Travel Planning and the headache of Travel Insurance

Morton Island Shipwrecks

As I’m sitting here looking at different travel insurance providers for our upcoming Disney Cruise, I thought it was a good opportunity to write a quick post about travel insurance.

A lot of people ask who to use for travel insurance, but there’s no straight forward answer to this. As with any insurance you need to shop around and find a cover that suits you. A lot of people’s first thought for travel insurance would be Covermore, they have been around for years and all the Travel Agencies use them, which you would think makes them good value, however, Covermore is one of the few travel insurance providers that have a course that travel agents can complete to get the certificate needed to sell travel insurance. These same travel agents also make a commission for selling Covermore insurance. This doesn’t mean that Covermore is a bad choice, after all commission is how travel agents make their income, and believe me some of the commissions are hardly worth it, but something is better than nothing when you are spending hours researching and putting together an itinerary for your clients. But what it does mean is that there may be a travel insurance product out there better suited to you and your requirements.

I know from doing travel insurance quotes for my clients how a good travel insurance price can quickly become a massive holiday expense, because they have added a pre-existing medical condition, or they find out their pre-existing medical condition isn’t covered. The good news is, not all travel insurance providers have the same fees and exclusions when it comes to pre-existing medical conditions, so you really need to dive deeper into the quote, start the sign-up process then add the pre-existing medical condition on to find out the true quote is. What can make it even harder to shop around, is that a lot of travel insurance providers will make you call up to find out the cost to add on the pre-existing medical condition, especially if you’re a busy mum like me and you do that sort of thing at night when everyone’s in bed.

I’ve noticed over the last few years is that there is so many more companies now offering travel Insurance, which means you have more options to shop around. Unfortunately, that does also mean that shopping around does take longer as you have more quotes to do. I usually stick to 3-5 companies that I know and get quotes from them. The ironic thing is, most of the insurance companies offering travel insurance are either owned by the same company or group.

Now I know you’re reading this wondering, who I use for my travel insurance, simple, it depends on who provides the best value at the time I’m looking. I’ve used RACQ Travel insurance who have just had exceptional value on the last couple of holidays we’ve used them for, and if you are an RACQ member you get 15% off. I’ve used Covermore for both sign trips and multi-trip annual coverage and I’ve used also QBE, however QBE don’t seem to offer travel Insurance anymore unless you are after corporate travel insurance.

Here’s a list of some other well-known travel insurance providers I’ve come across in my search to get you on your way with quoting.

Insure and Go

Covermore

RACQ

NRMA

Allianz

NIB

Budget Direct

Bupa

Medibank

I also came across these household names that have jumped on the travel insurance bandwagon

Australia Post

Qantas

Everyday Rewards

A lot of travel cards and credit cards will automatically provide travel insurance as well, if you have used them to book the holiday, they usually come with a lot of terms and conditions though.

My tips for shopping for travel insurance

• Always look at the coverage, what’s covered and what’s not, as well as the coverage limit, there has been quite a shift in this area since COVID

• Take into consideration additional costs to add on high-risk activities such as skiing and pre-existing medical conditions. Some insurers even have an additional fee for adding in a cruise or holidaying in winter

• Always read the PDS and terms and conditions of your policy.

• Declare everything when taking out travel insurance, you don’t want to get caught out in the unlikely event that you need to claim on your insurance

• Consider your risks, a lot of people don’t think to take out travel insurance for domestic travel, however, domestic travel insurance is something that should be considered, especially since holidays in Australia can very nearly cost as much as going on an international holiday

• Shop around

Happy Holidaying!