jbalmuth

I'm confused (bewildered, actually) by a recent change in the travel insurance provided by Worldnomads to U.S. based clients, and would appreciate feedback from any of their current customers about it.

I purchased insurance last week for a future trip (in September/October 2014), and then a few days later went to price another future trip (in November 2014) and noticed a very big change in the offered Explorer package.

The insurance that I purchased last week (June 13) was issued by Travel Guard while the new policy would be issued by Nationwide Insurance.

The change is that the $35,000 Car insurance (which covers collision, theft, natural disaster etc.) is now not available to anyone who is a resident of New York, Oregon, or Texas --- and/but there's no reduction in premium for purchasers who reside in those states.

I find it completely bewildering that Worldnomads would decide to change to a new, more expensive underwriter who excludes valuable insurance benefits from some, but not all, customers without any mitigating reduction in premium. That the new policies cost 15% more than they did last week adds insult to injury.

Is there something obvious that I'm missing here? TIA for comments/insights.

Loren Pechtel

Such things usually reflect something about the state law that the company doesn't want to deal with.

jbalmuth

Agreed, but note that this only occurred during the last few days (raising the premium 15% while simultaneously substantially lowering the benefits ---- but only for some customers).

To be clear, we're not talking here about excluding car collision, theft etc. insurance if a customer rents a car in New York, Oregon, or Texas (i.e. because collisions, thefts, mudslides etc. are greater in these locations). The exclusion occurs only if the insured customer who, by definition, is traveling away from these residence locations, cannot be a beneficiary of car coverage while traveling anywhere else in the world ---- and also does not receive any premium discount for the loss of benefits.

At first blush this looks to me like a shoe company that sells shoes over the internet deciding one day to deliver shoes to certain customers in certain states without heels and laces, but with no reduction in price.

The following may be only rhetorical, but is it in fact legal in the U.S. for Worldnomads to sell one-price-fits-all insurance like this without boldly notifying residents of these states that they're being screwed (deprived of a $35k benefit that everyone is entitled to, without any compensation)? Even if it's "legal", is there anyone out there that thinks that this is a proper, ethical way for Worldnomads to be conducting their business?

madison8

A little bit off topic but I buy annual travel insurance directly from Travel Guard which works best for me($267 a year). It's active (with $25000 rental car coverage) on any trip 100 miles from home (90 days max) with no notification needed. Mostly I have it for medical evacuation for third world international. Renewal is in Aug so I doubled checked and it still available for Wisconsin residents but not New York. Sorry