How good are credit card free travel insurance offers

[straitman]

This facet alone cuts the $900 annual fee by around $300.

Or more in some circumstances.




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[Moopere]

(this does not include Qantas Frequent Flyer or Velocity points redemptions)

Ahh, sorry. I temporarily forgot you were using QFF points against your flights.

 

[cssaus]

I'm very much a sceptic when it comes to dealing with insurance companies and strongly believe that they are not in the business to pay out money and will look for any opportunity to weasle out of paying claims (just look at the recent situation in Qld).

With the travel policies offered by credit cards I'm even more sceptical and therefore rely soley on travel insurance purchase directly with the insurance company so I know exactly what it is I'm getting (and not getting!). Here's a another link relating to credit card travel insurance policies

Best and worst credit cards for travel insurance - Flights | hotels | frequent flyer | business class - Australian Business Traveller

 

[geoffl]

I use a Qantas/Amex Ultimate Card, and have claimed twice in the last 2 years. The Claims were paid promptly each time however the only issue I had was that my last Claim was split minto 2 Claims by the Insurer, and therefore they deducted the excess on each claim. The Claim itself was for a medical problem I had in Nha Trang, which meant I had to stay 2 extra days before flying, and therefore 1 claim was for the medical costs, and the 2nd claim was for the additional Hotel nights. Other than that, it was a fairly simple process.

 

[casanovawa]

well seeing i book this travel insurance and have only ever had to claim once for a stolen video camera out of about 10-15 trips, i seem to rarely get myself into too much trouble... and seeing that my upcoming trip when i go to travel insurance direct will cost nearly $400 and more with other companies, as long as the credit card offers are half decent (and they are delivered by Zurich)i think i should come out ahead...

so anyway, for me personally i will give it a go.. i just am and will continue to be careful when i travel with my toys (video camera, couple of cameras, netbook etc) and will put my case up if i need to...

 

[Moopere]

Ultimately it all comes down to the individual PDS and making sure you understand it. Its unlikely in the extreme that any insurance company operating out of Australia (ownership country is irrelevant) will act illegally; ie, by refusing a claim that is obviously covered by the PDS.

You just need to carefully choose the PDS and company that will suit your own risk comfort levels.

For example, there is nothing wrong, in my opinion, with the Amex Plat Edge 'free' insurance, its just not as comprehensive as the CBA gold/plat 'free' insurance. As long as in both cases we've read and fully understand the responsibilities of both the insured and the insurer you are unlikely to be disappointed with either.

 

[Mike-downunder]

I have a Westpac/Qantas Gold Visa & Amexco card and use their travel insurance every time we go OS. The last 2 trips we had to claim. One was medical and the other a $1500 claim for travel delays caused by the Island volcano. For each case claimed there is a $200 excess, but in both cases the claim was settled without any questions or problems. As a matter of fact the underwriter (Zurich), with whom you deal directly was very efficient and strait forward. Remember you have to book your ticket with your cc. The cover is only for OS trips of a maximum duration of 3 mths. I don't know if there might be an extension possible. We certainly will use them when we'll go again later this year.

 

[sahui]

I have both Amex Gold & Platinum. In Dec I made a claim on the Amex Gold for medical expenses incurred in Korea. Was rejected as excess was $500. So if you spend well in excess of $500 , don't bother.

 

[TID]

As General Manager of Travel Insurance Direct, I do of course have to declare my vested interest. The issue of "FREE" travel insurance with Gold or Platinum credit cards is much discussed in travel forums yet there are still gems that need to be aired.

Firstly on the positive side, most credit cards offer insurance from one of only a few insurers, typically Ace and Zurich however there maybe one or two others. Most of the credit card products are comparable in benefits and coverage with major brands offered online or through travel agents. There are however a number of issues that cardholders who rely on their credit card travel insurance need to be aware of:
* A requirement that a specified amount of the holiday be paid for on the credit card to activate the policy.
* No automatic coverage for pre-existing medical conditions, such as asthma or diabetes. Some credit card policies refuse to cover any pre-existing conditions while others require holidaymakers to make a special application for additional coverage and pay a surcharge if approved.(Plus the additional cost and inconvenience of having to visit your GP)
* Conditions on claims while travelling. For instance, with one major credit card holidaymakers needing emergency medical assistance while travelling are required to produce a copy of their credit card statement showing their return airfare payments before they can gain approval for support.
* Limits on length of coverage. Most credit card providers have a strict 90-day coverage limit for any one trip and will not allow policyholders to extend their coverage while they are travelling.
* No cover for business travel or for items used for any business purpose.
* Strict limits on sporting activity such as boating and white water rafting.
Regards,
Ian Jackson
GM - Travel Insurance Direct

 

[lovetravellingoz]

. i just am and will continue to be careful when i travel with my toys (video camera, couple of cameras, netbook etc) and will put my case up if i need to...

While having your toys covered is something to be concerned about...the biggie for me is medical costs as that is the item that can ruin your life if you need to make a claim in a place where the medical costs are high, or even just where medical evacuation is high.

Having to pay a $1000 or so on lost toys...or several $1000's on missed flights is painful, but a $100-500,000 medical bill in say the USA is going to really disrupt your life if not covered by insurance.

 

[Mike-downunder]

As General Manager of Travel Insurance Direct, I do of course have to declare my vested interest. The issue of "FREE" travel insurance with Gold or Platinum credit cards is much discussed in travel forums yet there are still gems that need to be aired.

Firstly on the positive side, most credit cards offer insurance from one of only a few insurers, typically Ace and Zurich however there maybe one or two others. Most of the credit card products are comparable in benefits and coverage with major brands offered online or through travel agents. There are however a number of issues that cardholders who rely on their credit card travel insurance need to be aware of:
* A requirement that a specified amount of the holiday be paid for on the credit card to activate the policy.
* No automatic coverage for pre-existing medical conditions, such as asthma or diabetes. Some credit card policies refuse to cover any pre-existing conditions while others require holidaymakers to make a special application for additional coverage and pay a surcharge if approved.(Plus the additional cost and inconvenience of having to visit your GP)
* Conditions on claims while travelling. For instance, with one major credit card holidaymakers needing emergency medical assistance while travelling are required to produce a copy of their credit card statement showing their return airfare payments before they can gain approval for support.
* Limits on length of coverage. Most credit card providers have a strict 90-day coverage limit for any one trip and will not allow policyholders to extend their coverage while they are travelling.
* No cover for business travel or for items used for any business purpose.
* Strict limits on sporting activity such as boating and white water rafting.
Regards,
Ian Jackson
GM - Travel Insurance Direct

Ian, it is good that you point out these points, but for me it is normal that when we go OS, that we'll have copy OS cc statement, free call number from OS etc etc saved on my laptop and/or at hand if needed. Providing you are prepared for eventualities my free CC travel insurance has yet to disappoint me. By the way I sincerely hope I will not need it on my future trips!!!

 

[murrayff]

for what its worth I have Amex platinum credit card, i regularly transfer points to Virgin so partner can fly to Bali on FF.

Last trip she lost her iPhone in Bali: contacted amex - redirected to ACE insurance their insurer. very helpful. the basic rules are the % of points used for the ff ticket that came from Amex say how much % of claim they will pay. I do get points from flying virgin as well - so how do you tell where the points came from. The person from ACE said that if there were enough AMEX points transferred before ticket purchase to cover the whole ticket they would pay 100% of claim. this would be in the PDS somewhere I guess?

After a bit of mucking around- our fault although filled in form at Carrefour where the phone was lost , did not get a copy for insurance - but once a a copy of loss report provided ACE paid less $100 excess in a week.

Needed copy of ticket, copy of points balance, copy of phone receipt, copy of loss reported to authorities (in this case Carrefour).

Was of interest because curious to see how the % of claim would work out because also rely on this insurance for medical insurance - which would be a lot more than the cost of a new phone...

So in this case all good.

(I generally do not need amex/ACE insurance as I stop off in Bali as part of business trips to other locations in region and am covered by yearly whole of company policy with Chubb Insurance)

 

[melaus]

I'm with ANZ Visa Platinum / AMEX Platinum combined account.

I believe the only policy activation is still the need to use one of the card accounts for a spend of $250 minimum prior to your trip which needs to be toward
fares or accommodation, of course for the trip concerned.

I've used this policy for the last 6 years, have made 2 claims for medical related costs and have had no trouble whatsoever, including telephone guidance prior to engaging the costs.

I think (correct me if I'm wearing blinkers) that the ANZ policy with American Home Assurance, Chartis in Australia, is quite generous and has little of the catches kindly referred to above by Ian.

They even cover some common pre-existing medical issues without the need for prior notification.

 

[Leith Bungey]

We relied on the insurance cover offered by our ANZ Platinum Card for the first time in 2007. As it happened, my husband spent six days in Singapore General Hospital for emergency surgery. There was an excess of $200 but all other costs were met and I received excellent telephone support from the Sydney office.

Or more in some circumstances.



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[dundas]

I have a Commonwealth Bank Gold Mastercard. It was originally just a normal Mastercard until I upgraded it, and the main reason for the upgrade was the free travel insurance.
Some time after I had got this card, Commbank sent a note saying that I would no longer be covered if I had an accident in transit (eg, taking a cab to the airport). This killed the deal for me.
I would concur with all the posters here who suggest reading the fine print.

 

[melaus]

Just reading the ANZ Policy, you are covered upon leaving your home for the airport.
Don't know if that includes tripping over the rubbish bin and breaking your leg!

 

[Ultimobo]

Toys are nice, but here's the real question - has anyone claimed on their free CC travel insurance for US hospital expenses like $X00,000 and if so, what was their experience ?

 

[straitman]

As General Manager of Travel Insurance Direct, I do of course have to declare my vested interest. The issue of "FREE" travel insurance with Gold or Platinum credit cards is much discussed in travel forums yet there are still gems that need to be aired.

Firstly on the positive side, most credit cards offer insurance from one of only a few insurers, typically Ace and Zurich however there maybe one or two others. Most of the credit card products are comparable in benefits and coverage with major brands offered online or through travel agents. There are however a number of issues that cardholders who rely on their credit card travel insurance need to be aware of:
* A requirement that a specified amount of the holiday be paid for on the credit card to activate the policy.
* No automatic coverage for pre-existing medical conditions, such as asthma or diabetes. Some credit card policies refuse to cover any pre-existing conditions while others require holidaymakers to make a special application for additional coverage and pay a surcharge if approved.(Plus the additional cost and inconvenience of having to visit your GP)
* Conditions on claims while travelling. For instance, with one major credit card holidaymakers needing emergency medical assistance while travelling are required to produce a copy of their credit card statement showing their return airfare payments before they can gain approval for support.
* Limits on length of coverage. Most credit card providers have a strict 90-day coverage limit for any one trip and will not allow policyholders to extend their coverage while they are travelling.
* No cover for business travel or for items used for any business purpose.
* Strict limits on sporting activity such as boating and white water rafting.
Regards,
Ian Jackson
GM - Travel Insurance Direct

TID,

Welcome to AFF.

Thanks for your post but IMHO it is a little simplistic and probably should read that people need to be aware of the limitations and check which if any or all of the points you mention apply.

I'll use one example but don't really want to sit and dissect your post. The first point is not correct if you are using TI based on the Amex Platinum Charge Card.

 

[Dougo]

I no longer rely upon our Westpac Gold Mastercard (Zurich) free insurance at all. We did for a lengthy O/S trip in 2008 and again when we went to the States in 2009.

After a couple of issues arose on threads on other travel boards following our trips, I investigated our free travel insurance through re-reading the fine print with fresh eyes and then contacting the insurance company directly and asking them specific questions. Apparently anything that you've seen your doctor about is considered to be a pre-exisiting condition according to the Zurich medical hot line. I also contacted the company where we rent cars from when we travel interstate and realised that our "free" TI did not cover a raft of potential issues for hire cars either.

To our horror, we discovered we were not covered for that the things we thought we were covered for including very stable pre-existing conditions that other TI companies automatically cover. The wording on the policy / T&C fools a number of people into thinking they are covered when they are not necessarily covered to the extent that they want.

Same deal with some on-line TI companies. Last year when trying to ensure we were adequately covered for our trip to Sth America, I was able to get a policy on line after specifying what our issues were, and decided to contact the company directly. Bottom line - we weren't covered.

So for our recently completed trip to Sth America we paid for a policy rather than rely on the "free" one - we wanted to ensure we were adequately covered. We met a couple from Australia in Sth America and started talking about travel insurance. He told us he had broken his arm on his O/S travels in 2009. When he asked for a quote for TI from the same company, they refused to cover him for bone fractures this year specifically because he now had a "pre-existing" condition.

You may get some level of comfort from "free" travel insurance, but you may also get some very carefully worded policies and liberal interpretations by employees of those insurance companies. Use them at your own risk.

 

[AdMEL]

I no longer rely upon our Westpac Gold Mastercard (Zurich) free insurance at all. We did for a lengthy O/S trip in 2008 and again when we went to the States in 2009.

After a couple of issues arose on threads on other travel boards following our trips, I investigated our free travel insurance through re-reading the fine print with fresh eyes and then contacting the insurance company directly and asking them specific questions. Apparently anything that you've seen your doctor about is considered to be a pre-exisiting condition according to the Zurich medical hot line. I also contacted the company where we rent cars from when we travel interstate and realised that our "free" TI did not cover a raft of potential issues for hire cars either.

To our horror, we discovered we were not covered for that the things we thought we were covered for including very stable pre-existing conditions that other TI companies automatically cover. The wording on the policy / T&C fools a number of people into thinking they are covered when they are not necessarily covered to the extent that they want.

Same deal with some on-line TI companies. Last year when trying to ensure we were adequately covered for our trip to Sth America, I was able to get a policy on line after specifying what our issues were, and decided to contact the company directly. Bottom line - we weren't covered.

So for our recently completed trip to Sth America we paid for a policy rather than rely on the "free" one - we wanted to ensure we were adequately covered. We met a couple from Australia in Sth America and started talking about travel insurance. He told us he had broken his arm on his O/S travels in 2009. When he asked for a quote for TI from the same company, they refused to cover him for bone fractures this year specifically because he now had a "pre-existing" condition.

You may get some level of comfort from "free" travel insurance, but you may also get some very carefully worded policies and liberal interpretations by employees of those insurance companies. Use them at your own risk.

Westpac Gold Card insurance does not, nor has it ever to my knowledge, provided cover for rental car excess in Australia.

Westpac Gold Card insurance only provides rental car excess cover overseas ($5,000).

Westpac Platinum card insurance does provide cover for rental car excess in Australia and is, to my knowledge, one of the best card covers available, covering up to $5,500 excess. It does not require you to purchase all available insurance from the hire car company, like many do, nor does it have a limit on the value of the car or the type of vehicle (many limit the value of the car to $50,000 and do not cover anything other than sedans).