Page 26 - AlertDiver_Winter2013
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I
t may seem incongruous to see
a photo of surfers in a magazine
for divers, but we have some
similarities — even beyond our
shared respect for and love of the sea.
We both often travel to satisfy our
passions; whether we end up above
or beneath the waves is something
of a detail. DAN® is best known for
providing dive-accident insurance
and emergency support for divers, but
DAN has recognized a need for a range
of other insurance products to assist
travelers of all sorts.
DAN’s newest offering, Annual Travel
Insurance, was such an instant hit that
within the first 60 days of launch it
appeared on the first page of a Google
search for “annual travel insurance,”
and 60 percent of the people who buy
it aren’t even divers. Considering that
travel insurance is a commodity offered
by a wide variety of vendors, it speaks
to the quality of this program that it has
resonated so positively so quickly.
To learn more about the evolution
of this new plan I interviewed DAN,
Inc. President and CEO Bill Ziefle. “We
know our members are avid travelers,”
he said. “We’ve surveyed Alert Diver
readers, and we’ve learned this is an
incredibly well-traveled group. We
know dive trips abroad are a primary
motivator for purchasing dive-accident
insurance. We even have a long
history of selling per-trip insurance
to cover our members in the event of
cancellation or interruption of a dive
holiday. But what we didn’t have was
an annual travel insurance plan that,
for a set fee, would cover our members
for any trip they took, whether dive-
related or not. Once we identified the
need, we set about working with our
underwriters to come up with the best
possible plan to protect our members
against the most significant financial
hazards they might face when they
travel — all year long, regardless of how
many trips they take.”
“We knew most travel insurance
plans factor in age as a huge variable,”
Ziefle said. “Older people are prone
to more health issues that might
terminate a trip, so they have to pay
accordingly. But we didn’t want age
discrimination to be a factor in this
policy, so our pricing is the same for
everyone. We talked to our members
to gauge their specific needs. These are
the big ones, which became the criteria
we used to develop the program.
Compensation for trip cancellation
and interruption
— We knew this
would be the cornerstone of the policy.
So many of our members are serial
travelers, and buying per-trip insurance
can be prohibitively costly. We came
up with a plan we could price at just
50 percent more than a similar per-trip
plan, and it would cover an unlimited
number of trips per year.
Medical expenses
—We recognize
that most of our members have some
form of medical insurance, but these
days they might have big deductibles or
copays. So we built in a $10,000 medical
benefit. When a person is more than
100 miles from home (by commercial
conveyance) our insurance will kick in to
cover the out-of-pocket expenses related
to medical accident treatment.
Baggage and equipment
—We know
our members travel with expensive dive
gear and cameras that can be lost, stolen,
damaged or even flooded. This insurance
compensates members for such losses.
Rental car coverage
—We learned there
was a bit of uncertainty at the rental-
car counter with members wondering
whether to accept the expensive Collision
Damage Waiver (CDW) policy offered or
whether they might be otherwise covered
by a credit card or a personal auto policy.
This plan offers $25,000 coverage for
CDW when renting a car, and it is the
primary insurance.”
The day I heard this insurance was
being offered I bought it. I was off to the
Philippines the next day. The website’s
interface was incredibly simple, and it
confirmed the coverage immediately.
The plan has already covered me on
six trips in the three months I’ve had it.
This has included a couple of dive trips
with expensive camera gear and some
domestic travel that had nothing to do
with scuba. In fact, I have come to count
on this insurance so much, I worried I
might exhaust the coverage with claims.
I asked Ziefle what would happen then.
“No sweat,” he said, “simply buy another
plan. You’ll be compensated for your
original loss, and the annual clock will
reset with the next purchase; there’s no
reason you have to be without.”
To learn more about this policy or to
enroll, go to
.
—
Stephen Frink
DIVE SLATE
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winter 2013
DAN’s Annual Travel Insurance
DEAN TURNER/ISTOCKPHOTO.COM
