Villa Rental Insurance

[ledmiston]

Help! Need advice on purchasing rental insurance for a villa for 2017. We are 3 couples hoping to rent a villa for 3 weeks for a total of $22,000. How best to purchase the insurance? Do we get the CSA Vacation Rental insurance which covers everyone on the villa for a reasonable price or does each couple get their own insurance? Need help, please. We're going crazy trying to figure this out.

We want to put deposit down soon to get dates and purchase insurance right away to cover pre-existing conditions. We're all seniors.

[mdcoles1]

I just purchased insurance for our October trip.

You choose the amount that you are insured for. Each person would need a policy for the expenses they prepaid that are non-refundable. Most policies also include trip delays/cancellations/interruption (can help with lodging, re-booking costs, meals), luggage delays/lost luggage, medical expenses/evacuation, missed connections . So it would make sense that each traveler/couple would want to be covered by their own policy

You may wish to also cover other costs of trip such as air fare if your ticket is non refundable. Again, I would think each traveler would need their own policy as there are coverage limits on each category.

Check out insuremytrip.com to get quotes from several companies. Make sure you are covered for the reasons you are most concerned may lead to your trip being cancelled: existing or future health conditions, weather, job loss, health of parents/children etc. as policies may differ.

[ledmiston]

Thanks for the info. We are splitting the cost of the villa 3 ways. Does each couple insure for the 1/3 they are paying or does each couple insure for the total amount of the rental? This is what is confusing to us.

[mdcoles1]

I would do 1/3 and have my own policy assuming I could provide the proof the insurance company requires for reimbursement for the villa portion. Are you each paying the rental company or owner? Or is one person making the full payment? Is there only 1 person listed on the rental contract? These things may make a difference when it comes to reimbursement.

Call the trip insurance provider to be sure.

[ledmiston]

We are renting through the same company that we used this year. There was only one person on the contract but the rental company allowed us to put both the deposit and final payment on 3 credit cards. The invoices reflected that, including the last 4 digits of each card. I would think that would be enough proof for the insurance company that all 3 couples were included in the rental.

[Chas]

We recommend CSA to all our guests because they provide coverage for the pre-paid costs of renting a private villa. You can each purchase CSA insurance individually simply by allocating the cost of your rental villa and adding on your airfare, or do it all together using the total rental cost and adding up everyone's airfare.

For a no-obligation quote from CSA, just click on the CSA hyperlink in the upper left hand corner on this Website. You will see that CSA even offers 'cancel for any reason' insurance which, while more expensive, is becoming especially important to many travelers because of the uncertainty surrounding Zika. Please purchase CSA insurance through this Website; it helps to support the ongoing expense of maintaining this terrific Website and its valuable exchange of information.

[ledmiston]

Thanks so much for the CSA info. I have already spoken to them several times and they have told me each time that they don't offer "cancel for any reason" coverage which we do want. In addition, I have read many unfavorable reviews of their claims process, many, many unhappy people. Initially we thought that CSA was the way to go but unless you can persuade me otherwise, we are no longer considering them for insurance.

[Chas]

We have been recommending CSA to our guests for 15 years and have had nothing but positive reports. You may not be able to find what you want just by calling their general tel number, but if you follow my original instructions and click on the CSA hyperlink in the upper left hand corner, it will take you to CSA trip insurance offered especially for St John visitors which includes coverage for pre-paying the cost of renting a private villa and offering 'cancel for any reason' (see the last row of the second column).

[ledmiston]

Tried that. Tried filling out form for free quote and it keeps telling me the amount I enter for cost is an invalid amount. Any suggestions?

[Chas]

Sorry, I cannot help you. I have tried entering different amounts from $1 to $100,000 and it gives me two quotes (CSA Custom and Custom Luxe) each time. Perhaps try a different computer/browser.

[ledmiston]

Thanks again, Chas. I discovered that NY residents (which we are) are unable to get cancel for any reason provision through CSA.

[Chas]

The 'Cancel for Any Reason' option from CSA appears to be available for residents of New Jersey, Connectucut, Massachusetts and the other 4 New England states so if any of the others traveling with you reside in one of these states (or another where it is offered), you might want to have them purchase the insurance from CSA.

[ledmiston]

Would that then cover the NY residents? If we had to make a claim under the CFAR provision would CSA say sorry, not covered because you live in NY?

[Chas]

Sorry, I am not legally-qualified to answer your latest question; I was trying to help you by referring back to what you suggested yourself in your first post on Feb 24 when you said: "We are 3 couples hoping to rent a villa for 3 weeks for a total of $22,000. How best to purchase the insurance? Do we get the CSA Vacation Rental insurance which covers everyone on the villa for a reasonable price or does each couple get their own insurance? Need help, please. We're going crazy trying to figure this out."

[ledmiston]

I do appreciate your efforts to help. We do have a NJ resident in the group. However, I would be reluctant to purchase the CSA insurance with the CFAR provision unless I can ascertain that NY residents would be covered under that provision.