If you travel often, you might already know about the perks of AllTrips annual travel insurance plans. For one low price, you get protection for all the trips you take in a 365-day span: the big family beach trip, spontaneous weekend getaways, business travel, cruise vacations… Any trip, as long as it’s no more than 45 days in duration, can be covered. An AllTrips plan is a great fit for almost anyone who loves to travel.

There’s only one potential drawback to an annual travel insurance plan: the maximum benefit limit for trip cancellation/trip interruption. What does this mean, exactly? And how do you know if an AllTrips plan is the best travel insurance option for your upcoming trip?

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Should I Buy Annual Travel Insurance for An Expensive Trip?

Scenario: You’re planning at least three separate trips this year, so you’re interested in annual travel insurance. But one of those trips is a dream vacation: sailing the Greek islands on a chartered yacht, which is going to cost at least $8,000. So which travel insurance plan is your best bet?

Before you buy an annual travel insurance plan, look closely at the benefit limits. The popular AllTrips Prime plan, for example, has a maximum limit of $3,000 per 365-day coverage period for trip cancellation benefits. If you must cancel a trip for a covered reason, then the maximum reimbursement you can receive for your nonrefundable, prepaid trip costs is $3,000. The same limit applies to trip interruption benefits. So if you’re planning a trip that’s more expensive, what should you do?

You have a few options here. One, you could purchase an annual travel insurance plan with a high trip cancellation limit. The AllTrips Premier plan offers three levels of annual trip cancellation, up to a maximum of $15,000. When you get a quote, you’ll see a maximum benefit limit of $2,000 — but once you click Buy Now, we’ll ask if you want to raise the limit to $5,000, $10,000 or $15,000 for an additional cost. (The AllTrips Executive plan also offers benefit tiers: $5,000, $7,500 or $10,000). A high-limit annual plan is ideal for frequent travelers who are planning at least one expensive trip.

Here’s another option: You could insure the Greek cruise and all your other trips individually. If you’ve already booked all your major trips for the year, it might make sense to go ahead and get a quote for each trip, just to see how much you’ll pay. Keep in mind that you can tailor the insurance plan to the trip. If you’re traveling overseas, for instance, you should buy a plan with emergency medical benefits and emergency medical transportation. If you’re staying in the U.S., you could skip those benefits if your regular health insurance can cover you.

What If I Exceed the Trip Cancellation Limit of My Plan?

Scenario: You bought an AllTrips Prime plan in January to protect your planned travel. It’s a good thing you did, because your plan reimbursed your $2,500 prepaid trip costs when you had to cancel your summer beach trip. But now it’s November, and you’re planning a $2,000 cruise. If you need to cancel, you’d exceed your $3,000 trip cancellation benefit limit. What should you do?

If you exceed the trip cancellation (or trip interruption) limit of your AllTrips plan, you can protect additional trips by purchasing a separate plan. One economical option is OneTrip Cancellation Plus, which includes just three key benefits: trip cancellation, trip interruption and trip delay. The maximum limit for trip cancellation/interruption is $5,000. Another affordable travel insurance plan is OneTrip Basic, with a $10,000 limit for trip cancellation/interruption.

Once your AllTrips trip cancellation limit has been reached, then you could file a claim on your OneTrip plan. Please note that you can’t stack or combine any other benefits — for example, you couldn’t file a travel delay claim on both plans.

Tips on Choosing the Best Travel Insurance for Your Trip

• Older travelers may save big with an AllTrips plan. Here’s a secret many travelers don’t know: Age doesn’t matter when you’re buying an annual travel insurance plan! Unlike single-trip plans, which increase in price along with the traveler’s age, our AllTrips plans cost the same whether you’re 20, 40 or 80.
• If you’re traveling with a companion, that can affect the travel-insurance math. If you and another person are splitting the trip, then you only need to insure the trip costs you’re paying for. If you’re traveling with children, then your best option might be OneTrip Prime or OneTrip Premier. Both cover kids 17 and under for free when they’re traveling with a parent or grandparent.
• Frequent business travelers will probably benefit from an AllTrips plan. While you may not be paying for your trips out of pocket, you still have to contend with the hassles of flight delays, baggage delays and other travel mishaps. An annual plan can give you the protection you need, and you don’t have to worry about the maximum limit for trip cancellation (because your company’s paying your trip costs).
• Annual travel insurance is not the best option for really long journeys. AllTrips plans can’t cover trips that last longer than 45 days. If you’re planning a longer trip overseas, consider the OneTrip Emergency Medical plan instead. Designed for trips of up to 180 days, this affordable plan includes only post-departure benefits; not trip cancellation or trip interruption.
• Don’t wait until the last minute to buy annual travel insurance! If your trip begins today, it’s too late to purchase a plan with trip cancellation/interruption benefits. It’s best to buy travel insurance well in advance, as soon as you pay your first trip costs or deposit.

Read more: When's the Best Time to Buy Travel Insurance?

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