Is there Travel insurance companies that cover terrorism and act of war in Australia ?
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Welcome Rajan
Are you expecting war and terrorism in Australia? I assume you mean insurance policies sourced in Australia?
Have a look at Travel Insurance and terrorism
Also, if you are a member have a look at Choice’s review on single trip travel insurance.
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Hi @rajan, welcome to the community.
I assume you mean insurance companies operating in Australia for international travel rather than if a war or terriorism act occurs in Australia.
Must insurers do exclude acts of terriorism and wars in their standard cover. There are a few which do offer cover for terriorism such as Insure4less, Budget Direct and Travel Insuranz. Note, insurers which do offer such cover will still have conditions on their policies in relation to terrorism cover and it is worth understanding these before purchasing any of their policies.
Some others will also cover medical expenses only as a result of an act of terriorism.
In relation to acts of war, some polices will provide cover for cancellations where a war has broken out after cover was taken and/or the government issues travel warning to avoid travel to such areas. One needs to read the inclusions and exclusions on each policy carefully to understand the level of cover.
It is also worth noting that should you choose to travel to a country against government warnings your cover benefits may be rendered void.
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Thanks for reply. Yes looking to travel to Israel, Jordan, Egypt via Oman. Looking for insurance cover that includes terrorism and act of war.
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It is worth checking the SmartTraveller website for latest travel warnings for these countries…
https://www.smartraveller.gov.au/
While I haven’t checked, if there are do not travel warning issued by the Commonwealth Government, the potential to get any insurance will be highly restricted to near impossible.
If travel is not restricted/warning issues…also ensure that you confirm (terrorisn/war) coverage to these countries when contacting insurers to make sure that they can provide the necessary cover.
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@JodiBird The plight of Australians located in China highlights the potential issues all Australian might find themselves in, anywhere in the world over coming months.
Cancelled flights. Cancelled return to Australian, cancelled forward flights for say world tickets. Cancelled entry and exit from any international airport?
These have knock effects, accomadation, other bookings.
Health implications?
What role does does insurance play, for flights, other booking, accomadation, etc, as well as health.
Are there small print concerns in such bookings and insurance?
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I have moved your post to join another looking at the question of the consequences of extraordinary occurrences on travel insurance because similar exclusions are likely to apply.
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We’ve an article regarding the coronavirus coming through shortly. It’s a similar situation to that which we previously covered with bushfire and the Hong Kong civil unrest. In short:
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More than half of the travel insurers we review cover medical expenses for things like Pandemic (e.g. Coronavirus), Natural Disaster, Terrorism and Civil Unrest.
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Less than half cover cancellation or amendment expenses for the same events, which is what you will more likely need.
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Regardless of whether the policy covers it or not, you won’t be covered if you bought the policy (and/or paid for flights and accommodation) after it becomes a ‘known event’. Insurers usually list cut off dates for large events like Coronavirus on their website (31 January worldwide for Coronavirus).
The other thing to note, is even if you do have cover for cancellation expenses, you can’t cancel due to personal concerns about travelling during an event such as Coronavirus. You can only cancel if for example, the government changes the travel warning to ‘Do not travel’, like they have with China at the moment.
On the other hand, if you travel to an area that’s considered risky (such as China right now), the insurer might also exclude cover. If you’re unsure, it’s best to ask your insurer and document their advice.
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I am about to book none refundable airfares for a trip to Canada in Sept/Oct this year. Every travel insurance policy I have checked excludes cover for cancellation fees related to pandemics, in particular the current virus. Can anyone advise how I can get cancellation cover should the virus situation move to Australia and or Canada?
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Hi @SueTerry, welcome to the forum and thanks for your very important question in relation to travel insurance cover and its exclusions.
Many retail travel insurance companies usually have pandemics, epidemics or disease outbreaks as an exclusion for cancellation cover in their policies.
The Insurance Council of Australia has a list of a limited number of insurers which may provide cover against epidemics/pandemics. These can be found on this page. Please note that the listed insurers may not provide any cover and you will need to approach each one directly to confirm if they do. If they do provide cover, any risks will be factored into the insurance premium (making it potentially more expensive than a standard retail cover). There may also be restrictions to when such cover is available.
It may be worth consulting with a specialist insurance broker to see if they know of any underwriters which will take on the risk and insurer a traveller against cancellations associated with an outbreak of coronovirus. The Insurance Council of Australia has a need a broker search function which can assist in find a suitable broker. It is worth approach at least two as different brokers may deal with different underwriters. The link to the need a broker webpage is here…
A broker will charge fees when a policy is taken out through them. It is worth asking what their fees are or requesting a copy of their product disclosure statement (PDS) when first making contact as this will outline fees etc.
Also ensure that any policy offered either direct through a insurer or broker meets your expectations and risk profile. It is important to understand what is covered and what exclusions exist to ensure that you don’t have any problems should a claim be made in the future.
As your situation in relation to trying to find pandemic/epidemic cancellation insurance cover isn’t unique and is very topical at the moment, it would be great if you could do a follow up post of how you got on.
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