Curious, how much does TA make on travel insurance?

[hal lover]

Anyone know? I have only purchased travel insurance twice with all of the cruise's that I have been on. With the scare of the H1N1 virus I am thinking maybe I should purchase it for my December 09 cruise but I wonder why my TA is pushing it so hard? I will most likely get the vaccine before I go. Thanks in advance!:)

[RuthC]

I wonder why my TA is pushing it so hard?
Maybe your TA understands that bad things happen to good people---and when you least expect them. Maybe your TA is looking out for your best interests.

Things can go wrong quickly, and unless you're willing to accept the cost, then insurance is more than a good idea. Can you afford the loss of the price of your trip if, the day before you were to leave, you get sick? Do you want to absorb that cost? How about if you are injured in a foreign port? Can you afford the treatment? Do you want to come home for treatment? Do you have any idea how much that would cost? :eek:

You've pushed your luck, IMO. Time to think about insuring your cruises.

[wander]

I agree 100% with Ruth.

We traveled for decades, usually without insurance, except I purchased it for one cruise because of elderly parents. Surprise, two days before we were to leave my friend/cabinmate had a totally unexpected serious medical emergency. Boy did the insurance come in handy!

After that I considered it a must have. Thankfully so!! In the past four years we have had to cancel 3 quite expensive, extensive trips for serious medical reasons, all of which were totally unexpected and not related to our reasons for wanting the insurance, i.e. not pre-existing. Three times we got back all we had paid except for the insurance premium. We can travel on that money for several long, very nice cruises and we plan to. Or, we can use the money to pay for insurance premiums for many, many future cruises.

[dobie]

I always use insuremytrip and it is a lot cheaper than through the cruise line. I always pick a policy that covers preexisting conditions....you never know!

[iancal]

Our former TA advised us quietly against buying the insurance that her agency sold and suggested we deal directly with a primary carrier. It may have had something to do with the product that her agency sold. Her comment was that the agency does 'very well' on insurance. We found that more comprehensive insurance was available at a lower price-and for a longer period. She felt the same way about tour company and cruise line insurance. We checked this out a few times for my parents and it definately held true.

[patseacruiser]

I really don't understand why everyone worries about what someone makes selling something. That is the nature of the beast - people make a living. Of course, if you feel it is more than you think you should pay you should by all means research it somewhere else but I am suggesting that whether you purchase that insurance through your TA or on your own - that you purchase it. It covers you if something happens to you - and it's not just if you're old or have a pre-existing condition. Accidents happen and this one could cost a lot of money since your regular health insurance doesn't cover you out of the states or where ever you are from. If you need to be medivac'd out it will cost you about $20K. Not covered by anything but travel insurance. I don't get it for the cost of having my bags go missing but rather for the cost of that helicopter if I get sick or have an accident.

[AlexandNessa]

I would have to guess that the TA makes a healthy commission on the insurance as I have researched various plans and always found a better deal on my own via either USAA, insuremytrip, or the trip insurance store. I never buy my TI through a TA.

[whogo]

Anyone know? I have only purchased travel insurance twice with all of the cruise's that I have been on. With the scare of the H1N1 virus I am thinking maybe I should purchase it for my December 09 cruise but I wonder why my TA is pushing it so hard? I will most likely get the vaccine before I go. Thanks in advance!:)Beware. Not all travel insurance covers H1N1 flu! See http://www.insuremytrip.com/blog/influenza-h1n1-swine-flu-information .

A travel agent is the last person I would purchase travel insurance from.

[wander]

I do not know what your TA sells, but through my cruise TA I can purchase Travel Guard and Access America for the same price I can purchase it directly from them on-line. Those are the two insurance sources I would buy from anyway and she then gets a commission of some sort. Over the years and travels I have had to file claims with each of them with wonderful results.

[mudscraper]

The TAs commision can`t be that much. I priced my insurance on IMT and my TAs cost if I booked it thru her was only $2.00 more. I let her book it so she could get the commision.


Rich

[tomc]

hal lover --

Get insurance, every trip, always. We did that (and I still do). My very healthy mother came back from her tap dance lesson, picked up her tickets from the TA, came home and suddenly she was no longer with us.

[hal lover]

Thanks for all the advise! I will be getting the travel insurance from now on. Maybe it's because of these uncertain times that I feel to do so. My TA had never "pushed" the insurance on me like she has this time, so that's why I asked about the commission. Ruth- I agree with you! I have been lucky so far. Tomc- I hear you! :)

[Krazy Kruizers]

Our TA doesn't get anything -- we buy our insurance online.

[Sanlin]

We buy thru our travel agent - came in handy last year when I had emergency surgery two weeks before we were planing to leave. HAL refunded port costs, insurance covered HAL. The premium which was less that $100 each each was a bargain. Made it easy to reschedule the cruise for March when all was well and, happily, landed us an upgrade to a VA aft for the canal trip.

[Bobed1927]

I have usually purchased my cruise insurance directly from the insurance company until it recently. It occurred to me that my TA might make a few bucks if I bought my insurance through her. She has been good to work with so why not take this opportunity to let her make a few extra dollars. I have no idea how much she makes on insurance but its better than nothing.

[Ya Ya Cruiser]

Just had to chime in here.........:). I think travel insurance is one of the best investments you can get - because it's not just the insurance, it's the telephone support you can get from the insurance company when something happens - they will provide info and assist with arrangements should you need to be flown home early.

In Canada a TA can't sell insurance without being licenced to do so. From my experience the product they offer provides better coverage than both the cruiselines and the credit card companies. Previously I didn't buy insurance because I had travel insurance on my credit card - then I cancelled and found out their maximum was only 1/2 of what my trip was worth - expensive lesson!!

You know, when you think about the service and peace of mind a good TA can give you, the small amount of commission they get from the cruiseline or the tour operator; the fact that they get nothing from the airlines any more, hotels and car rentals rarely pay commission, and none of the European hotels ever pay commission, I don't think we shoud begrudge them whatever they get from an insurance company. As long as it is good coverage for a reasonable price, I think they should get whatever the company will give them.

My two-bits worth;)
YaYa

[bcirish]

You use a TA? and you are worried about their commission on the insurance?
My TA is better than insurance - she makes sure that we get the best deal possible and makes sure we have no surprises. I hope she gets a healthy commission but I think it is probably small or nothing because I have priced it independently and with her and the difference was insignificant. I would never spend that kind of money without some kind of return policy in case of some kind of disaster.
For those bypassing insurance - The cost of insurance is small - less than a couple bottles of good wine and it covers a myriad of potential disasters - sickness being only one of them - not just you but immediate family. Every had someone steal from you? It covers that too and they do not ask a lot of questions - the cruise line practically laughed in my face when I asked for help but the insurance company stepped up to the plate and without question covered the loss. Family disaster - covers that too. Those without insurance have been pretty lucky but IMO it is like tempting fate. That's a lot of money to take a risk on.
Here is hoping I will not need my insurance ever agin but it will be there if i need it.

[iancal]

We had a great TA who gave us great advice and saved us lots of money over the years. We never cared what her commission was, only the price to us. When we started cruising, she steared us away from cruise air, cruise line insurance, and especially cruise line pre and post hotels. It is not that we did not get them, but she either got them for us independently at a much better price, or in the case of insurance steered us to a much better policy from an insurance agent at a lower cost. I have no doubt that this impacted her commission in the short term but in the long term she more than made up for it with my business travel and referrals. Good, experienced TA's are hard to come by these days because the nature of the industry has changed so much. She also knew that we were very independent travellers who had no trouble rolling with the punches....we did not need white glove treatment door to door as it were.

[mushroom]

There is SO much that travel insurance does NOT cover. Until you are ready to file for your loss, you really have no idea how the policies are slanted toward the company rather than the consumer. For this reason alone, I would never consider buying it from anyone other than my TA. It's her/his job to know what is and is not covered. As for the compensation to the agent....once you cancel your trip, the agent loses his/her commission. However, he or she is expected to provide a pile of paperwork to the insurance company in order for you to earn your claim. This is "uncompensated work" for the TA. Why on earth would anyone expect the TA to not only lose their original commission, but also go to the time and expense of helping you get your refund. They have this extra work to do if you do or don't buy the insurance from them. BTW, the commission the agent makes on the insurance is probably going to average 15% of the total cost of the policy.....at best.

[jerseygirl3]

Depending on who the Travel Agency has a contract with (the agency must pay an annual membership fee to be entitled to commissions),the typical commission is approx. 10 %. No TA is going to get rich off the commission they are paid on your travel insurance.

I actually steer my clients toward a third party insurer for whom I get no commission. As an example, one of my clients was booked to sail this past week, and her child got sick two days before the cruise. They had to cancel. I have been doing all the paperwork for her as a courtesy, and I made nothing off her insurance. I'm doing it as a courtesy.

It costs nothing more for your TA to book your travel insurance. If there is a commission to be paid, it's paid by the insurance company, not by you.

[jcrandle]

Anyone know? I have only purchased travel insurance twice with all of the cruise's that I have been on. With the scare of the H1N1 virus I am thinking maybe I should purchase it for my December 09 cruise but I wonder why my TA is pushing it so hard? I will most likely get the vaccine before I go. Thanks in advance!:)
I'm curious. Why do you believe that profit affects value?

When I am looking at ANY purchase, my concerns are price and value. If a product is offered at a price that gives good value, I don't second guess whether the seller is making a profit, in fact, I assume they are, or they wouldn't be in business long.

I do believe it is responsible to compare price and value from different vendors, taking into account service and reliability, but I would never let the vendor's profit affect my decision.