Re Insuring the risks, I’d agree that the greater the risk the greater the premium, however I think simplified and standard terminology along with clearer PDS standards need to be applied across the industry. 70 plus page policy are ridiculous. Private medical insurance now standardizes the level of insurance with minimum criteria to tiered standards (gold, silver…), perhaps that might work for travel insurance too. Insurers could differentiate over and beyond those minimum standards.
Re Security of moneys…unfortunately it is the nature of the business today, but consumers should not fund poor business models. Money paid to agents for services could be put into a secure trust fund - like the model used by real estate agents handling of deposits (at least in Victoria). Tour operators might be a bit more difficult to handle. However I understand in france for example - all legal entities must have insolvency insurance - maybe we start here.
Just a heads up, we’re updating our article continuously to provide consumer advice on travel-related issues. If you have any questions, please let us know.
Were your travel plans cancelled by the coronavirus? Did you get a refund? Share your story here and join us for a live Q&A with travel expert @JodiBird at 11:30am to 12:00pm, tomorrow 27th March: https://www.youtube.com/choiceaustralia
Following a comprehensive “Choice” article on Travel Insurance (April 2019), I decided to use the second-recommendation, i.e. “Insure and Go”, to provide cover for an intended overseas holiday in May - June 2020.
The insurer is, Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co Ltd and the policy is sold and administered by Mapfre Insurance Services Australia Pty. Ltd. Fortunately, I took out travel insurance in October 2019, pre-Covid-19. Suffice to say all travel has been cancelled. This will result in small loses in respect to non-refundable deposits.
Our airlines Qantas (outbound) and Qatar (inbound) and Eurostar are offering travel credits in the form of eVouchers. Not sure how Qantas Frequent Flyer points would be impacted.
“Insure and Go’s” online claims procedure (https://www.insureandgo.com.au/images/covid19-online-claims-portal-final.pdf) is very complicated and I wonder how the elderly would be able to navigate through the process. Given the current exceptional circumstances, one would have thought that the insurer would be more accommodating (including extended telephone-claims beyond 5.00 PM).
“Insure and Go” have confirmed that since the Australian Government issued a “do not travel, anywhere” advisory notice in March 2020, our policy cannot be cancelled or extended to say, the same dates next year. With regard to travel providers issuing eVoucher-credits the insurer considers this to be adequate compensation so a claim may not be entertained.
Far from “we are all in this together”, the insurer;
Relies on a lengthy, complicated Product Disclosure Statement
Has not communicated any information, relative to Covid-19
Offer a complicated claims procedure (with limited telephone access)
Has not provided any option to extend or modify existing policies, despite today’s exceptional circumstances.
I hate to think how complicated travel insurance will be in future and the cost!
I too insured with Insure and Go, on 4 December, when the novel corona virus was known in China but had not spread or been dubbed COVID 19. I bought a Gold policy with Double Excess and Natural Disaster coverage. I used Insure and Go partly because of their high rating by Choice, but also because I was getting tired of reading other companies’ lengthy PDSs. The Insure and Go PDS includes “epidemic”, but only in the “Before Departure” section, not in the Trip Cut Short section. Sneaky. Trips Cut Short by Natural Disasters are covered, but this is restricted to “floods, earthquakes, tsunamis, landslides, volcanic eruptions, atypical cyclonic storms, falling objects from space and aerolites, and in general any extraordinary atmospheric, meteorological, seismic or geological phenomenon”. Could a lawyer argue successfully that COVID 19 was an “extraordinary atmospheric phenomen”? As Arboreal_2014 says, “I think to think how complicated travel insurance will be in the future”! What travellers need is a matrix of inclusions and exclusions for each company and each policy, something that Choice might be able to put on the Web if we continue to support with our memberships.
I’m a magazine subscriber (and have been for more than 30 years). I’m referring to the limited table on page 39 of Choice magazine last April. I can’t see where in that article it refers the reader to more detail online. Since I still have an active 3-month subscription which I bought in January (for air purifiers), currently I can check the travel insurance review online, last updated 6 March 2020, much more recent than we magazine subscribers can get. Plus, you have way more information there. Well done! I’ve read through the specifics of InsureandGo Gold, relating them to my situation. While the table certainly references pandemics, it would leave the reader with the false sense of security when InsureandGo Gold only covers pandemics for Cancellation Before Departure, not Trip Cut Short. In summary, I think that the Compare All table goes part-way towards what I was suggesting, but not all the way.
Thanks @tundern yes that’s one to include, there’s a lot. Insure and Go have also recently changed their PDS to exclude coronavirus specifically, and I suspect they’re not the only one. We’ve seen a signifcant number of insurers update their PDS in the last month, so we’ll look at updating the review again once travel insurance is back on sale.
Thank you, good insight and suggestion. Regrettably, I cannot see the travel insurance industry making it easier or more transparent to compare policies, let alone provide a simple matrix to show what is included or excluded. This is where Choice can help.
I took out Travel Insurance through Defence Health (allianz) on 2/1/20 for a trip in July 20 and had to cancel. I cancelled at the end of January. Flight Centre has negotiated refunds of some $22,000 odd and I have a claim in for around $5,000 with the insurer. This was only submitted a few days ago, Allianz have receipted the claim and am still waiting processing/response. My policy does not cover epidemics or pandemics but WHO did not declare a pandemic until 12 March 20 so am keeping my fingers crossed.
Thank you, Jodi! There’s certainly a lot to include, but having Choice create a detailed checklist is certainly better than trying to created one yourself as you read a few PDSs before giving up in exhaustion and boredom–probably the state the insurers and their lawyers are trying to create
thanks. Our trip was cancelled by Inspirational Vacations, they gave us a credit. We weren’t sure if it was worth claiming any thing with allianz? Cheers Sandra
I have travel insurance bought last year that covers cancellation fees for COVID19
Travel provider has offered to defer and keep the deposit with loss of $500 for rebooking.
i wish to cancel so can the travel insurer refuse to refund, they willestionnot give me a straight answer
