? re travel insurance

[molliemoo]

In the past we have always used the insurance provided by our credit card for overseas travel, even with a credit card surcharge it has worked out much cheaper than alternatives. We have never had to make a claim. However, have recently seen on another site a travel agent (Australian) claiming that they consider such insurance to be in adequate, and insisting on a full policy. Has any one on CC, using credit card travel insurance, had any problems with it??

 

Regards, Lorraine 2

[Ela 2]

In the past we have always used the insurance provided by our credit card for overseas travel, even with a credit card surcharge it has worked out much cheaper than alternatives. We have never had to make a claim. However, have recently seen on another site a travel agent (Australian) claiming that they consider such insurance to be in adequate, and insisting on a full policy. Has any one on CC, using credit card travel insurance, had any problems with it??

 

Regards, Lorraine 2

Hi Lorraine,

For many years, we have been relying on the travel insurance with our Visa card. We had a substantial claim and had no problem with getting it paid. Our son was hospitalized in Germany last year and the bills were pretty high. They were paid without question.

 

I am not surprised that a travel agent would recommend buying travel insurance because they get commission on it.:):)

[arxcards]

In the past we have always used the insurance provided by our credit card for overseas travel, even with a credit card surcharge it has worked out much cheaper than alternatives. We have never had to make a claim. However, have recently seen on another site a travel agent (Australian) claiming that they consider such insurance to be in adequate, and insisting on a full policy. Has any one on CC, using credit card travel insurance, had any problems with it??

 

Regards, Lorraine 2

Some travel has higher risk and expense when things go wrong. I do not consider South Pacific cruises from Australia to be high risk, so the higher excess Credit card cover is an appropriate form of cover.

 

Our T/A quotes travel insurance every time we book (without request). It is always the dearest quote we get for comparable insurance.

[aussiedisneyfan]

Apparently some of the credit card travel insurance is not like a full policy. We rely on ours as I checked into it and it is exactly the same policy as a few other purchased ones.

[Kiwi Kruzer]

With the current situaion on Wall Street, it may also pay to check out who actually owns the Insurance company.

[LouLou28]

When we booked our next cruise, I did a comparison of about four travel insurance policies (including our free credit card one). There were a few differences here in there in limits you could claim in certain categories, and the excess on the free one is higher (as you would expect) - but the differences weren't significant enough for us to pay for a policy.

 

Our agent always does a quote as well - on some occassions it's been higher than other policies, others - it's been the better deal. (Always pays to check!)

 

Like someone said above ... a lot of agents have alliances with certain travel insurance companies and do prefer to push those ... and as Geoff says, depending on a number of factors (destination, length of time away, etc) different policies may be preferable.

[Ruste]

The margin on travel is so low now and in NZ t/a's make a reasonable amount of commission on travel insurance. But that is not necessarily why they give you a quote, they are required to ask you if you want travel insurance and usually they will ask you to sign a form if you refuse. All about who is responsible for the cover you have.

 

Also we had some clients who read the fine print on their visa insurance when traveling to the UK and discovered that they weren't covered unless they purchased the travel on the visa. The example they used was a London tube ticket, if they purchased it on visa they were covered, if not then they had no cover if anything happened on the tube ride. We haven't looked into it but just another question to ask.

[Kiwi Kruzer]

I think on P&O UK,you cant cruise unless you have travel insurance. If you dont accept theirs you have to quote who you are insured with.

[rkmw]

we will be cruising a lot next year and we are thinking about taking out insurance with 1 cover as they have 12 months insurance $325 for an individual and just $479 for family cover

[molliemoo]

Thanks everyone for your replies (love this site!!) Have re read all the fine print in the policy to follow up on some of the comments, and so far feel everything seems fine. Thanks again,

Lorraine 2

[Ela 2]

Also we had some clients who read the fine print on their visa insurance when traveling to the UK and discovered that they weren't covered unless they purchased the travel on the visa. The example they used was a London tube ticket, if they purchased it on visa they were covered, if not then they had no cover if anything happened on the tube ride. We haven't looked into it but just another question to ask.

I am very doubtful about the condition that they have to purchase every component of their travel on the Visa card. When you are travelling you pay for many things in cash. They could hardly be expected to pay for every rail or tram ticket or taxi fare by credit card.

 

To be eligible for our ANZ Visa card insurance we have to pay part of the cost of the trip on the card, the minimum amount being $250. That covers the primary cardholder, partner and dependent children. The TA may charge an extra 1% or 1.5% on that amount, so effectively that is the cost of the insurance. There is also a higher excess than on many other policies. I believe our excess if $250 whereas some policies have an excess of $100. In more than two dozen overseas trips where we have relied on this insurance, I am pleased to say we have only had to claim once. :):):)

 

Evon.

[aussiedisneyfan]

I tend to agree with Ela2 about the payment things. One other stipulation is that with the ANZ card it must be paid in Australia and before you leave. Usually a deposit for something is enough to set you up. I also had an Amex that required 1/2 of the pre departure expenses to be placed on the card. Don't know how they chase that one up, I guess they are just looking for the flights or cruise.

[molliemoo]

My credit card insurance requires 50% of PREPAID (ie before leaving Aus) costs to be paid by card. Any expenses whilst travelling can be paid any way I want. There is a $200 excess on each claim. So, for my next cruise, credit card surcharge of 1% means travel insurance for less than $20 - gotta be happy with that!!

 

Lorraine2

[NSWP]

Caution: check the words 'we will pay reasonable expenses...etc.' also the monetary limits. We have the ANZ Gold Visa, Frequent Flyer card, I never use the 'free insurance on it.' due to those words 'we will pay 'reasonable expenses' and also the monetary limit for claims with the card.

 

I would rather buy a decent cover with unlimited amounts. Talking about overseas trips here.

[arxcards]

we will be cruising a lot next year and we are thinking about taking out insurance with 1 cover as they have 12 months insurance $325 for an individual and just $479 for family cover

Great value for us repeat offenders!

 

We are up for four cruises and other travel from this January to next. We have bought an annual family policy, which also covers domestic travel too - at a price marginally cheaper than above.

 

For cheaper cruises, there is good value with basic cover on the Gold credit cards. If only I could find a T/A that charges 1% card fee for the 50% purchase - my last one charged 3.5%

[LouLou28]

For cheaper cruises, there is good value with basic cover on the Gold credit cards. If only I could find a T/A that charges 1% card fee for the 50% purchase - my last one charged 3.5%

 

Ours charges 1% on Mastercard/Visa - 3.5% on Amex/Diners:)

[arxcards]

Ours charges 1% on Mastercard/Visa - 3.5% on Amex/Diners:)

Just as well that I have sacked my previous T/A. I only look to pay deposit by card to confirm everything on the spot. Paid for our Brisbane to Sydney one in full direct to Princozz, and am pretty sure they charged a card fee too.

[didiaust]

I have ANZ Platinum Visa and this year was hospitalised in Bali and had an operation there. I was also upgraded to Business Class for the flight home . They also paid for a driver with a van to transport me for the last few days of the holiday.

 

Only problem was getting a copy of the CC statement showing I had paid for trip on CC.

 

As for eyerything else - no complaints

[kaseyoz]

we also decided to go for the family annual policy as we have a trip to the US for a month planned. I don't want to take any chances there. We also went with 1cover

[Paulchili]

G'day to you all!

I usually read on these posts how travelers from UK and OZ/NZ are disadvantaged due to higher costs of cruises, non refundable deposits, etc, and I do feel for you. It just ain’t fair!

Finally I think you people from “down under” seem to have an advantage over us from “up over” (US).

I was surprised to see how extensive your CC insurance coverage is (hospital costs, surgery, business class flights, etc).

We have insurance with our CCs but usually for rental cars (collision, damage) or common carriers (bus, plane) for cancellation for medical reasons only and the maximum is $ 1,500.

The entire cost must be charged to the card to be covered.

Rarely would that include cruises (only some Amex cards, I believe; again with a max). I am pretty sure the CCs do not offer any medical insurance at all. Trip interruption, luggage loss and such, but not medical.

So enjoy your benefits!

[waterwheel]

Hi rkmw, havent located the family insurance for that price, could you drop me a private email to emerygl at gmail dot com thanks with the details, thanks G & H

[arxcards]

Hi rkmw, havent located the family insurance for that price, could you drop me a private email to emerygl at gmail dot com thanks with the details, thanks G & H

 

We can discuss travel insurance here OK.

There are 3 levels of policy here from $285 - $422 which cover all destinations except Japan & North America. The one that covers all destinations is more expensive. (Lloyds policy)

https://www.insure4less.com.au/multitravel.php

 

I think the one rkmw is referring to is One cover. They are a bit dearer, but cover to an older age bracket and have one policy for all destinations. (Mondial/Allianz policy)

http://www.1cover.com.au/annual-travel-insurance.html

[bazzaw]

I have never really known too much about Travel Insurance provided freely by Credit Card Companies- I have only ever used individual Travel Insurances. So I decided to do a bit of research.

 

I did a training course in working in the travel industry many years ago (about 12) and learned that the commision rates earned by TAs for travel insurance was much higher than what they received for other aspects of travel, eg at the time they might have earned a commission of say 5% for many things , flights , hotel bookings, - but travel insurance provided them wih commissions of 33%. The sale of travel insurance was their most profitable thing. I don't know if that is still the case - I do know however that I have been able since then to obtain travel insurance on the Internet a lot cheaper than that provided by my local TA. ALSO, and for me, more importantly - there are other options available for travel insurance. For example I dont want or want to pay for insurance of lost baggage of $10,000 - my entire wardrobe at home would not be worth one quarter of that!!;) - I just want medical insurance in case I get run over by a truck in Italy or somewhere - there are insurances available online that sell this type of insurance for a much lower cost than full comprehensive insurance whereas the TAs tend to only offer full comprehensive insurance.

 

In regards to the insurance offered by credit card companies - it appears that they offer this with their "Gold" products eg ANZ and NAB both offer Gold cards - annual costs are about $90 (compared to $30 for a "normal" card), interest rates appear to be the same. NAB want you to book 50% of your pre-travel costs onto the card - ANZ want only $250 travel costs booked to the card. Both have a $200 excess per claim - something that can also apply to a normal policy.

 

a lot obviously depends on how often you travel. I have a "Frequent Flyer" type card - which is quite expensive (especially now that I am not flying very much ) but over the years I have had 2 return flights to Los Angeles and 2 to Hong Kong. Probably time I changed over from the Frequent Flyer card to the Gold card.

 

Barry

[sailawaysally]

We have always insured our travel with CGU and only had to claim on our last cruise. We have a $50 excess and paid just over $100 for 2 of us. We will continue to insure with them as I couldn't believe how quick and efficient they are when you put in a claim. We just had to fax the paperwork to them and within 2 weeks we had a cheque. No questions, no arguments, great service.

[Paulchili]

We have always insured our travel with CGU and only had to claim on our last cruise. We have a $50 excess and paid just over $100 for 2 of us. We will continue to insure with them as I couldn't believe how quick and efficient they are when you put in a claim. We just had to fax the paperwork to them and within 2 weeks we had a cheque. No questions, no arguments, great service.

 

Who or what is CGU?

Thanks,

Paul