Roamright Insurance Review: Is it Worth it?

The smartest travelers always take their trips with travel insurance coverage. Let’s face it: while you plan as carefully as possible, things can go wrong and often do. 

When that happens, you’ll be much happier to say “at least I have travel insurance cover for that!” rather than “I wish I bought the darn travel insurance!” Take it from someone who’s been there. Roamright is a newer travel insurance company on the block.

Being the vacation addicts we are here at ViaTravelers, we knew we had to add this service to our travel insurance reviews portfolio to see if they provide the high-quality coverage that one should expect from such an important investment. Read on for our Roamright insurance review.

Methodology

Our method for reviewing travel insurance companies is simple. We look at the value of all the inclusions, research how easy it will be to use if needed, and compare the cost to equivalent plans offered by other insurance providers.

Besides the technical stuff, it’s also important to look at this from a real-world traveler’s point of view. Don’t get me wrong, you should look at the fine print of the insurance coverages you are considering. But, also be sure to take a step back to think about your trip and if this product is right for it specifically.

What is Roamright Travel Insurance?

While we said Roamright is a new travel insurance product, that is actually only half-true. In fact, their parent organization is the Arch Insurance Company which has been the underwriter of other consumer travel insurance products for many years.

So if you’ve purchased travel insurance in the past, it may have been Arch Insurance Company behind the scenes doing the accounting, even though you made the purchase from a different brand.

Roamright offers similar coverage to what you might expect: trip cancellation and trip interruption coverage, medical expenses, rental car insurance, baggage protection, evacuation coverage, and more. As you can see, there is much more to protect than your total trip cost!

While that all sounds great and important, there is a ton to consider in each subsection of coverage when you purchase travel insurance.

Selecting too low of a level of trip protection can leave you high and dry; while purchasing too much is a waste of money. Luckily, we’ve broken it down for you below to help sort through the sea of words.

The Short Version: Roamright Review

Let me skip through the details and tell you what we thought in the end: Roamright is a decent product, with a wide range of coverage options, and acceptable payout limits. Their customer service is ready to assist if needed, and the process to get your price is quick and user-friendly.

On the other hand, their prices aren’t necessarily competitive and you might be able to find more coverage for a cheaper price with other competitors. They also don’t have the greatest reviews from past customers but keep in mind that the product is still relatively new.

We do recommend Roamright in the end thanks to its strengths. But you should consider it only if it fits your needs best compared to the other options. Always shop around for the best travel insurance plan for you, and Roamright is no exception.

Roamright Trip Insurance Key Features

Several different plans can be purchased from Roamright, which can be viewed by clicking on Our Plans. The main two are the Pro Plan and the Pro Plus which are the standard plans most travelers are looking for. They also offer a Multi-Trip Annual Plan available for the most frequent travelers who need year-round coverage.

However, there are a few specialty options as well. This includes limited coverage for last-minute or already-in-progress trips, medical coverage only, and rental car insurance.

The two main plans are the blanket coverage options for those who want a good level of all-around coverage, while those three specialty plans are money-savers for travelers who already have some other form of coverage or simply don’t need it all. Let’s take a look at each of them.

The Pro Plan

Roamright says that the Pro Plan is one of the most chosen plans among travel agents for their clients.

It is the more basic of the two main products, which you might have guessed when comparing it to the ‘Plus’ plan. Still, the coverage appears to be of good quality when viewing it in detail in the table below.

Roamright points out that security, political, and natural disaster assistance are already included in this plan. There is also no medical deductible, and exclusions of pre-existing conditions can be waived if certain conditions are met. 

There are also no time requirements for weather-related trip cancellation or interruption coverage, which can be of great stress relief to an uncertain traveler.

You’ll also have access to the Roamright mobile app with its security alerts, detailed destination information, and more tools. Finally, you can choose to add Hazardous Sports coverage for extra protection of activities that normally wouldn’t be covered.

The Pro Plus Plan

Advertised as their most popular product, the Pro Plus Plan is a step up from the more basic Pro Plan. The upgrade lies in higher limits and extra cancellation reasons. This plan could be better for business travelers or someone more worried about medical coverage while they are away.

You can see that the missed connection, itinerary change, and baggage delay are the same as in the Pro Plan. Also, the trip delay, baggage, and personal effects coverage are slightly better. But it is the medical emergency provisions that are much better here.

Emergency accident and evacuation coverage limits have been doubled in the Pro Plus Plan. It also includes accidental death and dismemberment provisions – unpleasant to think about, but unfortunately real possibilities!

Working professionals will appreciate that they can cancel their trip and not lose all of their money if suddenly work interferes, as this is a covered reason. All of this comes on top of the inclusions mentioned in the Pro Plan.

See Related: Best Family Travel Insurance Plans Affordable Plans

The Multi-Trip Annual Plan

This specialty plan is useful for very frequent travelers who can expect to take multiple trips in the same year. By buying one, big coverage package, you can avoid buying single-trip plans every time you travel. 

This includes medical plans, trip cancellations, and essentially each specific category offered in their main products. The only difference is that all of your trips in the coverage year are covered, even if you don’t know your departure date or destination country yet.

There are some terms to keep in mind with this type of coverage. It is only available for travelers under age 75, and there are some benefit limits within the year – for example, you will only be eligible for political evacuation once annually (if you need multiple political evacuations per year, please reconsider your destinations of choice!).

Your ‘trips’ are also limited to a maximum of 30 consecutive days at a time. But, you can visit multiple countries within those thirty days and throughout the year.

On Trip Plus Plan

This is an interesting one that could save you money if your trip was last minute. The logic behind this is that if your trip is approaching or is already in progress, trip cancellation becomes less of a risk and therefore doesn’t need to be covered.

As this risk is mitigated, Arch-Roamright can pass on the lower risk in the form of lower costs and higher levels of other protection such as coverage in case of a medical emergency.

You’ll still get trip interruption coverage, missed connection protection, and baggage protection as this could still occur in the middle or at the end of your vacation.

With this plan, you once again have no deductibles on the medical coverage as well as included assistance for security, political, and natural disasters. The Roamright app is, of course, offered as well.

Travel Medical Plan

This type of plan is for those who don’t need the trip protection offered by one of the main plans, but who are concerned with potential medical expenses while away. It also provides for extra types of medical coverage which could be an addition to a standard plan.

This type of coverage is valid for up to 180 days of travel and does have a $250 deductible. There are a ton of other inclusions that we haven’t seen yet, though: an in-hospital indemnity payment, coverage of an unexpected recurrence of pre-existing conditions, funds for emergency medical reunions, and escort expenses, among many others.

See Related: Best Senior Travel Insurance Plans & Options

Auto Rental Insurance Plus Plan

This final specialty plan applies to travelers renting a car and wanting an extra level of protection in case of the worst. A car accident is one of the most likely disasters of any vacation.

The $0 deductible is a nice addition to the $35,000 collision coverage. If you wreck your rental, you’ll be covered up to that amount, along with $500 in reimbursement for your baggage that was inside.

The rental agent will likely try to sell you insurance at the counter, and it’s important to decline it if you’ve purchased this Roamright plan. If a minimum level of protection is required from the agency, Roamright will cover what they don’t. Your credit card might also offer some level of rental car insurance.

Pros and Cons

So far, we’ve seen the different packages that Roamright offers and what each of them includes. We haven’t been too critical up to this point, though; so let’s see what’s actually nice and not so nice about their offerings.

Pro: User-Friendly Quote Process

The first thing I noticed is that I can immediately begin getting my free quote upon arriving at their landing page. I added some simple details: my residency, trip dates, the total amount spent, birth date, and importantly the date of the initial trip deposit (when I made the purchase).

From there, I could immediately see the prices of the Pro Plan and the Pro Plus Plan, along with a snapshot of what’s included with both. The whole process took less than a minute, and I found it was an easy experience for the customer.

Furthermore, the quote that it showed automatically generated a reference number and I can go back to it automatically by visiting the site again. This is great for travelers who want to do some shopping around before making the final decision.

Pro: Customer Service You Can Actually Reach

Also on the landing page, I could immediately see several ways to contact one of Arch’s travel insurance professionals in case I needed immediate assistance. This is a serious breath of fresh air when it seems like more and more companies nowadays are finding ways to avoid customers contacting them.

Roamright has 24/7 customer service and their phone number is listed clearly at the top of the site. There is also a live-chat option, especially useful if you are overseas and don’t want to pay phone charges.

Finally, I found several email addresses to use if that is your preferred contact method. Already, I feel reassured that there are human beings behind the scenes!

Con: Low Rating on Better Business Bureau

It is very important to see what the experience was like for travelers who purchased and later needed a trip insurance product. While there are many places to read reviews, one trusted source is the BBB.

Unfortunately, Arch Insurance Company doesn’t have a great track record there. They have one star out of five, 40 complaints in the past three years, and 11 in the past 12 months.

To make it worse, you might have thought that some of this heat comes from other sources of business besides Arch’s Roamright product. But, upon reading reviews, you’ll clearly find some travel insurance-related complaints. 

Pro: Special Considerations for Covid-19 Clearly Displayed

If the pandemic makes your purchase of travel insurance a whole lot more complicated, you aren’t alone. Most travelers haven’t experienced the problem of shutdowns, quarantines, and getting stranded abroad for these reasons before.

I was pleased to see that Roamright is very upfront about Covid-19 and its travel insurance products. It is important to be reassured that you are not failing to notice a big potential exclusion.

Even better, you might not have to deal with these potential exclusions – many of the problems that arise from Covid-19 are covered by Roamright. That is a big plus.

Pro: Paperless Claims Process

Hopefully, you’ve never been in a position where you needed to make a claim on your travel insurance; because that means something went wrong for you. But if unfortunate events did take place on one of your past trips, you may be familiar with the claims process.

Sadly, some insurance companies are still in the Stone Age and ask that paper forms, invoices, and other forms of proof be snail-mailed to them for processing. 

Luckily, Roamright advertises a paper-free process that will simply have you submit everything electronically. I don’t mean to make you believe that they are the only ones doing this, as more and more companies go digital, but it is reassuring to see that Roamright is one of them.

Con: Uncompetitive Pricing for Certain Plans 

Obviously, pricing has to be one of the top factors to consider when weighing insurance options. The whole point of this investment is weighing certain risks against certain costs, and your upfront payment is one of them.

Running an identical search across some of Roamright’s competitors, which we’ll detail more below, I noticed a not-so-insignificant price difference in some cases. For example, my quote for Roamright’s basic plan was $174, compared to $139 from SafetyWing with a higher level of coverage.

While you’d have to look carefully at inclusions and exclusions to see who has the better deal, my assessment for this one was that SafetyWing was the easy decision. 

Pro: Flexible Range of Plans and Add-Ons

I was glad to see that Roamright clearly displayed upgrade options if specific types of coverage are needed. For example, you can elect to be covered for hazardous sports such as skydiving and scuba diving, which are usually excluded.

You can also upgrade for extra baggage protection, car rental protection, and higher levels of medical emergency protection. While these certainly add to the price, they are essential for those who need them.

Detracting from this pro a bit is the fact that some of these ‘add-ons’ for Roamright are already included in the plans of their competitors; which, as we saw, can even be cheaper.

See Related: Best Travel Health Insurance for Visiting the US

Roamright Travel Insurance Alternatives

You can travel smart by buying travel insurance, but you can travel smarter by shopping around for travel insurance. Roamright should be compared to other products, many of which we’ve already reviewed on ViaTravelers.

I make comparisons below based on an upcoming trip that is specific to me. You and your trip may be different with different needs, so be sure to check it out for yourself as well.

World Nomads

This is a brand well-known by digital nomads and travelers and one that we have highly recommended in our review of their product. World Nomads is known for offering a wide range of products for most types of travelers, and while they sell the product, the policy is underwritten by Nationwide.

As mentioned above, I immediately found that World Nomads had a better deal than Roamright for my trip. The $40 difference in premium was not insignificant; that could be a nice dinner in certain places or even a night in a hotel in others.

If other factors lined up in Roamright’s favor, I might have considered it. But, World Nomads offered higher levels of coverage, more diversity in what’s covered, and an overall more attractive product.

AIG Travel Guard

Another big-name travel insurance product is Travel Guard by AIG, so we are once again dealing with an insurance giant. We recently reviewed this product and found it a good choice for most travelers.

Travel Guard offers more tiers in their blanket policies, adding a third level to Roamright’s two. This is good for most travelers as it provides more flexibility to have more or less coverage as needed, and with the appropriate price difference.

Roamright’s coverage inclusions fall somewhere in between those of Travel Guard, and therefore it’s a bit difficult to compare pricing. I would probably go with Travel Guard for the trip I am considering insuring, but I wouldn’t say Roamright is out of the running in comparison.

See Related: TravelInsurance.com Review

Travelex

You might have heard of this name for their currency conversion services, but Travelex is also an insurer. We reviewed their product also and found them to be a good choice for trip protection.

I would say that Roamright is similar to Travelex in its flexibility. As we found when reviewing Travelex, they also have a wide range of packages and add-ons for those who need them. The price of their service is also reasonable.

However, Travelex does not offer high levels of medical coverage as we find in Roamright and does not offer a multi-trip plan. These are two areas where Roamright shines over Travelex. As always, carefully compare based on your personal situation.

Ratings

Before we give the final verdict, let’s make it simpler to visualize and rate Roamright Travel Insurance on some basic concepts.

Ease-of-Use: 4/5

As I showed in the pros section, Roamright’s free quote process is very simple and fast. The only reason I don’t give it a perfect five out of five is that I think they could do a better job of showing specific inclusions and exclusions, as some competitors do.

Features: 3/5

I liked the wide variety of packages I could purchase or add to another package, but I did not find it to be as competitive as World Nomads, for example. 

Customer Service: 4/5 

Customer service gets a high rating based on the many ways to reach a representative, either to help you choose an insurance package or to help you in a problematic situation while away. We can’t give a perfect score, however, based on reviews we saw on the BBB.

Value for Money: 2/5

Unfortunately, I have to hit Roamright here. As cost is such a big factor for me and many other travelers, the fact that I found more coverage for less cost elsewhere is a big drawback. Roamright still gets points for being an overall good choice, however, and shouldn’t be out of the running.

The Verdict

In the end, Roamright is a decent travel insurance option for many types of travelers but does have its downfalls. It is very important to do research, shop around, and know what you are buying. 

It could very well turn out that Roamright is your cheapest and most comprehensive plan, even if it didn’t turn out that way for my trip. Every trip is different, and everyone’s needs are as well. 

In that case, we do recommend Roamright for your travel insurance needs, along with the other competitors we covered. It’s a good product, with friendly service, and could really save you money if you need to use it.

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