Tourists are targets. If you’ve ever experienced theft, assault, or fraud while traveling, you know that it’s scary and stressful.
Here’s the good news: Travel insurance is here to help. If you’re the victim of a crime during your trip, contact us as soon as you can and we’ll do our best to make a bad situation better. Travel insurance can reimburse you for stolen items, cover emergency medical bills, help replace lost travel documents, and more.
Read on for details on what’s covered. Don’t have travel insurance? You need to protect yourself, stat! Get a quick quote.
If I’m the victim of a crime before my trip, what can travel insurance cover?
Two days before your planned family beach vacation, you come home to find your house has been hit by burglars. They broke down the back door, spray-painted the walls, and even left the water running in the upstairs tub, flooding the bathroom. They didn’t steal much of value, but the damage is extensive. Can travel insurance help?
Travel insurance can help if you must cancel your trip for a covered reason. In this specific scenario, you could file a claim for trip cancellation—and get reimbursed for your prepaid, nonrefundable vacation costs—because your primary residence is uninhabitable. That is, the burglary and vandalism have caused enough damage to make a reasonable person find their home is unfit for use.
Other covered reasons for trip cancellation may apply if you’re the victim of a crime. For example:
- If you, a traveling companion, or a family member is seriously injured in an assault
- If you or a traveling companion is in a traffic accident on the departure date, and one of you requires medical attention or requires repairs to your vehicle because it’s not safe to operate
- If you’re legally required to appear in court because you were the victim of a crime, or for some other reason
- If travel documents required for the trip that belong to you or your travel companion are stolen (you must do your best to obtain replacement documents before your originally scheduled trip dates)
- If your (or a traveling companion’s) primary vehicle is stolen. The vehicle must have been intended to transport you or the traveling companion to the point of your trip’s departure or to serve as the primary mode of transportation during your trip.
Covered reasons and benefits vary by plan, so read your plan documents carefully. It’s important to know that your travel insurance plan can’t cover everything; it can only cover situations that are specifically named in your plan.
Let’s say you’re mugged at gunpoint a week before a scheduled trip to Lisbon. You’re unhurt, but the incident left you feeling stressed and anxious. Can you cancel your trip just because you don’t feel like going?
Unfortunately, that’s not a covered reason for trip cancellation. Your travel insurance plan can’t help in this situation, unless you purchased the Cancel Anytime upgrade. Cancel Anytime (available with certain plans) can reimburse 80% of your unused, pre-paid, non-refundable trip costs if you cancel your trip for almost any unforeseeable reason your plan does not already cover.
If I’m the victim of a crime during my trip, what can travel insurance cover?
You’re strolling through the streets of Naples one evening when a scooter with two riders veers toward you. A second later, the speeding scooter knocks you to the ground. One rider leaps off, rips the necklace from your neck, and grabs your purse. You try desperately to hang on, but after a brief tussle the thief hops back on the scooter and zips away. Your money and passport are gone. Your wrist hurts and your forehead is bleeding. Does travel insurance cover theft? Help!
Travel insurance can cover theft—and a whole lot more. When you’re the victim of a crime while traveling, the first thing you should do is call the police. (The free Allyz® TravelSmartapp makes it easy: Just tap Contact for local emergency numbers.) The very next thing you should do is contact 24-hour assistance, whether by phone or with the Allyz TravelSmart app. Your assistance representative can:
- Provide interpretation services when you’re speaking with police or medical providers
- Refer you to an approved local hospital or medical provider to treat your injuries
- Monitor your condition and keep your loved ones updated
- Arrange for money to be wired from your bank or from a friend or family member, if you need it
- Help expedite the replacement of your passport or other travel documents
What else can travel insurance do for you in this scenario?
- If your plan includes emergency medical benefits, it can reimburse (or pay in advance) covered medical care you receive while traveling.
- If your plan includes trip interruption benefits, it can reimburse your unused, prepaid, non-refundable expenses, up to the maximum benefit in your plan, if you pause or cut short your trip for a covered reason (like being injured). It also can reimburse transportation expenses required to continue your trip or to return to your primary residence, plus additional accommodation and transportation expenses if the interruption causes you to stay where you are longer than you planned.
- If your plan includes baggage loss/damage benefits, it can reimburse you for items that are stolen (or lost or damaged) while you’re on your trip. Read the baggage benefits section of your plan documents before you go, so you understand what’s covered. High-value items, such as jewelry, are covered up to the maximum benefit for high-value items shown in your declarations. Stolen cash is not covered.
More about travel insurance and crime: Your questions answered
Does travel insurance cover stolen items?
If your plan includes baggage benefits, you may be reimbursed for items stolen on your trip up to the maximum benefit listed in your plan. However, restrictions, limits and exclusions apply. In general, Allianz Travel Insurance can pay the cost to replace your stolen baggage with the same or similar item, reduced by 10% for each full year since the original purchase date, up to the maximum 50% reduction. You must provide original purchase receipts or another proof of purchase. For items without a receipt, we will cover up to 50% of the cost to replace the stolen item with the same or similar item. Limits on high-value items—such as jewelry, watches, and mobile devices—apply.
Does travel insurance cover theft from a vehicle?
Generally, your Allianz Travel Insurance baggage benefits do not cover items stolen from an unattended vehicle, unless the car is locked and the baggage cannot be seen from the outside. Also, high-value items stolen from a vehicle are not covered.
If you have the OneTrip Rental Car Protector, then your baggage benefit covers up to $1,000 in loss, damage or theft of baggage and personal effects from your locked rental car (not available to residents of all states). Restrictions, limits and exclusions apply, so read your plan documents for details.
Does travel insurance cover vehicle theft?
The OneTrip Rental Car Protector provides primary coverage for covered collision, loss (theft) anddamage up to $50,000. If your rental car is stolen, you must promptly notify the police and file a report with the rental car company.
Does travel insurance cover travel fraud or scams?
Whether a fake travel agency selling absurdly cheap trips or a guy on the street offering to “help” you use the ATM, travel scams and frauds are all too common. While Allianz Travel Insurance plans do not include coverage for financial losses due to fraud, you can always call 24-hour assistance if you end up being the victim of one of these crimes. Our assistance team can help you cancel credit cards, file a police report, get money sent from home, etc.
Does travel insurance cover kidnapping?
Getting kidnapped while traveling is a scary, although rare, occurrence. Allianz Travel Insurance does not cover kidnapping, extortion or ransom demands. Individuals and companies must purchase specialized kidnap and ransom insurance for this kind of protection. We advise travelers to check the U.S. Department of State travel advisories for their destination and avoid any areas where there is a risk of kidnapping or other violent crime.
Does travel insurance cover hijacking?
If you or a traveling companion is a traveler on a hijacked aircraft, train, vehicle, or vessel, that’s a covered reason for trip interruption. Hijacking is also a covered reason for travel delay benefits.
Have more questions about how Allianz Travel Insurance can protect you while you’re traveling? Contact us anytime.
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