I have a QBE "Annual Multi-Trip" policy. It cost me $650, and I paid an extra $100 to have accompanying family members covered. Simple enough; I guess many of you have the same cover.
I am about to take a 4-week RTW trip, MEL - HKG - CDG - ATL - LAX - MEL. My wife is coming with me, but she is going to stay on in USA for another 4 weeks after I return to MEL. My issue is to ensure that she is covered for the latter 4 weeks.
I asked at the Qantas office (where I had bought my initial policy) and was told initially that it can't be done, that she would have to take out her own policy for the entire 8 weeks. I disputed this, saying (truthfully) that I had taken out such 'add-on' insurance for similar trips in previous years. The Qantas staff member then phoned QBE who said that, yes, it could be done and the cost would be $808. I refused to accept this as I had never previously paid more than $500 for similar coverage.
I then got on to QBE's web site, from where I received a quote of $693. Well, that was better than $808, but still more than $650, the cost at which an annual policy was still on offer. So I phoned QBE for an expalnation of these anomolies. I was shunted to four different people (or "insurance experts", as they introduced themselves), to handle this "quite complex" issue. The first expert said that it couldn't be done. The second and third passed the buck and the fourth, after consultation with his supervisor, quoted me $372 for the four weeks. I said "I'll take it."
I suspect that these experts have a random number generator as their tool for generating quotes.
What experiences have others had when wanting to insure a family member for an add-on period like this? Are other insurers better or worse?
I am about to take a 4-week RTW trip, MEL - HKG - CDG - ATL - LAX - MEL. My wife is coming with me, but she is going to stay on in USA for another 4 weeks after I return to MEL. My issue is to ensure that she is covered for the latter 4 weeks.
I asked at the Qantas office (where I had bought my initial policy) and was told initially that it can't be done, that she would have to take out her own policy for the entire 8 weeks. I disputed this, saying (truthfully) that I had taken out such 'add-on' insurance for similar trips in previous years. The Qantas staff member then phoned QBE who said that, yes, it could be done and the cost would be $808. I refused to accept this as I had never previously paid more than $500 for similar coverage.
I then got on to QBE's web site, from where I received a quote of $693. Well, that was better than $808, but still more than $650, the cost at which an annual policy was still on offer. So I phoned QBE for an expalnation of these anomolies. I was shunted to four different people (or "insurance experts", as they introduced themselves), to handle this "quite complex" issue. The first expert said that it couldn't be done. The second and third passed the buck and the fourth, after consultation with his supervisor, quoted me $372 for the four weeks. I said "I'll take it."
I suspect that these experts have a random number generator as their tool for generating quotes.
What experiences have others had when wanting to insure a family member for an add-on period like this? Are other insurers better or worse?
