Don't buy insurance from your tour operator

Never buy travel insurance from the company providing your trip.

Even if they twist your arm.

Even if they make it sound like it is the only option (it's not).

If you are insured by your own tour operator, airline or cruise line — and then it goes under — you'll have no recourse.

Nobody's answering the phone. You can't collect. Money's gone.

That's what happened to students across the United States recently when a popular educational tour company went bust and took their payments with it.

Voyageur Educational Tours of Worcester, Mass., declared bankruptcy in May, and students at 42 schools around the country lost trip money. Luckily, another company, the National Educational Travel Council, stepped in to help the students with the land costs of another trip, but they still were out lots of money. Individual travelers also were left in the lurch.

"I gave them $12,000 and they never even booked our flights or hotels. They stole from me," says Julie Nichols of Commerce Township, who paid for her whole family to go to France. Yes, she had trip insurance — but guess what? It was bought through Voyageur, so it is now worthless.

"I keep going over and over it, thinking, what could I learn from this?' Nichols says. "It just killed me. I'm still upset."

If students at the time of booking had bought their own policies from a third party (for example, through a travel agent who offers various companies' policies or a big insurer such as Travel Guard for about $140 each) their 10-day France trip would have been protected against the financial default of the provider.

So here's the lesson. Within 7 to 14 days after paying for an upcoming trip, go to a site like www.insuremytrip.com. Compare plans, rates and coverage. It may look confusing, but in general I've found that choosing a middle-priced plan — not the cheapest or most expensive — will provide the coverage you need. Make sure financial default is covered on the policy you choose. Make sure your tour provider isn't excluded by the insurer (most insurance companies post the exclusions on their Web sites).

If it sounds like a big hassle, think about how you would feel if you lost $4,000 on a trip.