Admit it, you didn’t bother to read your policy

Traveling somewhere this summer? If you bought travel insurance, good for you. If you didn’t read your policy, you’re in good company.

A new survey by Go Travel Insurance, a British travel insurance company, finds an astounding 78 percent of travelers hadn’t read the fine print on their insurance policies and didn’t know how much protection it offered or what it excluded.

Who can blame them? Most travelers rely on their agents to tell them what’s covered. And travel insurance companies intentionally make their policies dense and inaccessible to the average user because if they rendered it in simple language, people would know how limited — or nonexistent — their coverage was.

Here are four easy tips for how to understand your policy without having a law degree:

Don’t take your agent’s word for it. Yes, your travel agent or insurance agent is trying to help, but she’s also trying to sell you a policy. Remember, talk is cheap. Promises don’t matter when it comes time to make a claim. It’s what’s in the policy.

Get over your PDF phobia. Insurance companies love to encode their policies as PDF documents (makes them harder to access). Get over your fear of downloads. You must find the right policy and read it before your make a purchasing decision.

Ignore the boilerplate language. Every policy has a lengthy section devoted to “definitions.” There’s no need to study that section in as much detail as the actual policy provisions, because in order to stay competitive, insurance companies define everything in more or less the same way. Ditto for “terms of use” and “trademark and copyright” sections. Gloss over them and focus on the important stuff.

If you have questions, ask. Call the insurance company with any questions, but where possible, get any clarification in writing (by e-mail or letter). That way, if you need to make a claim, you can include the clarification in the paperwork.

Chances are you won’t need to make a claim on your travel insurance policy this summer. But if you do, and you’ve also done your homework, your claim will stand an excellent chance of getting honored.

Christopher Elliott is the author of Scammed: How to Save Your Money and Find Better Service in a World of Schemes, Swindles, and Shady Deals. Critics have called it “eye-opening” and “inspiring” — it’ll “grab your attention and won’t let go.” Order your copy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble or iTunes.

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