The Insurance with the Mostest (Part II)

With a $500 price-tag looming over our heads for medical and travel insurance we decided that, although a wonderful and comprehensive plan, it was time to look at other travel insurance options - bring up the Excel spreadsheet. 

For a quick comparison we used BCAA, as their website also lets you generate an insurance quote online. Of course, there were some major discrepancies between this BCAA policy and what World Nomads offers that we weren't overly thrilled about; although, BCAA offers ten million emergency medical and unlimited medical transportation, all other coverage, including trip cancellation and personal effects, must be added on at an additional cost. However, the price was much more reasonable at $147 per person.

With this new price we let out a sigh of relief, we would be able to afford basic coverage for the duration of our trip without reconfiguring the budget. However we still had one significant issue; as I mentioned in Part I of this post, backpackers often have expensive electronics in their packs and we are no different, with a DSL camera, iPods, and laptop. Therefore, going with the basic, and cheaper, travel insurance, didn't offer protection for our personal effects.

There are a few different options available to bridge this gap with the first being almost free - often these items are covered by homeowners insurance and therefore additional coverage isn't always necessary. Unfortunately as we are renting our place out our home insurance isn't comprehensive enough so opted to buy additional coverage which set us back $20 each when combined with the basic travel insurance. Again, it's best to shop around as you can buy individual policies for certain items or general coverage up to a dollar limit (ours covers up to $1500 in damage, theft, etc...).  

Personal effect coverage and taxes included, our insurance came out to about $200 each - a $100 savings each over the policy offered by World Nomads. It's worth noting that we didn't buy trip cancellation service and with this additional cost added in World Nomad's offering becomes even more competitive.

Travel insurance is both important and very personal, so be sure to look around, compare prices, and find the best option for you

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