While Cancel For Any Reason travel insurance has been around for many years, many people first discovered it since COVID-19 affected their travel plans. As people canceled their travels due to border closures or pandemic fears, only travelers who had Cancel For Any Reason travel insurance were able to recoup non-refundable costs.

Now, a CFAR insurance policy is necessary to get reimbursed if you don’t want to travel for fear of contracting COVID — or for any other reason not covered by traditional travel insurance policies.

We’ve narrowed down the best Cancel For Any Reason travel insurance plans to include international and domestic travel, families, cruises, adventure, and seniors.

The Best Cancel For Any Reason (CFAR) Travel Insurance

Typically, travelers add CFAR upgrades to eligible policies for an additional fee. CFAR allows the traveler to cancel the trip without specifying a reason and still receive up to a 75% reimbursement of their nonrefundable trip costs.

Motley Fool Stock Advisor recommendations have an average return of 397%. For $79 (or just $1.52 per week), join more than 1 million members and don’t miss their upcoming stock picks. 30 day money-back guarantee. Sign Up Now

Not every CFAR plan is identical, but typically when buying a CFAR policy, you must:

  • Cover all prepaid trip costs
  • Buy within 10 to 21 days of making your first deposit on nonrefundable travel
  • Pay an additional premium for the coverage

Our pick for overall best Cancel For Any Reason (CFAR) travel insurance is Trawick International Safe Travels First Class. It provides comprehensive travel insurance at a reasonable price when adding Cancel For Any Reason.

The other policies mentioned on this list are also comprehensive and may be more cost-effective for specific situations, such as domestic travel. All of the policies have time-sensitive periods, meaning you should buy them early in your trip planning process while you’re still eligible for CFAR. 


Best Overall: Trawick Safe Travels First Class with CFAR

Trawick Logo

Trawick International Safe Travels First Class is a mid-tier plan that offers one of the best 75% reimbursement CFAR values. It balances robust medical insurance and emergency medical evacuation benefits, a healthy list of covered cancellation reasons, and a reasonably priced CFAR premium. Although the cost increases by approximately 58% when adding CFAR, the rates are more competitive than other policies.

Trawick First Class with CFAR is a reliable choice for most trip types if you need travel assistance while away from home or making a claim when you return. The product provides comprehensive coverage without paying the higher price of the most expensive policy. 

I can speak from personal experience that filing a claim with Trawick was uncomplicated and I did not have to constantly remind the insurer how long it had been since I sent the claim. Trawick paid the entire claim without a fuss when I canceled a cruise because my mother died.

Trawick First Class has some notable features: 

  • Optional upgrades for CFAR and rental car damage
  • CFAR time sensitive period: 10 days
  • $150,000 in medical insurance
  • $1,000,000 in evacuation coverage
  • Preexisting condition waiver
  • Trip delay, baggage loss, damage, and delay, accidental death and dismemberment (AD&D), missed connection, rental property damage all included
  • 10-day free look period in most states

Best for International Travel: John Hancock Silver with CFAR

John Hancock Logo

When traveling abroad, it’s important to have good medical insurance and evacuation because medical costs can be very unpredictable.

John Hancock Silver with CFAR is competitively priced and includes strong medical and travel inconvenience benefits. For example, its $100,000 medical insurance is primary coverage, meaning it pays before your health insurance. If you think dealing with your health insurance provider is a headache at home, you can imagine trying to get help when you’re overseas.

Silver only requires a three-hour delay before it starts covering food, a hotel, and transportation.

Additional features:

  • $100,000 in primary medical insurance
  • $500,000 in medical evacuation coverage
  • Optional upgrades for CFAR, rental car damage, and increased AD&D
  • CFAR time sensitive period: 10 to 14 days (state dependent)
  • Trip delay is only three hours (versus six or 12 hours with most other insurers)
  • $1,000 for baggage loss/damage coverage
  • Preexisting condition waiver
  • 14-day free look period in most states

Best for Domestic Travel: John Hancock Bronze with CFAR

John Hancock Logo 1

Some people buy CFAR insurance when traveling domestically because they’re not sure if the trip will happen or they may not want to go. When buying CFAR travel insurance for domestic trips, you want to look for strong cancellation, trip interruption, trip delay, and baggage insurance. 

Although you may not need much medical insurance, it’s always a good idea to have some travel medical insurance and evacuation coverage. These benefits cover your out-of-network health insurance deductible and the cost of a ride home if your trip doesn’t go as planned. 

Imagine hiking in Yosemite, breaking an ankle and requiring an air evacuation and surgery. Good travel insurance policies — like John Hancock Bronze — cover that.

John Hancock Bronze is a comprehensive travel insurance plan with optional Cancel For Any Reason coverage and favorable trip delay and trip interruption benefits. The Bronze’s CFAR rates are competitive and don’t require you to buy the most expensive policy. 

Additional features:

  • A.M. Best rated A
  • Optional upgrades for CFAR, rental car damage, and increased AD&D
  • CFAR time sensitive period: 10 to 14 days (state dependent)
  • 150% trip interruption reimbursement
  • Trip delay is only three hours, quicker than most insurers
  • $750 baggage loss/damage
  • Preexisting condition waiver
  • 14-day free look period in most states

Best for Families: Travel Insured International Worldwide Trip Protector with CFAR

Travel Insured International Logo

Several CFAR policies like Travel Insured Worldwide Trip Protector cover children at no extra cost for each adult covered under the policy.

Additionally, when traveling with children, most travel insurance policies provide medical evacuation coverage that pays for a family member to come get children or provide a chaperone to return a child home if all adults are hospitalized.

Worldwide Trip Protector offers optional Interruption For Any Reason (IFAR) coverage. With IFAR, you can end the trip early for any reason. Maybe your pet sitter has an emergency and can’t watch the animals anymore, or you’re traveling with a special needs child and realize the trip isn’t working out as planned.

Additional features:

  • Optional coverage upgrades AD&D, event tickets, rental car damage, travel inconvenience, and bed rest
  • CFAR time sensitive period: 21 days
  • $100,000 in medical insurance
  • $1,000,000 in evacuation coverage
  • Preexisting condition waiver
  • 100% reimbursement for cancellation due to work, job loss, extended school year, military leave revoked
  • 14-day free look period in most states

Best for Cruises: John Hancock Silver with CFAR

John Hancock Logo 2

Travelers going on cruises have unique situations. The cost of medical treatment on board a cruise ship is very expensive, and so is an air evacuation. If you have a heart attack on board, the costs to get you to dry land for treatment will probably dwarf the cruise fare price.

John Hancock Silver is a great choice for cruises because of its high medical and evacuation coverage and short (three-hour) delay to qualify for Missed Connection and Trip Delay benefits.

For example, suppose your flight is delayed coming into the port, or you are involved in a car accident en route and the ship leaves without you. Then, trip delay, missed connection, and trip interruption benefits reimburse you for the lost cruise days, additional transportation and lodging costs.

When you add CFAR into the mix, it can get complicated because people often don’t think about insuring the cost of the cruise until the final payment is due. However, in most cases, when you paid the initial deposit months ago, the window to buy CFAR began immediately and ended within three weeks.

Additional features:

  • $100,000 in primary medical insurance
  • $500,000 in evacuation coverage
  • Missed connection covers $750 per person after a three-hour delay
  • Trip delay covers $750 per person after a three-hour delay
  • 24/7 AD&D protection
  • Optional upgrades for CFAR, rental car damage, increased AD&D
  • CFAR time sensitive period: 10 to 14 days
  • Preday free look period in most states

Best for Adventure Travel: Battleface Explorer with CFAR

Battleface Insurance Logo

If you’re planning activities like white water rafting, mountaineering, rock climbing, skydiving, or other adventures, most CFAR travel insurance excludes all coverage like trip cancellation, trip interruption, and medical insurance.

However, few plans with CFAR also include adventure and extreme activities. You’ll need to request adding the Adventure Sports coverage when you buy the policy and pay the additional premium. Battleface Explorer has both a 75% CFAR reimbursement option and adventure sports waiver. When buying the policy, you’ll need to ask for both upgrades.

Adding the adventure sports waiver is important because most policies exclude medical treatment for injuries sustained during adventure activities — like breaking an arm while rock climbing.

AIG Travel Guard Preferred and Deluxe are an honorable mention because they also have optional Adventure Activities and Extreme Activities Waiver upgrades that remove the policy exclusions for those activities. However, since the pandemic began, AIG only offers a 50% CFAR reimbursement.

Additional features:

  • $100,000 in primary medical insurance
  • Optional upgrades for rental car damage, sportsman’s equipment, search and rescue, vehicle return upgrade, increased AD&D
  • CFAR time-sensitive period: 15 days
  • Preexisting condition waiver
  • 10-day free look period in most states

Best for Seniors: Trawick Safe Travels First Class with CFAR

Trawick Logo 1

For senior travel abroad, the greatest financial risk is a possible medical emergency while traveling, like a heart attack, stroke, or accidental injury. Ultimately, treatment and transportation costs can significantly exceed the trip cost. 

So it’s important for seniors to have a CFAR travel policy with strong medical insurance, emergency medical evacuation, and a pre-existing condition waiver.

Trawick First Class with CFAR has a generous $150,000 medical coverage limit, $1,000,000 evacuation, a preeexisting condition waiver, and an affordable CFAR premium. 

And whatever your medicare supplement or Medicare Advantage plans don’t cover, First Class covers up to an additional $150,000. For example, Medicare doesn’t cover air evacuations to get you home after stabilizing treatment elsewhere — First Class does.

Additional features:

  • Optional upgrades for rental car damage
  • CFAR time sensitive period: 10 days
  • Trip delay, baggage loss, damage, and delay, AD&D, missed connection, rental property damage all included
  • 10-day free look period in most states

Best Travel Insurance Comparison Site: Squaremouth

Squaremouth Logo

Squaremouth is a travel insurance comparison site. It also offers white-label travel insurance brands like Cat 70 and TinLeg, both underwritten by Starr Insurance Company.

Although there are many comparison sites to choose from like InsureMyTrip, Aardy, and TravelInsurance.com, we like Squaremouth’s variety of policy options and comparison interface. You can get a full rundown of each policy’s benefits with a click of a button and view the policy certificate for a deeper dive. They also have comprehensive sorting and filtering features so you can find the exact coverage you need, like Cancel For Any Reason.

My experience buying a policy from Squaremouth was quick and easy. They provided an email receipt with an overview of my new policy. When I canceled during the policy’s free look period, they weren’t fast to respond to email, but the agent on the phone answered immediately and resolved the cancellation without any hassle.


Methodology: How We Select the Best CFAR Travel Insurance

We use five primary factors to evaluate the best CFAR travel insurance coverage for our users. Elements include the benefit amount, cost, whether the policy includes a preexisting condition waiver, the maximum trip cost you can cover, and levels of medical insurance and evacuation.

In addition, because travelers sometimes encounter trip delay or missed cruise situations, we’ve also considered the additional benefits each policy provides.

Cancel For Any Reason Benefit Amount

Buying a Cancel For Any Reason travel insurance policy with a 50% benefit doesn’t always make sense. We focused on policies that reimbursed 75% of trip costs under CFAR .  

Cost to Add Cancel For Any Reason

Cost is one of the most significant factors when choosing CFAR because the add-on typically increases your insurance cost by 40% to 50%. Because CFAR is usually an identical benefit across most policies, the policy differences, like trip delay or medical insurance, can play an important role in the overall value of the policy. 

While choosing the cheapest CFAR insurance can be tempting, picking the best policy for your needs can mean the difference between a covered or denied claim.

Preexisiting Condition Coverage

Making sure your CFAR travel insurance includes pre-existing medical condition coverage can be a critical factor for claims. Unfortunately, not every CFAR travel insurance covers preexisting conditions. This includes otherwise excellent policies, such as Seven Corners Round Trip Basic with Cancel For Any Reason. 

While the CFAR coverage can help you cancel a trip due to a pre-existing condition, the more unpleasant situation is having a medical emergency linked to a pre-existing condition during the trip and risking no coverage.

Maximum Covered Trip Cost

If you’re taking the trip of a lifetime with a high price tag, the maximum covered trip cost may limit how much CFAR coverage you can buy. Fortunately, most policies cover up to $50,000 or more in total nonrefundable trip costs.

Medical Insurance and Emergency Evacuation Coverage

When traveling domestically, you want to get enough medical insurance to cover your out-of-network deductible. 

But when traveling overseas, health insurance can get a lot more uncertain — and a lot more expensive. So it’s important to cover at least $50,000 or $100,000 in travel medical expenses and $250,000 in medical evacuation expenses to get you home after an emergency.

That said, some travelers buy the cheapest CFAR and buy a second policy like IMG iTravelInsured Travel SE for its extra medical benefits. But many prefer the simplicity of having one policy, so we included medical benefits in our evaluation of CFAR insurance options.


CFAR Travel Insurance FAQS (Frequently Asked Questions)

Still have questions about CFAR policies and benefits? No worries — travel insurance is complicated, and CFAR especially so. Below, we answer some of the most common queries about CFAR coverage and travel insurance in general. 

What is Travel Insurance?

Travel insurance covers the costs and losses associated with travel. Comprehensive travel protection policies typically include:

  • Covered cancellation reasons
  • Covered trip interruption reasons
  • Medical insurance
  • Medical evacuation coverage
  • Trip delay
  • Baggage delay
  • Baggage loss or damage
  • Accidental death and dismemberment

How Do I Buy Cancel For Any Reason Travel Insurance?

You can typically buy Cancel For Any Reason travel insurance if you meet the following requirements:

  • The policy must offer a CFAR option.
  • Buy within the time sensitive period, usually within 10 to 21 days of your initial trip payment.
  • Pay the additional cost for CFAR.
  • Cover all non-refundable trip costs.
  • Use CFAR to cancel 48 to 72 hours or more before the departure date.

Before you buy, make sure CFAR is available in your home state. Residents of some states, including New York state, may not be eligible for CFAR at all.

Does Cancel For Any Reason Travel Insurance Cover COVID?

CFAR is great for helping you cancel your trip for fear of contracting the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). Cancellation for fear of travel is not a covered circumstance on any policy, which is one of the ways CFAR helps travelers.

However, you don’t need CFAR to get a refund on travel canceled because you actually contracted COVID-19. Your standard travel insurance policy will cover a diagnosis of COVID-19 the same as any other illness. 

For example, suppose you have a fever the day of travel, see a doctor, and they advise you not to travel. That would be a standard trip cancellation and you would not need CFAR.

What Is the Difference Between Cancel For Any Reason Insurance and Trip Cancellation Insurance?

Standard trip cancellation coverage has a list of specific reasons permitting you to cancel your trip for a refund. Otherwise, if you cancel for a reason not named on the list, you need to use Cancel For Any Reason to claim a reimbursement.

Can I Buy Travel Insurance and Then Cancel?

Yes, but you will lose money on the trip cost and premium amount. CFAR travel insurance only reimburses a portion of your trip cost, between 50% and 75% – never 100%.

However, if you cancel for a covered reason — like a traveling companion is too sick or injured to travel — then you’ll get back your entire nonrefundable outlay.

Is Cancel For Any Reason Insurance Expensive?

Adding Cancel For Any Reason to an eligible policy typically increases the cost by 40% to 50%.

Does Cancel For Any Reason Travel Insurance Cover Everything?

Almost. CFAR makes it very easy to cancel your trip before your departure for a non-covered reason, such as a natural disaster in a country not listed on your itinerary. 

However, CFAR does not apply during your trip unless your policy also has Interruption For Any Reason (IFAR).

A few policies like IMG iTravelInsured Travel LX include IFAR with the CFAR premium. Others, such as Seven Corners RoundTrip Basic, RoundTrip Choice, and Travel Insured Worldwide Trip Protector, provide it for an additional fee.

Can I Buy Cancel For Any Reason Insurance If I’m Not Traveling?

Yes, you can buy travel insurance for someone else. For example, if your children or parents are traveling and find travel insurance too complex to understand, you can buy the policy for them and name them as the covered travelers regardless of who pays for the trip or insurance.

Can I Buy More Than One Travel Insurance Policy?

Yes, you can. Suppose your trip cost exceeds the maximum that the CFAR plan offers. Then you can buy multiple policies to cover the full cost of the trip or get additional benefits. However, you can’t file duplicate claims on both policies because that could constitute insurance fraud.

Likewise, you can buy a lower priced CFAR policy primarily to cover your trip costs, and a standalone medical policy like IMG iTravelInsured Travel SE, Travel LX or a John Hancock plan to have higher medical benefits without paying the higher price of having them all combined. These products can cover preexisting conditions without including the trip cost.

Does My Credit Card Have Cancel For Any Reason Travel Insurance?

No, credit cards do not provide CFAR travel insurance. It’s a more specialized type of coverage.

Typically, credit cards like the Chase Sapphire Preferred and Reserve cards provide basic trip cancellation like if there’s a death in the family, or a traveler gets sick or injured. Most also have preexisting condition exclusions and many travel insurance policies cover them if you buy the plan within seven to 21 days of your initial payment.


How to Choose the Best CFAR Travel Insurance

Cancel For Any Reason travel insurance is going to be similar no matter which company you choose. It’s the other policy benefits in the policy, such as medical insurance or travel delay benefits, that can steer you toward different plans. Even if cancellation is your primary concern, don’t overlook these other perks — nor any fine print exclusions.

I’ve purchased CFAR insurance several times for peace of mind, mostly when my mother’s health or my companion’s interest in travel was in question. I’ve never regretted it. However, I can tell you that the insurance company you choose makes a big difference in how fast you get paid or whether you get pushback when filing a claim.

As with most significant purchases in life, use the experience of friends, family, neighbors — and, yes, random online reviewers — to inform your decision-making process and find the best policy for your next trip.

Alyce Meserve

Source link

You May Also Like

Making sense of the markets this week: January 21, 2024 – MoneySense

The acquisition looks to be turning out quite well for America’s largest…

DAS Pass at Disney World: What to Know – NerdWallet

In addition to the sheer size and daily attendance at Disney World,…

Canada’s Best Credit Cards 2022

Canadas best credit cards in more detail By Barry Choi, Julie Cazzin and Keph Senett on  November…

Cómo fue que un conductor ahorró en el seguro de su automóvil – NerdWallet

Las primas de los seguros de automóvil han subido más de un…