Travel & Holidays Travel Insurance

Business owners would be better off getting a comprehensive company travel insurance policy imo which would cover directors for personal and business travel, including spouse and children Ifrom travelling together.

1 year cover from 5 or 6 people came ended up extremely cheap.

 

Perhaps this is common?? I think very wise to do this.

 

The most important thing is to be covered for Medical Evacuation, preferably unlimited cover. We usually use Covermore.

 

Pre existing conditions are why we don't rely on cc travel cover. They wanted $75 per condition to even decide if they would offer cover or not. And if so, at what extra cost.

We did have a big claim for cancellation for a declared pre existing condition with Covermore. The paperwork was horrendous with pages and pages of questions for the specialist. Took a few months of persistence but we finally got paid.

Most travel policies automatically cover a long list of conditions. Anything outside this list has to be declared and costed. We pay about $100 extra for hubby's three conditions, but one sparked a big payment so well worth the extra $100.
Marg

 

I will check this one thanks

 

@MTR you're a pretty successful individual, why Hunt around and spend your time running around and shopping in the bargain bin, just get a good broker to sort it out.

Don't you have a project management business that hires you from memory? get business trabel insurance that is way better than what you'll get retail.

 

OK, I just never really thought about it, first time I looked at travel insurance to be honest, cos we used credit card, but its becoming very clear that this is not the way to go, there are too many pitfalls.

 

I get an annual policy through CoverMore for a family of 5 that covers Asia and USA for trips under 30 days - with cancellation cover and skiing/snowboarding (that bumps it up a bit). Surprisingly that is only $520 pa.

The plus side of an annual policy is that I'm covered 365 days a year for anything that happens domestically too - anything that is more than 250kms from home. Those trips are often under the minimum spend for my credit card insurance. So if I went for a long drive to Albany I'm covered, or hiring a car in Melbourne etc

 

How much cancellation cover do you get for the $520?

Hubby and I wanted Covermore to increase cancellation cover from $10K to $25K and the premium doubled to nearly $2000 for 42 days, and that did not include the Americas!
Marg

 

I have checked our policy and it's unlimited. It used to be an amount but in our latest renewal it's now unlimited. This is the 3yrs in a row we have had this policy. It has a $250 excess and limited to 30 days with the majority of the trips in Asia but USA is named to be included (it was $60 to add USA to the annual policy).

 

My SIL had credit card travel insurance and fell ill in Bali after her wedding in 2010. She has had terrible Asthma since birth with a long history of hospitalisation. We are still not sure what it was she came down with but I suspect it may have been legionnaires. Anyway, long story short she was very well looked after under this travel insurance. Hospitalized for 4 days at the BIMC with respiratory distress with fantastic Aussie trained Drs. Flown home in Business class. Not accent out of her pocket. The insurer even rang her several times to make sure everything was ok and she was happy with the care she was receiving. I can't remember if the underwriter was Lords of London or Zurich now.
Maybe things might be different in the USA given the cost of medical but after seeing this we have a lot of faith in the credit card provided insurance.

 

thankfully that worked out but you will definitely need to read the fine print, it could also be a disaster.

I will be taking separate insurance as we will be in US and given medical costs I don't want to take any chances.

 

Yes, thankfully it did work out well. Always better to be safe than sorry. It does show that it can also depend on the underwriter involved in providing the insurance cover though. Just because you pay extra for the insurance doesn't mean it will work out any better. Still have to read the fine print and find out all the conditions involved.

 

I have used TID and have been happy with them

 

We use 1Cover. Was cheap, easy to order online and covered some pre existing medical conditions that affected us at no additional cost.

 

Have used Allianz on a number of occasions for travel insurance as they were cheaper than many of the "budget" travel insurers even after coupon discounts.