How does the travel insurance on Earth Gold/Platinum compare to 'retail' insurance?

[brha01]

I want to upgrade my standard Earth card to either gold or platinum to take advantage of the included travel insurance as I have a number of o'seas trips coming up.

Just want to get peoples thoughts on whether the travel insurance included with the gold and platinum earth cards (is it the same cover for both?) is as good as the travel insurance you can buy from say a travel agent or companies like travel insurance direct?

Any traps I need to watch out for?

Thanks

 

[serfty]

The Earth Platinum Insurance is quite good and compares favorable with many 'retail' policies. It's also better than quite a few other Card based policies I have seen.

http://www.westpac.com.au/docs/pdf/pb/Earth_Platinum_Insurance_Conditions.pdf

I use mine especially for rental cars within Australia to avoid the excess reduction fees. The $5500 is better than that for many other policies.

 

[AdMEL]

Re: How does the travel insurance on Earth Gold/Platinum compare to 'retail' insuranc

Earth Gold and Platinum insurance is very similar, with higher limits on Platinum and some extra benefits. Some brief details for plat are:

Covers trips up to 6 months (3 months for Gold)
Includes Rental Car Excess cover in Australia up to $5,500 cover (Gold does not provide cover in Australia)
Some domestic travel cover, e.g. for flight delay (no domestic cover on Gold)

Cost of return flights (possibly excluding tax) must be paid on the card to activate cover.

Refer terms and conditions on the website for full details.