What's your 2018 annual travel insurance plan?

[albatross710]

Over the past week I've started looking at my travel insurance needs for 2018. Have completely read three policies this week and each one leaving me with the thought that it doesn't suit me.

Question for those that have Annual Travel Insurance policies, what is your process for choosing a policy?

My 2017 travel year included 11 work trips to Asia. One 11 hour delayed luggage, one low cost medical visit to a Philippines hospital, a few 2-3 hour delays.

My travel insurance wish list:

Reimbursement/re-accommodation in times of natural disaster.
Travel Cancellation prior to departure.
Medical cost/evacuation:

Other insurance considerations:

• Flight & airline problems usually seem to be covered by the airline, so not as critical in the insurance.
• Lost luggage seems to be becoming rarer.
• 6 -8 hour Flight delays I'm happy to wear the cost of airport food if needed.
• Sport aviation, wakeboarding & ziplines, maybe I'll do this in 2018 travels.

What I discovered:

Westpac Black travel insurance
Excludes claims caused by flood and atmospheric conditions.
$500 spend not always triggered for reward bookings or some domestic travel.

Budget Direct policy
Has some weird exclusions which ruled me out due to family relations.

Alliance multi-trip policy
Ruled this out because of the property depreciation rules. Excludes ziplines & wakeboarding.

So for those with annual policies, how do you choose?

Alby

 

[get me outta here]

Choice Mag Updated May 18:

Choice info, Annual Multi Trip Insurance Reviews : Annual multi-trip travel insurance compared - CHOICE

Credit Card TI reviews : Credit card insurance compared - CHOICE. There is a search box that lists 26 x policies that go up to 80 year olds. And, International cruises etc

And, there are other links to single trips etc.

Helpful hints : Travel insurance buying guide - Money

 

[marks]

A bit of a left field note but...

I'm motorcycle riding various countries and finding some interesting points between policies.
Having a full Australian motorcycle license and if required an International Driving Permit (IDP) might not cover you if:
1. The country you are in doesn't recognise the IDP 1949 that Australia is a party to (the IDP 1968 isn't valid!). I've noticed this is the issue in Vietnam and some countries in Central/Southern America.
2. You may even need a local license!
3. Quad bikes are excluded (How many tours use quad bikes!)

I've been using TID for year for annual policies but won't be now.

I'm looking at currently but not confirmed:

- 1 Cover
- World 2 Cover

Policies where riding has these exclusions:
- TID
- Columbus
- Amex
- Budget Direct
- World Nomad
- Insure and Go
- HSBC (over 250cc or quad bikes)
- QBE (over 250cc)
- Worldcare (over 250cc)
- Bupa (no quad bikes)
- Westpac (over 250cc or quad bikes)
- Fastcover

Some of these do have coverage under single trip policies.
Worth reviewing if you are a fan of certain activities.

Cheers.

 

[Jacques Vert]

Decided to bump the thread as I need to renew/replace our annual multi-trip policy.

We (2 Adults) are travelling to Europe returning via HKG & MNL using QFF points. Total trip duration is just short of 90 days.

Our previous annual multi-trip policy was with QBE via Qantas Assure for $675, worldwide including trips within Australia. When +1 ended up in hospital for 6 nights in Peru they were great and repatriated us back to Australia. As well as covering all (most) of our expenses, they reimbursed us our points on a pro-rata basis. However, maximum length of any one trip is 60 days. To use QF/QBE we would need a separate policy to cover the additional 30 days which adds $542! That's before any loading for medical conditions, etc.

I see 1Cover has annual multi-trip policies up to 90 days but they will not cover anyone over 64 on an annual policy; so that's out.

Columbus Direct also has annual multi-trip policies that have a maximum of 60 days per trip. They advised me that they won't cover my trip using two separate policies (as per QBE) and I have to take a single trip policy @ $863 (and that's after the AFF 20% discount).

Shopping around following suggestions on this thread, I have found that Southern Cross have annual multi-trip policies where the price varies depending on the maximum length of individual trips: $679 (30 days), $753 (60 days), $828 (90 days) all with $100 excess. This reduces with increased excess of $250 to $611/685/760 for 30, 60 & 90. The agent tells me that there is no maximum age restriction (which surprises me).

Only thing is, once the trip has started, QF will not reimburse any points (only taxes). And Southern Cross will only refund the $ value of the lost points (assuming that QF will put a value on them).

Does anyone have any experience/thoughts on claiming on Southern Cross when on an Award booking?

Thanks in advance.

 

[tgh]

Read the SC pd document v e r y carefully… I was planning to use them but found a lot of stuff I did not like...
IIrc….you have to use their doctor and their hospital.. so while you are lying on the road waiting to be scraped up, you need to ring them for directions to a suitable hospital….. public only.. none of this fancy private stuff….
There were other issues that I have now forgotten….

 

[Jacques Vert]

Read the SC pd document v e r y carefully… I was planning to use them but found a lot of stuff I did not like...
IIrc….you have to use their doctor and their hospital.. so while you are lying on the road waiting to be scraped up, you need to ring them for directions to a suitable hospital….. public only.. none of this fancy private stuff….
There were other issues that I have now forgotten….

Yes I always read the PDS carefully but thanks for reminding me; and the other comments.

I have since found the bit about frequent flyer points in their PDS:




I wonder if under sub-point "c)" if that would extend to buying "top-up" points through the QF website? That's about the only way I can think of that would put a reasonable value on the lost points on a Oneworld Award. (Except the limit is 150,000 points.)

Of course, the most important thing is how you get looked after if you have a medical and repatriation claim. As noted above, QF/QBE could not be faulted on this when we made our claim earlier this year.

Looks like I have a lot of reading ahead for the weekend.

 

[VPS]

Good luck JV and when you decide can you post what you decided please? I'm planning a 90 day trip later in 2019

TIA

 

[CBRtraveler]

I read the choice review and saw that the Amex cover for multi trip came up pretty high in the ranking. Has anyone had experience with this cover especially claiming.

What do you think are some of the more useful cover not covered in other insurance?

 

[Squirrel.Monkey]

I usually get the QBE yearly through the Entertainment book as well. Last year cost me $235.20 for the year, excludes travel to the USA.

 

[Jacques Vert]

Of course, the most important thing is how you get looked after if you have a medical and repatriation claim. As noted above (post 43), QF/QBE could not be faulted on this when we made our claim earlier this year.

Looks like I have a lot of reading ahead for the weekend.

Good luck JV and when you decide can you post what you decided please? I'm planning a 90 day trip later in 2019

TIA

Well that "lot of reading ahead for the weekend" became a marathon that has taken 6 weeks, on and off.

I decided to get a formal quote from Southern Cross so I completed the Pre-existing Medical Assessment. They were happy to insure us on the basis that we paid the additional premium of $800+

I then looked at the complimentary insurance that comes with my new St George Amplify Signature Credit Card. Maximum trip length is six months and they will cover you up to 80 years of age. You need to tick a couple of boxes to activate the insurance (more on this below).

I checked the benefits and it looked OK so I again completed the pre-existing medical conditions assessment. You have to pay $45 per person to complete the assessment so +1 went first and they confirmed that +1's Asthma would be excluded. Interesting that she hadn't had any asthma for >17 years but when she developed pneumonia in Peru in May last year and spent six nights in hospital, the doctors also included asthma in their diagnosis. If it had been more than 12 months since requiring treatment it would have been automatically covered.

As there was no way we were heading overseas without this being covered, I declined to complete the assessment and saved my $45. However, this policy is one that I'll be looking at again for future trips.

After checking out a couple of policies that come with other credit cards that we have, and realising that we hadn't met the activation requirements, I decided to go back to QF/QBE. The annual multi-trip policy has a maximum trip length of 60 days but if travelling for longer you are able to take an additional single trip policy to cover you from the 61st day to the end of your trip.

The medical assessment for this policy allows you to type in your answers to their questions rather than the "tick-a-box" style of many policies. This allowed +1 to give a full explanation of her hosptialisation (which they already knew about as they had covered her costs) and to give an update on what has happened since our return to Australia. They agreed to cover her without any loading but did exclude one of my conditions and put a limit on one of the others.

Interestingly, the annual multi-trip policy did not attract any loading for my assessment either; but the single-trip 15 day extension did.

Given our experience with our previous QF/QBE policy and the excellent way we were looked after when +1 was hospialised in Peru, we are happy to be covered by them again.

Apologies for the length of this post; I trust the information is useful to others.

 

[Jacques Vert]

To be eligible for the St George Credit Cards Complimentary Insurance that I referred to above, you must meet the following criteria:


- Permanent resident of Australia or hold visa

- Spend $500 per person on prepaid travel costs on your eligible credit card.

- Return overseas travel ticket before leaving Australia (yes they can be two separate tickets)

- Not over 80 years old when you first become eligible (by meeting the 3 conditions above)

- Spouse and dependent children covered if travelling with the cardholder for the entire journey and the cardholder has met the above conditions