Compare Travel Insurance Cover - Cheap or Fully-Featured Travel Insurance

September 2009 Star Ratings

Not surprisingly, price is a strong deciding factor for people choosing travel insurance, whether cheap or fully-featured, particularly in the domestic and medical-only areas. The trick is to marry up the right price with level of coverage to determine true value when it comes to the crunch.

At CANSTAR CANNEX we assessed:

44 travel insurance brands
111 comprehensive travel insurance policies
13 medical only travel insurance policies
47 domestic travel insurance policies
For comprehensive travel insurance, we looked for the right balance between price and features. For domestic and medical-only travel insurance, we balanced price with a more limited number of features. For example, hospital cover is excluded on domestic insurance and personal items are excluded on medical-only insurance.

Congratulations to the winners of our first-ever travel insurance star rating awards.

READ MORE ABOUT THESE RATINGS (PDF)

FIND A TRAVEL INSURANCE POLICY FOR YOU

INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL INSURANCE

Southern Cross Travel Insurance:

Offers cheapest average premiums for most travellers
Good features, eg.$2,000 unspecified item limit
Up to $25,000 on luggage and personal items

Worldcare:

Best feature score – covers more than average
Covers unlimited overseas hospital
Theft of cash up to $250
Travel agent cancellation fees up to $1,500
Flexible with excesses

DOMESTIC TRAVEL INSURANCE

Suncorp:

Covers unlimited cancellation charges
Up to $6,000 for all claims, including up to $3,000 per item for electronic equipment
Covers $200 for theft of cash
Up to $250 for each 12 hours baggage is delayed - $500 max.

Worldcare:

Covers $5,000 per person for luggage and personal effects
Unlimited cover – cancellations fees, lost deposits
Up to $1,000 per person travel delay allowance
$3,000 cover for car rental excess

MEDICAL TRAVEL INSURANCE

Worldcare:

Unlimited overseas medical cover
Allowance for funeral expenses

Zuji:

Significantly cheaper premiums for all travelers
Unlimited overseas medical cover

The Cost of Travel Insurance Cover - Cheap or Fully-Featured

With travel insurance ranging from $54 to $1,500, it pays to look carefully at comprehensive travel insurance policies before you sign up. Our research shows a huge variance in premiums. If you have the wrong policy, you can pay four-and a-half times more than you need to.

Worldwide cover varies by nearly $140 for a week’s trip and double that for a month’s holiday. The real eye-opener, though, is coverage for a three-month trip. The difference in premium price in this case is over $1,200 so you can see it’s important for the travel budget that you get the right insurance fit.

Four Ways to Trim Cost for Cheaper Travel Insurance

To lower your premium, increase the excess you agree to pay in the event of a claim
If you are only visiting a few countries, there’s no need to get the more expensive worldwide cover
Consider medical-only insurance instead of comprehensive if you’re not worried about possessions or cancellations
Ask for a ‘couple’ discount if you are traveling with a friend for the full period of the holiday

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