Travel

Before you answer that one, ask these six questions.

Just click to buy?

Don't blindly accept or reject travel insurance. Assess your needs and coverage details.

If you're booking a holiday getaway, your travel agent will probably ask if you want to protect your purchase with insurance. Travel websites make this option an even easier click-to-buy question.

About one in four travelers buys travel insurance, and the coverage has improved considerably since the just-the-basics policies of the 1990s. The terrorist attack of Sept. 11, 2001, added coverage for that eventuality, and the SARS and H1N1 epidemics made coverage for that standard. Hurricanes, natural disasters, tsunamis, and civil unrest, such as the Arab Spring in Egypt, are also covered.

Insurers generally offer three classes of policies: basic, midlevel, and premium, with the comprehensiveness of coverage and price increasing accordingly. Cancel-for-any-reason policies give you the most flexibility.

Travel insurance is a comforting concept, but the devil is still in the details, and that creates lots of opportunity for sales representatives to sell you false security. To avoid that, size up the deal by asking these six key questions.

1. How many choices does the seller give you? If you buy from a travel agent, you'll probably be offered only one or two policies from one company, and best typically means best for the travel agent, in terms of how much of a commission he or she collects on the sale. Online travel sites also tend to limit your choice.

We like InsureMyTrip.com. which sells more than 250 polices from 29 different insurance companies. Choice is important because it allows you to buy as many or as few features as you want. If you're not sure what you need, use the website’s old-fashioned toll-free number (800-487-4722) to get precise guidance from one of its agents.

2. Is this insurance too cheaply priced—or overpriced? Real travel insurance costs 4 to 8 percent of your prepaid nonrefundable costs. So if your upfront airline tickets, resort hotel, cruise. and/or family tour package charges add up to $8,000, travel insurance can cost $320 to $640. Travelers over 40, longer trips, and more comprehensive coverage is priced at the high end. The $10 to $25 impulse purchase policy is very thin on benefits and may only provide death benefits, which you don't need if you have economically priced term life insurance .

At the other extreme, watch out for overpriced policies, which can appear when your travel agent has a captive custome—you. The best way to know if you're overpaying is to shop around.