Calculating Trip Cost for Travel Insurance

Last updated on 03/28/2023

Correctly calculating trip cost is vital to finding the right travel insurance plan. Your final trip cost will have a hand in determining the price of a plan. Sometimes, travelers get tripped up when they hear trip cost because they assume it includes every expense made while traveling. However, the "insurable" trip cost is not the same as "total" trip cost.

What Does Insurable Trip Cost Mean?

Essentially, you can only add prepaid, non-refundable expenses to a travel insurance plan. In other words, you can only insure the amount of prepaid costs that will not be refunded entirely in the event of a covered cancellation.

Typically, these expenses comprise of airline tickets, cruise costs, and even hotels, tours, and prepaid excursions. Almost all plans insure expenditures like event tickets or theme park admissions too. Expenses like tuition or class fees and popular expenses for business trips are also insurable, but only with specific companies.

How Do I Calculate Trip Cost?

Calculating trip cost may not be as straightforward as we would all hope. For instance, costs that you do not have to pay before traveling, but will be assessed in the event of a covered cancellation, can be insured. Any money that you would lose if you have to cancel your trip before departure, or on the day of, is what you want to insure.

If you are booking a flight using frequent flyer miles, understand they cannot be added to your trip cost for a travel insurance plan. Only the government taxes and fees associated with the frequent flyer miles can be insured, but the miles/points may not. This is because the credit card or airline will have a way of reimbursing the points or miles.

The price of a travel insurance plan and the benefit eligibility rely on trip cost. Remember, you must insure 100% of your prepaid, non-refundable expenses to be eligible for certain benefits. Don't forget that you can always add trip cost to your plan after purchase. The key is to purchase a plan as soon as you make your first trip payment or book your flights. If you add costs as you get closer to your departure date, you can add this to your insured trip cost, but know those additions to your trip cost may result in a higher premium due to some benefit levels increasing.

Disclaimer: The information contained in this article serves as a general overview of benefits and should only be used for informational purposes. Refer to your individual certificate of insurance for specific coverages, exclusions and benefits. When in doubt, please contact one of our licensed agents for additional assistance.