How to choose travel insurance
Which travel insurance is best?
Key things to consider when choosing which travel insurance is best for you include:
- Where you are travelling to and how long for
- What you plan on doing on your trip
- The types of items you plan on taking
- If you have any pre-existing medical conditions
Once you have considered these factors, you can then match the type of travel insurance to best suit your trip allowing you to travel with peace of mind should the unexpected occur.
Types of travel insurance
Whether you’re travelling for a short business trip, a long backpacking adventure or a lovely leisure holiday, there is a type of cover to suit you. Explore some of the common options below.
What is comprehensive travel insurance?
Comprehensive travel insurance usually provides you with a range of cover for your trip, including things like cancellations, unexpected changes, medical events and lost or stolen items.
International Comprehensive
Our International Comprehensive travel insurance policy, can better protect you with a variety of benefits, generous policy limits and a supportive claims team. You’ll gain access to our worldwide emergency assistance team, who are there to help 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Our International Comprehensive travel insurance includes cover for:
- Unlimited medical and evacuation expenses that arise due to unexpected events while on your journey
- Cancellation fees and lost deposits – increase your cover depending on the cost of your journey
- Damaged or lost baggage
- Personal items if they are stolen or damaged
- Rental car excess should you have an accident
- Emergency dental treatment
- Funeral costs
- Optional add-ons for cruise, moped and ski cover.
What is domestic travel insurance?
Domestic travel insurance is ideal for those local trips – we know that travelling in your own country can be just as much of an adventure as jetting overseas!
Our Domestic travel insurance policy is designed to help protect you against unexpected events that could derail your travel plans, even when you’re exploring your own backyard . From flight cancellations to rental car damages, our Domestic policy can provide cover that could be right for you.
Our domestic travel insurance can provide cover for:
- Cancelling or changing your travel plans before you leave
- Changing your travel plans once you have left
- Luggage and personal items
- Rental vehicle excess
- Cash allowance whilst in hospital
- Pet care costs if you’re delayed getting home
- Childcare costs if you’re delayed getting home
- Funeral expenses
- Personal accident
- Personal liability
What is medical only travel insurance?
Medical only policies often only provide cover for medical emergencies while overseas. Our International Medical Only policy could be an option if you only want medical cover for your next trip.
Our International Medical Only policy can include cover for:
- Medical expenses
- Evacuation and repatriation costs
- Emergency dental treatment
- Cash allowance while in hospital
- Accompanying person
- Funeral expenses or return of mortal remains
- Loss of life
- Personal liability
What is annual multi-trip travel insurance?
Heading overseas a few times this year? We know family visits, events and holidays can mean we’re not just taking the one trip per year! We offer an Annual Multi-trip policy that provides the same great benefits as the International Comprehensive, and means that you’re covered for an unlimited number of return journeys overseas, over a period of 12-months. You’re able to choose to have your journeys covered up to a maximum of 30, 60 or 90 days in length. This can make it easier to sort your travel insurance for all of your upcoming trips, and you can focus on what matters – the adventure!
What is working overseas travel insurance?
If you’re not just heading overseas for a holiday, but are planning to work overseas, you’ll need to make sure you have proper insurance for this type of trip.
A range of travel-related benefits are covered under the Working Overseas policy, such as medical expenses, emergency medical evacuation, trip cancellation, trip interruption, resuming your journey, lost or stolen baggage and more.
There are a range of travel insurance policies out there, designed to match the type of trip you wish to take. Be sure to read the Product Disclosure statements for any policy you're looking at purchasing, to ensure it’s right for your needs. If you have any questions about choosing the right travel insurance policy, see the ways to contact our friendly team, who are happy to answer your questions.
This page includes some information about our products but, as with all insurance policies, terms and conditions apply. For our terms and conditions (including information about exclusions, excesses and sub limits) we recommend you read the relevant Financial Services Guide (FSG), Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) and Target Market Determination (TMD) to ensure our travel insurance products are right for you.
You can find the relevant documents for all our policies here: International Comprehensive, International Medical Only, Annual Multi-trip, Domestic, Working Overseas.
The content of this article is general and provided for information purposes only. Southern Cross Travel Insurance (SCTI) doesn’t guarantee or warrant the accuracy, completeness or currency of any article.
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