceling a trip is the most valuable benefit of travel insurance.
According to data collected by SquareMouth in the past six months, travelers tend to purchase trip cancellation insurance 53 days before their trip. Meanwhile, travelers without cancellation insurance will purchase a policy approximately 16 days before their trip.
Source: SquareMouth
Average cost of travel insurance by age
A traveler’s age is an important factor in determining the cost of travel insurance. The older a traveler is, the more cost is associated with travel. For example, an older traveler may need more insurance for health-related emergencies than a millennial.
When calculating your travel insurance premium, travel insurance providers take into account the possibility of a medical emergency.
Source: SquareMouth
What does travel insurance cover?
Travel insurance can help reimburse you for non-refundable parts of your trip or help you if you’re injured or face an emergency.
Travel insurance policies cover six main things:
- Cancellation or interruption of travel
- Travel delay
- Medical expenses during the trip
- Damage, delay or loss of baggage
- Emergency transport
- Damage to the rental car
If you have a credit card, you may already have access to some of these coverages without purchasing a separate travel insurance policy. Many airline credit cards or travel credit cards offer trip cancellation, delay coverage, and baggage coverage. For example, the Chase Sapphire Reserve and Chase Sapphire Preferred cards come with several travel coverages, including trip cancellation, interruption and delay coverage, baggage delays, rental cars, accidental death, and dismemberment coverage.
Before getting a travel insurance policy, it is essential to make sure that the terms match your needs or concerns. During the COVID-19 pandemic, this is especially important – each travel insurance company has unique refund and cancellation policies due to this event. Read the fine print of any travel insurance policy before you buy.
