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Now You Can Buy “Ticket” Insurance
By JLP | February 14, 2007
FYI - I’m NOT getting paid to post this.
What will they think of next?
I just received the following email from a PR person for a company called World Access, an insurance company that now offers “ticket insurance.” I’ll go ahead and post the email since it’s short:
From NASCAR to the Masters to March Madness, Fans Can Get Peace of Mind for High-Priced Tickets
RICHMOND, VA, February 14, 2007– Sports fans are willing to ante up big bucks for their favorite events – such as $1,000 for the Daytona 500 or a final round of The Masters, three grand for the Final Four or even more for courtside seats to an NBA All-Star Game (prices according to TicketsNow.com).
But what happens if something unexpected happens on your way to the big game and you can’t use your tickets? Missing all the action doesn’t have to be a total loss… now that there’s ticket insurance.
Last year, World Access, a leading insurance and assistance company, introduced Event Ticket Protector, which will reimburse you for tickets if you can’t go due to covered reasons. For example, if you, a family member or traveling companion gets sick or injured, or something unexpected, like a traffic accident, keeps you at home, Event Ticket Protector will reimburse you for the full price of the tickets – including fees – if you have to miss the event.
“We’ve insured more than $4 million in tickets since launching this product eight months ago,” said Emily Porter, spokesperson for World Access. “Ticket insurance is becoming popular fast, especially for events that are expensive or are purchased months in advance – two situations that create a higher risk for the consumer.”
Available through TicketsNow, InTicketing.com and many other brokers, Event Ticket Protector insurance typically costs 5% of the ticket’s face value. So, a $1,000 ticket to Daytona is about 50 bucks.
First off, $3,000 for the NCAA Final Four? How crazy is that? At 5%, it would cost $150 to insure those tickets. I guess if you’re spending $3,000, what’s another $150, which is EXACTLY what the insurance company wants you to think. It’s true: you really can insure everything!
What do you think? Would you ever buy insurance on your tickets?
Topics: Miscellaneous |
February 14th, 2007 at 12:03 pm
This is already one of the benefits of my Amex Gold card.
“The Event Ticket Protection Plan provides coverage when the expense of a Ticket has been charged to the Cardmember’s Account and the Ticketholder cannot use the Ticket due to a Covered Incident, such as a Medical Emergency, as defined in the Plan documents. You may be reimbursed, up to a maximum coverage limit of $1,000 per Occurrence, for the cost of the unused Ticket. The Ticket must be charged to your Account, and you are eligible for up to two Covered Incidents per 12-month period, beginning when the eligible Ticket was charged to your Account.”
Probably the terms aren’t quite as liberal as the insurance in your post, but at least it’s not costing me anything other than the annual fee on the card (which is more than made up for in other rewards… this ticket insurance is a bit of icing on the cake).
February 14th, 2007 at 12:36 pm
This is classic “cashflow” insurance. If you’re rich enough to buy these sorts of tickets, you should not need cashflow insurance and should be concerning yourself with “wealth preservation” insurance.
In general, cashflow insurance is a substitute for an emergency fund. Wealth preservation insurance is a hedge against uncertain upside risk, and covers risks that are harder to “self-insure” against.
I discussed this on my blog recently.
February 16th, 2007 at 9:38 am
[...] JLP @ All Financial Matters brings up a new type of insurance, nothing else but “ticket” insurance! Would you insure your expensive tickets to some event? That’s insane! I’ve never heard of tickets costing in the thousands before. Well, that’s probably because I don’t go out that often and am not much of a sports fan. [...]
February 17th, 2007 at 12:15 am
[...] All Financial Matters can’t believe that you can buy ticket insurance. [...]