Choosing Travel Insurance
There aren’t many companies I know of that will cover a motorcycle that may or may not at some point in the future be floating down the amazon carrying a belligerent Black-chested Moustached Tamarin. This means that the type of insurance you will be looking for is something that will only really cover injury to yourself and to others while you are travelling.
The items you want your insurance to include are things like:
- Unlimited medical cover
- Unlimited repatriation expenses
- Unlimited rescue cover
- $10,000 dental cover
- $5,000 lost luggage cover
Generally, the way every (have you noticed that you can buy travel insurance from virtually anybody – visa card provider, motor vehicle club, Black-chested Tamarin) insurance company in Australia works is approximately as follows:
The company you buy your insurance policy from is usually a company providing a service, like banking or a travel agency. They usually don’t have the staff or resources to run an insurance division, so they pay another company to do the hard work, then re-brand the insurance with their name and logo. The actual base insurance is provided to the company by someone called an underwriter. There are a number of large insurance underwriters in Australia, and 90% of the companies that sell policies get their base insurance from the top underwriters. Usually the company selling you your policy has a deal going with an assistance provider, who is responsible for finding the best way to get you out of trouble when you first notify your insurer that you need help. It just happens that the main assistance provider in Australia, Mondial Assistance Group, is also owned by Allianz… Booyah!
Okay, so when you go into the guys you’re buying your policy from, they will have an insurance desk full of lovely brochures that outline the insurance options. They’ll have a number of consultants at their desks ready to call Allianz and ask whether they’ll underwrite you if you want to go travelling with a surfboard. They’ll probably have a 24 hour assistance hotline (putting you through to Mondial) and they’ll be very friendly. The price of a 1 year policy from a flashy company with an insurance desk probably costs around $1200.
Alternatively, you can go online and find a company that will provide similar services, but without the shiny desk, glossy assistant and smiling brochures. This is called a budget, online insurance company. They have very few overheads, and therefore can charge you a lot less for an insurance policy offering very similar products. Some examples are Worldcare and 1Cover. The cost is usually about $500 – $800 for a policy.
The problem facing many people when they choose a budget insurer is that the online company usually doesn’t have the same credibility as the big service providers, they don’t have easy access to hotlines and they don’t have fast, streamlined systems for processing the paperwork. You will generally still be saved from the branch you’re clinging to in the middle of the Amazon (by Mondial again – they must be getting sick of that pesky Tamarin by now), but whether or not you’ll get the money back from the medical care you received all depends on how quickly and efficiently your insurance company acts. You will most likely have to scan the receipts from the hospital / rescue facility and submit them via a form to the insurance company over the internet. Read reviews from people who have actually made a claim!!
I chose 1Cover, and paid about $700 for their online policy. Luckily I didn’t have to make a claim during my trip, so I can’t verify what their service is like. Once again, there are lots of reviews online from people who have had to make claims with these companies, make sure you read enough to find out what you’re buying and how well they respond.
Some online insurers to look into are 1Cover, Travel Insurance Direct, World Nomads etc.