SquareMouth travel insurance review 2024

Squaremouth is an online travel insurance marketplace that's helped over 3.5 million people buy policies since 2003. It offers dozens of providers, including many of our top picks — like Nationwide, Berkshire Hathaway Travel Insurance and Travel Insured International.

We love how simple the platform makes it to compare multiple providers and get details about each. And the unique zero-complaint guarantee means SquareMouth will remove a provider if you have an issue that's not adequately resolved.

Squaremouth provides quotes for several different kinds of policies, including:

Single trip travel insurance

As you might expect, these are short-term policies intended to cover one trip. The coverage is more comprehensive than an annual travel insurance policy, with rates based on a percentage of your costs, typically between 4% and 8%.

Annual travel insurance

If you expect to travel a lot in a year, this policy can simplify things by putting all your coverage in one place. It varies by provider, but multi-trip policies usually cover travel delays, lost luggage and medical expenses.

Cruise travel insurance

The best cruise insurance policies include:

• Travel to and from your port of call
• Coverage at sea
• Trip delays, interruptions or cancellation
• Delayed or lost baggage
• Emergency medical care and evacuation

Adventure and sport travel insurance

Many standard travel insurance policies don't cover high-risk activities like skydiving, skiing and scuba diving. SquareMouth includes providers who offer coverage for extreme sports, adventure travel and more.

Flight insurance

flight insurance can help you recoup costs that aren't reimbursed by your airline, like cancellation due to a family member's death or a job loss. It only covers the flight, however, not accommodations or rental cars,

Group travel insurance

If you're a large family heading to a wedding or coworkers going on a business trip, group travel insurance can be a lot cheaper than buying multiple individual plans.

To qualify for a group policy with Squaremouth, you'll need to have 10 or more U.S. residents all going to the same destination within the same timeframe.

Medical travel insurance

Your health insurance may not cover medical care if you're abroad. A medical travel policy can pay for doctors' visits, hospital stays and even an emergency evacuation if you unexpectedly get sick or injured.

Consider these factors before buying a travel insurance policy through Squaremouth

• Many well-known providers. Squaremouth works with dozens of insurers, many of which are praised for reasonable rates and excellent customer service.
• Simple comparison tool. You can view three quotes in an easy-to-view grid, making it easy to compare price, coverage and customer ratings.
• Zero complaint guarantee. SquareMouth will mediate complaints with your insurer and, if the issue isn't resolved satisfactorily, will remove that provider from its platform.
• No markup. Squaremouth doesn't add fees to the prices of the providers on its platform.

• Slow to respond to complaints. While SquareMouth received a respectable A- from the Better Business Bureau, it cited the length of time it takes to respond to complaints as the reason for not giving it a perfect score.
• No 24/7 customer service. Representatives are available from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. ET. That can be frustrating if you're traveling in another time zone and need help.
• Promotes its brand in searches. Tin Leg, a provider founded by SquareMouth in 2014, appears at the top of most search results. You can then filter by price, popularity or other categories.

SquareMouth's zero-complaint guarantee means it advocates for customers if their travel insurance claim is rejected. If the issue isn't resolved satisfactorily, SquareMouth will remove that provider from its platform.

The SquareMouth website isn't particularly flashy but it's very easy to navigate and you can get quotes just by providing basic information about yourself and your trip.

You do need to work with the travel insurance company that issued your policy to file a claim or resolve any issues, however. And SquareMouth customer service representatives are only available from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. ET daily. If you're in a different time zone and need help, you'll have to wait.

In addition, the site received an A- from the Better Business Bureau. That's a very respectable grade but the length of time SquareMouth takes to respond to complaints was cited as the reason it did not receive an A+.

To buy a policy on SquareMouth, you'll want to first get a quote by inputting:

• The ages of all travelers
• Total trip cost
• Travel dates
• Countries being visited

You'll receive sample prices from dozens of companies, which you can filter by price, popularity, most recently purchased and other categories. When you're ready to enroll, you can hit the "buy now" button.

From there, you'll finalize the details about the people on the policy, your destination and dates and then purchase the policy. You'll receive a confirmation email after your purchase.

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At CNBC Select, our mission is to provide our readers with high-quality service journalism and comprehensive consumer advice so they can make informed decisions with their money. Every travel insurance review is based on rigorous reporting by our team of expert writers and editors with extensive knowledge of travel insurance products. While CNBC Select earns a commission from affiliate partners on many offers and links, we create all our content without input from our commercial team or any outside third parties, and we pride ourselves on our journalistic standards and ethics.

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