Buying travel insurance online

Buying travel insurance before you depart Australia can be as simple as answering a few questions and choosing a policy. You can compare travel insurance quotes across multiple insurance companies with our free comparison service in minutes, putting even more choice and convenience in your hands if you want to get travel insurance online. Our service makes it easy to compare prices and coverage to suit your trip.

A standard or comprehensive travel insurance policy will automatically cover a range of potential mishaps. While the exact details of what your policy covers will vary between plans, providers and your level of cover, most policies include:

• Medical cover. This can help cover your overseas medical expenses if you fall ill or get injured and require medical treatment, medical evacuation or repatriation while overseas. However, medical cover isn’t included in domestic plans as your medical bills will typically be covered by Medicare or private health insurance.
• Cancellation cover. This cover may protect you from travel delays, trip cancellations, lost deposits, pre-booked accommodation and other incidents that incur cancellation costs.
• Personal liability cover. If you injure another person or damage their belongings, your travel insurance cover can help cover your legal bills.
• Luggage cover. This may help reimburse the cost of belongings, personal effects and valuables that are lost, stolen or damaged on your journey, up to the limits and sub-limits listed in your policy.
• 24/7 overseas emergency assistance. Your insurance provider is generally available to offer advice and assistance through a 24/7 phone line and help organise medical assistance if you’re injured or unwell.

Your policy will be subject to exclusions, limits and sub-limits so be sure to check the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) for the full details, as well as the Target Market Determination (TMD) to check your suitability for a policy, before you purchase.

To get travel insurance for a specific journey, like a cruise or ski trip, you may need to buy additional cover as a policy add-on, which may cost an additional premium. Some add-ons may include:

• Cruise cover. General travel insurance typically doesn’t cover cruises, so make sure you purchase international travel insurance with cruise cover if you’re planning on sailing the seas, even domestically, or cruising the rivers of Europe.
• Winter sports cover. If you’re going skiing or snowboarding while on holiday, this type of cover will be essential if you want cover for any medical costs incurred on-piste.
• Adventure sports cover. With this add-on, your insurer may cover activities (such as kayaking, rock-climbing and snorkelling) that may not be included under a regular policy.
• Rental car insurance excess. If you’re planning to rent a car and drive around your destination, check if your insurer offers rental car excess cover automatically. Otherwise, you may be able to purchase it as an add-on to cover the rental car excess if your rental vehicle is damaged.
• Motorcycle, scooter and moped cover. If you ride a two-wheeled vehicle and get into an accident, you may not be covered for any medical or hospital expenses if you get into accident unless you have this cover.

You can also find the PDS of a policy online, which we recommend you read before purchasing your cover.

When completing your online application, you will usually be able to inform your insurer if you have any pre-existing medical conditions that you want to be covered for. This might involve completing on online medical assessment. Your insurer can then determine if they can cover your condition, although it may increase the cost of your premium.

You can still get travel insurance if you have a pre-existing medical condition that isn’t covered by your insurer, but any unexpected expenses caused by your condition may not be covered.

Yes, you can purchase travel insurance for groups online. These are essentially the same as regular travel insurance policies and can be ideal when you have a group of people following the same itinerary for the entire trip. You’ll need to confirm how many people are travelling, and provide information about your trip like whether you’re going on a cruise or participating in adventurous activities.

Cover for COVID-19 (coronavirus) may be included automatically as part of a comprehensive travel insurance policy, although not all providers will offer cover or the same level of cover. Depending on the policy and plan, you may be covered for cancellations and medical expenses if you’re diagnosed with COVID-19, as well as additional expenses such as quarantine accommodation costs.

Other pandemic- and epidemic-related losses are typically listed as an exclusion on most travel insurance policies.

Yes, if your child will be travelling unaccompanied, you can get travel insurance for them online. However, you’ll need to be aware of the airline restrictions and rules regarding children travelling alone (such as not being able to have an overnight layover).

It’s possible to buy an annual multi-trip policy online. In most cases, you simply select the annual option instead of a single trip during the application. An annual policy will be more expensive, but will cover you for every trip you take in a 12-month period, up to the maximum trip duration (e.g. 30 days).

Most providers will provide options for the maximum trip length. It is important to select the maximum trip length that matches your travelling plans, as any losses that you incur on a trip that is longer than your chosen maximum trip length will not be covered.

If you’ve seen in your policy’s PDS that destinations with a ‘Do Not Travel’ warning aren’t covered, you might be wondering how to check for current warnings online. You can find up-to-date information for most countries on the Australian Government’s Smartraveller website. It offers general advice for your trip as well as travel alerts and warnings. You should check the website regularly before departing to ensure your information is still correct.