Is Alliianz Travel Insurance the best... other options?

[pratzert]

Hi.  We are booked on a 10 day Greece/Italy cruise in October and want to purchase Insurance.

 

Our Agent has quoted 3 levels of insurance thru Allianz.

 

It seems very pricey for the premium and the level of coverage not so extensive.

 

For example, the two lower tiers have NO accident coverage at all.

 

So what other suggestions do you have for travel insurance?

 

Thanks

 

 

 

 

[GeezerCouple]

56 minutes ago, pratzert said:

Hi.  We are booked on a 10 day Greece/Italy cruise in October and want to purchase Insurance.

 

Our Agent has quoted 3 levels of insurance thru Allianz.

 

It seems very pricey for the premium and the level of coverage not so extensive.

 

For example, the two lower tiers have NO accident coverage at all.

 

So what other suggestions do you have for travel insurance?

 

Thanks

You might do well to contact a travel insurance broker, someone who offers policies from several different insurers.  They would have more ability to help you find something that suits *you*, rather than simply quickly sell you a policy that gives them a commission... without much work.

 

Many of us here on CC use:

www.TripInsuranceStore.com

(There are other brokers; we are among those who have had excellent experiences using TIS after learning about it here on CC ~10 years ago.  And yes, we've had several claims.)

 

But CALL and discuss your specific situation.

The online summaries just can't get into the detailed specifics, or ask you certain questions to help you find the best for *you*.

 

GC

[CDNPolar]

3 hours ago, pratzert said:

Hi.  We are booked on a 10 day Greece/Italy cruise in October and want to purchase Insurance.

 

Our Agent has quoted 3 levels of insurance thru Allianz.

 

It seems very pricey for the premium and the level of coverage not so extensive.

 

For example, the two lower tiers have NO accident coverage at all.

 

So what other suggestions do you have for travel insurance?

 

Thanks

 

 

 

 

 

Price is always dependent on what you are covering and how much you are covering.

 

If airfare is a credit if canceled then it cannot be claimed on your insurance.  Example:  I buy air for two people and the total cost is 5K but if I cancel the flights I retain the value but must pay a change fee or change in fare.  Insurance is not going to pay on this because it is essentially not a lost cost - you still have the value.

 

When calculating what cost to cover, make sure you are not including costs that are either refundable or become a credit.

 

You may know this, but just in case.

[Coral]

I bought a policy of Alianz for a land trip to Canada though my TA (she only sells one version). I broke my wrist. I have to say they were amazing to work with to get back to my home town for surgery.

[Fairgarth]

19 hours ago, pratzert said:

 

Our Agent has quoted 3 levels of insurance thru Allianz.

 

For thirty years I bought travel medical insurance from Allianz and never had a claim.  Then last year I did.  I'm through, never again.  For six months I did not know if or when or how much they would pay out.  That is ridiculous. To be fair, they did pay up in the end.

 

In talking to my agent, she is now steering people away from Allianz since she has heard too many negative stories.  This experience has changed my perspective.  Most people seem to care about how much the insurance will cost.  I don't any more.  Cheap insurance that doesn't pay out when you need it is useless.  You need to figure out what is covered and what isn't.  Then try and figure out their track record in meeting claims.  Any insurance will duck and dodge and squirm rather than pay out.  I often think insurance is like buying a dog and barking yourself.

[CDNPolar]

18 hours ago, Fairgarth said:

 

For thirty years I bought travel medical insurance from Allianz and never had a claim.  Then last year I did.  I'm through, never again.  For six months I did not know if or when or how much they would pay out.  That is ridiculous. To be fair, they did pay up in the end.

 

In talking to my agent, she is now steering people away from Allianz since she has heard too many negative stories.  This experience has changed my perspective.  Most people seem to care about how much the insurance will cost.  I don't any more.  Cheap insurance that doesn't pay out when you need it is useless.  You need to figure out what is covered and what isn't.  Then try and figure out their track record in meeting claims.  Any insurance will duck and dodge and squirm rather than pay out.  I often think insurance is like buying a dog and barking yourself.

 

I am sorry that you are having this experience.

 

It is my opinion that many people - not all, but many - don't take the time to truly understand what they are purchasing in insurance.

 

There are so many little things and interpreting language of the policy that come into play.

[Coral]

22 hours ago, Fairgarth said:

 

For thirty years I bought travel medical insurance from Allianz and never had a claim.  Then last year I did.  I'm through, never again.  For six months I did not know if or when or how much they would pay out.  That is ridiculous. To be fair, they did pay up in the end.

 

In talking to my agent, she is now steering people away from Allianz since she has heard too many negative stories.  This experience has changed my perspective.  Most people seem to care about how much the insurance will cost.  I don't any more.  Cheap insurance that doesn't pay out when you need it is useless.  You need to figure out what is covered and what isn't.  Then try and figure out their track record in meeting claims.  Any insurance will duck and dodge and squirm rather than pay out.  I often think insurance is like buying a dog and barking yourself.

Was there something unusual in your case?

 

I have filed multiple claims through out the years. Mostly on a parent, all claims paid with out incident. I used Allianz last fall personally and I thought they were amazing to work with. They paid quickly and promptly. My agent loves Allianz and right now, so do I. BTW - I had 3 claims on my broken wrist with them (medical out of the country, getting back to the US which they paid directly and then coverage of cancelled hotels and expenses while waiting to get back to the US).

[Fairgarth]

3 hours ago, Coral said:

Was there something unusual in your case?

 

 

Never having had a claim I don't know if this was unusual or not.  I was on a cruise ship in the Adriatic when I had to go to the medical bay and ran up a bill of over five grand.  Which, of course, got paid on my credit card not by Allianz.  I filed a claim when I got home.  It took 11 weeks for them to contact my doctor for my medical records.  Slim pickin's, there's nothing there.  The only reason for doing that, of course, is to find some excuse for denying the claim.  They paid my doctor's bill right away.

 

Two weeks later I got an email from Allianz to check the status of my claim.  I signed in and saw a green tick and the text "all done".  I did not know what that meant but it sounded encouraging.  Silly boy!  I waited another four weeks then called to enquire and was told it had been referred for review and that would take two to three weeks.  After another four weeks I called to enquire again and this time was told it had been referred for review and would take another eight to ten weeks.  That was also wrong since a cheque showed up in the mail three weeks later.  Start to finish was 23 weeks.  There's only 52 weeks in the year.  Having bought Allianz insurance for thirty years and never had a claim I'm not impressed and have found a new supplier.

[klfrodo]

Hope this never happens again but the best advice to the next person this happens to is to ensure you don't leave the ship without copies of your medical records and doctors notes. You may have to pay for these copies, but that is reimbursable also. This way, you can submit this documentation with the claim.

Glad it all worked out in the end.

[Coral]

1 hour ago, Fairgarth said:

 

Never having had a claim I don't know if this was unusual or not.  I was on a cruise ship in the Adriatic when I had to go to the medical bay and ran up a bill of over five grand.  Which, of course, got paid on my credit card not by Allianz.  I filed a claim when I got home.  It took 11 weeks for them to contact my doctor for my medical records.  Slim pickin's, there's nothing there.  The only reason for doing that, of course, is to find some excuse for denying the claim.  They paid my doctor's bill right away.

That is a long time. I do have to say I had copies of all of my medical records that they needed it and uploaded that right away. I also agree with not leaving a ship/hospital with out copies of everything. 

 

I did have some weirdness in my claim. For example - they paid me for my ambulance bill but paid the hospital directly for my bill there. I submitted the receipts the same way.

 

I was lucky - in Canada, they did not ask for payment on the day of service for medical.

[Coral]

2 hours ago, Fairgarth said:

 

Never having had a claim I don't know if this was unusual or not.  I was on a cruise ship in the Adriatic when I had to go to the medical bay and ran up a bill of over five grand.  Which, of course, got paid on my credit card not by Allianz.

I do not know of any ship that takes "travel insurance". You always need to pay for this on your own. This is standard.

[Fairgarth]

4 hours ago, klfrodo said:

Hope this never happens again but the best advice to the next person this happens to is to ensure you don't leave the ship without copies of your medical records and doctors notes. You may have to pay for these copies, but that is reimbursable also. This way, you can submit this documentation with the claim.

Glad it all worked out in the end.

 

Excellent advice!  I left the ship with pages and pages of documentation.  No charge.

 

We jumped ship and flew home after four days of a ten day cruise.  We had to buy new airfares and an overnight hotel since we could not use our original bookings.  I was worried about the medical bill and it never crossed my mind that these other expenses might also be claimable.  Too late now.  Older, sadder and wiser.

[Coral]

43 minutes ago, Fairgarth said:

 

Excellent advice!  I left the ship with pages and pages of documentation.  No charge.

 

We jumped ship and flew home after four days of a ten day cruise.  We had to buy new airfares and an overnight hotel since we could not use our original bookings.  I was worried about the medical bill and it never crossed my mind that these other expenses might also be claimable.  Too late now.  Older, sadder and wiser.

I actually called them after I broke my wrist. I had told the hospital I wanted to go home for surgery. Allianz told me to get a hotel (they sent a list but I didn't use any of those hotels and stayed at a hotel connected to airport) and call them back once at the hotel. When I called them, they offered to send a medical escort with me. Within 24 hours, they sent me flights to approve and 48 hours later, someone picked me up in my room and Allianz flew me home Business Class with a medical escort. I had to send them pictures of my passport and sign a release. They paid for the flights so I never saw that bill. I paid for the hotel and they reimbursed me for that plus food, etc....

 

I definitely learned a lot in this process. Yes - older and wiser.

[Fairgarth]

Wow!  That is impressive, I'm glad you got treated so well.