Hi
Does anyone know if there are any companies who offer a yearly travel insurance that would cover all trips domestic or international without having to take out individual insurance policies each trip.
When I lived in the uk it was something we could bolt onto the house insurance.
I know one size doesn’t fit all but it would be so much easier to pay for a yearly travel insurance.
I’ve searched around but I’ve come up with nothing so far.
Most of our travel insurance companies offer a ‘multi-trip’ policy that is essentially what you seek. 1Cover is not a personal recommendation, it just was the first hit on my search.
Choice (members content) has looked at multiple trip/annual travel insurance. Annual (multiple trip) can be filtered out using the policy type on the left of the screen (Choice reviewed 33 different annual policies):
Many multiple trip/annual international travel policies also cover domestic travel as well. It is important that the T&Cs (PDS) is read and understood as they may contain age limits, maximum duration of travel and other exclusions.
An alternative may to be sign up to a credit card that provides international/domestic travel insurance…when travel is purchased using the cards. If one does an internet search, it is easy to find information on credit cards with travel insurance. Most have annual fees, but, there are a limited number without annual fees (e.g. Bendigo Bank). Again, it is important to read the T&Cs (PDS) associated with the card, as often there are specific requirements for the credit card travel insurance and exclusions.
Choice has also provided general information on credit card travel insurance here:
We’ve used NIB for a few years without any problems. Just renew the policy each year, and off we go. Just remember to look for how many days you are allowed to travel in a single trip, for example our policy limits a single trip to 45 days.
This is excellent, thank you I’ll will be checking them out
I’d not thought to check multi trip policies. Thanks for your comprehensive reply. It’s given me some things to look into.
I have always been buying full year policies as we travel a lot. 1 Cover, Coveremore and Virgin provided them, but I never claimed. Several months ago I needed to find another one, but when I entered the countries I needed I kept going in loops and couldn’t purchase a policy. I then found Woolies have a multi trip policy and it coverered all the countries I am visiting and was pretty good value too. Not sure what they will be like if I need to claim though.
Our last trip to the UK and India we bought through the Woolworths insurance company (NIB), all was going well until we got stuck in the Uk due to the war in Iran breaking out. When we contacted the insurance they wanted us to pay extra to extend the policy , that cost the three of us $312, one of our suitcases was smashed, we had to extend the hire car hire and book new flights and had to book hotels in Melbourne because we missed the connecting flight because of the new flight changes. The insurance company said all of this was because of an act of war and won’t pay out on any of it. Even our suitcase was rejected because it was less than the excess. Qatar refunded the original flights but they were a fraction of the cost of the new flights (which we had no choice but to book to get home) so we are out of pocket $12k. We argued about the insurance extension we paid and they refunded that but only when we got home because they said if they refunded the extension whilst we were still overseas it would cancel the policy.
I’m pretty sure all insurance companies would be the same and use the war as an excuse to not have to pay out. Our next trip is in August and flying through the war zone, so we are a bit concerned.
Yes I agree, we even argued that Trump hadn’t actually declared it was war because he hadn’t.
I was honestly terrified of flying back, we came back via Singapore as I refused to fly through UAE ( which was impossible at the time as all flights were stopped but unbelievably they still offered us it) or USA. Wouldn’t have made any difference to the price as the cost of the flights were ridiculously high so we opted for Singapore. We flew over Afghanistan instead to avoid Iran and Ukraine. Not sure that made me feel any better. Good luck with your trip, a friend flying to Spain as just had Qatar switch her flight to via Singapore. I think there is a lot of traffic going that way at the moment.
This is a common exclusion for travel insurance. In relation to travel disruptions and insurance associated with the Iran War, it was discussed here:
That again is something to be aware of, excesses and what they are for particular claimable events. If the claim is less than the excess, then it isn’t worth making a claim.
What one person may call it is irrelevant. War is defined by the insurance industry and is reasonably standardised. The RACV is one example:
- War means war, whether declared or not, or any warlike activities, including use of military force by any sovereign nation to achieve economic, geographic, nationalistic, political, racial, religious or other ends.
The Iran War/conflict in the Middle East meets this definition.
It’s getting to a stage where you wonder if it’s worth taking out insurance, the restrictions and clauses are increasing. I remember reading when the act of war clause was introduced, it was after 9/11.
It is still essential, particularly if one gets sick, injured or dies when on an overseas holiday. The costs of medical treatment, hospitalisation and medical evacuation can be prohibitive. Without it, there could significant financial impacts which one may never recover from:
https://www.smartraveller.gov.au/before-you-go/the-basics/travel-insurance
