insure4less Annual Travel Insurance - from $191

[one9]

Hi,

Just seeing if anyone has any experience with insure4less who seem to be one of the cheapest annual travel insurance providers.

Using the code AMT when getting a quote, these are the prices for annual travel insurance:
Essentials - $191.25
Excel - $237.15
Excel Plus - $283.90

Apart from being cheap, the cover seems better than the other in some regards. For example their cover for acts of terrorism.

I bought an annual policy from them last year which is expiring. I have not needed to contact them for any reason. The main purpose of this post is to see if anyone has actually made a claim with them and to see how they got on.

 

[zan5hin]

I am going backpacking around the world for 12 months and I am looking at insurance, and insure4less (essentials) and itrek (bronze) seem to be the cheapest for medical without the other stuff.

With a promotional code I found on Buckscoop (UTIMES), I think I will go with insure4less, as their PDS covers some things that itrek does not cover. The essentials plan also has a little personal baggage which doesn't hurt. Not bad $520 for 12 months as far as backpackers insurance goes.

Ozbargain also has a 5% rebate, so I will be cheeky and try to claim it as well, on top of the promotional code

5% Cash Back on Travel Insurance

My other option is Worldcare's "Build your own policy" where I could just choose medical, hospital and repatriation with a $250 excess and it would cost me only $355.

http://www.worldcare.com.au/select-a-benefit/

I am travelling alone, booking nothing in advance, flying low cost carriers and staying at hostels. I am carrying an iPhone which is attached at the hip at all times, and no other valuables I care too much about.

Which cover should I choose?

 

[Travel Guru]

You need to confirm what the maximum stay is on the annual policy, every annual policy i've ever seen has a 60 or 90 day max. stay per trip, so for a 12 month journey it wouldnt be suitable.

My personal opinion (and its not something I can give to a client due to regulations) is that an annual policy that is only $191 probably isn't worth the paper it's printed on...sure, I could be wrong, but I don't see how you can deliver a product (and back it up by paying claims, as even the highest levels of cover are of no use if the company in question denies more claims than it pays) with reasonable cover levels for $191

Personally I wouldnt feel comfortable dealing with a company like insure4less anyway, because their claims are handled by a third party who i4l probably has little or no control over, and as such the third party would likely have a vested interest in reducing claim payment.

As with anything in life, you get what you pay for...it doesnt mean with insurance that you have to buy the most expensive policy, but it does mean you need to be realistic, do you due diligence and not expect rolls royce service or payouts from a holden hyundai level policy.

TG

 

[one9]

My personal opinion (and its not something I can give to a client due to regulations) is that an annual policy that is only $191 probably isn't worth the paper it's printed on...sure, I could be wrong, but I don't see how you can deliver a product (and back it up by paying claims, as even the highest levels of cover are of no use if the company in question denies more claims than it pays) with reasonable cover levels for $191
TG

I rarely think it is wise to judge something based on its price. Just like wine or plane tickets, there are many cheaper wines or plane tickets that are better than more expensive ones.

You may be right with insure4less, but not necessarily. Ideally we could hear from someone with first hand claim experience.

 

[one9]

You need to confirm what the maximum stay is on the annual policy, every annual policy i've ever seen has a 60 or 90 day max. stay per trip, so for a 12 month journey it wouldnt be suitable.
TG

This is a good point. Double checking the insure4less policy, the maximum stay per trip is 31 days which is much less than 60/90 days of most other policies.

 

[extracta]

I took out the annual travel insurance on this site (under travel services) for myself and the family.

$354 seemed pretty good

 

[BAM1748]

Tend to agree with Travel Guru on this one. A policy for a year for $191 is something I would investiage very carefully before buying, do they handle everything from start to finish (taking the money to assessing and paying the claim) or do they "sell" their policies to a third party once they have your money. You obviously want this for the"big claim" rather than lost luggage, but when you're in an o/s hospital you don't them ****ing around.

I've been using Chartis (previously AIG) without issue.

Matt
PS, had a previous life looking after corp insurance including travel.