Insurance comparison sites-Is that all they do, or will they help w/a claim?

[dcsam]

Getting ready to book our insurance. In the past, I've booked directly with the insurance companies. But do any of these comparision sites do the booking for you, and if they do, are they there to help in case a file ever has to be made?

[uppitycats]

Getting ready to book our insurance. In the past, I've booked directly with the insurance companies. But do any of these comparision sites do the booking for you, and if they do, are they there to help in case a file ever has to be made?

No. They're only for comparison shopping. Most of us identify a possible company there, then call and deal with the company directly when either buying the insurance, or making a complaint later.

There are lots of sites on the internet and elsewhere that are just an unbiased source of information, and don't then serve as ombudsmen.

[whogo]

http://www.insuremytrip.com/ does the booking for me, although the credit card charge is to the actual insurance company. I expect no help from insuremytrip if I have problems with the insurance company.

[sail7seas]

Personal experience is to do careful research. Recently I had some questions about what I read there. I sent e-mail and got an almost immediate response. I asked very specific questions and got narrow answer to exactly those questions. I then asked a broader one and the info was lacking.

The next day I telephoned one of the insurers that interested me and though I again had to question very carefully, I finally was able to find a policy that met my needs. I in no way suggest any info I was given was incorrect (to the best of my knowledge) but the info was so narrow and I had to dig to find there was indeed a policy that we could purchase that did not force us to duplicate insure. I was told both there was no such policy at least twice. As I kept changing the same question into slightly different verbage, voila...... there is a policy that was what I wanted. It was specific and not the normal of what most people want but it suits us on several levels. One of those is We have some coverage from other sources (such as medical evacuation coverage) and did not want to be forced to buy it again as part of another policy. That adds a lot to the premium and we would not use that feature in the event we needed evacuation. We would use the one we currently own as we think it better.

Do your comparing on the site but please...... when you narrow to a choice or two, call them and formulate exact questions that will get you the coverage you want and not force you to buy things you don't need or want.

[dcsam]

Thanks everybody! I have been comparing, I'm narrowing it down to Travel Safe, Travel Insured International and American Express. Having high medical, medical evacuation is important because it's my 82 year old mom I'm buying this for. For a 2 week NZ cruise, it's looking like the rates are between $450-$514. Ouch! Any suggestions how I can lower that cost? Or do you go with what the comparison site just shows you? Any way to 'customize' a policy?
Thanks so much!