7 On Your Side: Tips for buying travel insurance amid COVID-19

NEW YORK (WABC) -- After being cooped up for so long, everyone is ready to travel again - but with so much uncertainty about the pandemic, it shouldn't come as a surprise that more people are buying travel insurance.

Trip insurance is up 45 percent and 7 On Your Side has tips and what you need to know.

"No one is going to cover a COVID situation," said Miss Travel Guru Francesca Page.

Pandemic exclusions will be written into every policy, but the travel expert recommends purchasing Trip Cancelation Insurance.

"It isn't about COVID itself, it's the things that may happen around it -- certain hotels may close down again, certain airlines cut flights, those kinds of things that an airline might do for you is what people are concerned about," Page said.

A trip cancelation policy between $1-200 may reimburse you for the prepaid forfeited and non-refundable portion of your trip.

But with many people opting not to fly to minimize risk of exposure, the road trip is making a comeback.

You can also insure a road trip. Coverage may include cancelations due to:

-Hurricanes or other weather emergency

-Hotel and motels canceling

-Even car trouble expenses

"You're probably going to stop at different hotels along the way, you'll stop for food, gas, things can go wrong, your tire could blow out, car could break -- insure your hotel stays, all those aspects the insurance will cover," Page said.

The factors companies consider when insuring your road trip include:

-Age

-Health

-Dates of Travel

-Number of Travelers

-Destination

Online insurance calculators can return a rate in few minutes -- prepare for it to run you a couple hundred bucks.

"If you are wanting to be 100 percent safe, then I do see a lot of travelers doing this, particularly families," Page said.

The Big Takeaway is to make sure you shop around and compare prices. And before you purchase a policy, get a copy of it and read it carefully to make sure it covers what you want for your family.

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