Business Travel Insurance

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What is business travel insurance?

How does business travel insurance work?

What does business travel insurance usually cover?

What’s usually excluded from business travel insurance?

What if I have a pre-existing medical condition?

What does business travel insurance cost?

Is business travel insurance tax deductible?

What’s the difference between business travel insurance and corporate travel insurance?

How to choose the right business travel insurance for your employees

Travel insurance that means business

Long story short

Business travel insurance keeps your work trips on track

If a cancelled flight or lost laptop could derail your trip, business travel insurance can help cover the unexpected costs and keep things moving.

Travel insurance isn’t tax deductible, but it’s still worth it

You can’t claim your business insurance policy, but it’ll give you and your employees peace of mind in case things don’t go to plan.

Make sure to search for the right plan for your business trip

If you’re sending a whole team overseas or have regular interstate meetings, it could be worth looking at other forms of business (or corporate) travel insurance.

What is business travel insurance?

Business travel insurance works a lot like regular travel insurance, just dressed up in a nice business-casual blazer. It’s there for government agencies, non-profit organisations, and businesses of all sizes to protect your trip from cancelled flight costs and some unexpected expenses. It’ll keep your work trip from snowballing into a disaster that sends the finance team reeling. Whether you’re flying across the country for a conference or ducking interstate for a client pitch, business travel insurance can cover some unexpected losses so you can focus on the business at hand.  

How does business travel insurance work?

While regular policies cover the usual suspects of travel insurance, business travel policies work to your company’s interests a little more, like the cost of flying in a replacement employee if someone’s suddenly too sick to man the expo booth. Even if it’s a quick overnight stay in another state, you never know when things will go off track. While Medicare has your back for interstate medical bills, it won’t pay for a lost laptop or luggage that decides to go on a trip to Perth while you’re flying to Sydney. Which is why it pays to cover your trip, just in case. 

What does business travel insurance usually cover?

A business travel policy can look a little like what you’d find when sorting out insurance for your family holiday, just with some extras catering to the boardroom crowd. While the exact inclusions vary by provider and policy, most policies cover the sorts of things that could put a pause on your work trip, including: 

coverage for business equipment like laptops or cameras that are damaged or stolen

replacement of essential business documents that are accidentally lost, damaged or stolen

alternate employee or resumption of business trip expenses (basically, if you can’t make it to day two of the expo and your company needs to send up someone to replace you at the booth)

additional transport expenses (if unforeseen circumstances stopped you from catching that flight)

rental and private car excess cover. 

What’s usually excluded from business travel insurance?

Just like you wouldn’t expense a mojito on the company card, not everything will make the cut when it comes to business travel insurance. While the exact items not included might change slightly from one policy to another, these are a few general things that your business travel insurance won’t cover you for: 

medical expenses for domestic trips

medical expenses for employees in late pregnancy or childbirth-related costs

alcohol-related incidents (when the intoxication has caused or added to the loss)

careless claims (like leaving your laptop on a café table while taking a call outside or acting recklessly)

coverage outside your trip (like adding a few personal days before flying back home) or in between business trips.   

What if I have a pre-existing medical condition?

Pre-existing conditions are a bit of a grey area. Most travel insurance policies cover medical emergencies, but this doesn’t include claims related to pre-existing conditions, so you’ll want to tell your provider up-front if you have one. Depending on your pre-existing medical condition and provider, you might still be covered (sometimes with an extra premium), or you might need to complete an assessment first. 

If you skip over the details and don’t let your provider know about an existing condition, you could risk your claim being knocked back later. So, make sure to be honest – it could save you a lot of hassle if something goes wrong.

Helpful tip

Do you have a team heading off on a work trip together? A group policy could make life easier for your finance team. A group business travel insurance policy can cover everyone under one plan, which means less admin and usually more value. If it’s just a solo trip, an individual policy will do the job. 

Adrian Bennett

General Manager for General Insurance

What does business travel insurance cost?

While your finance team would love a number to factor into the budget from the get-go, business travel insurance costs can depend on a few factors. This might include your company details, where your trips are taking you, how long you’ll be away for, how many team members are going, your chosen excess, and what kind of cover you’re after. A solo Sydney trip for a week will set you back less than a three-day conference in Singapore. The best option is to get a quote from a few providers to tally up the scores and see which fits your trip best.  

Is business travel insurance tax deductible?

Unfortunately, business travel insurance expenses aren’t tax deductible in Australia. But that doesn’t mean your entire work trip will be on the company’s dime. You can still claim travel-related expenses like accommodation, flights, and other transportation costs (rental cars or train tickets). And even if it doesn’t get a tick from the ATO, the added benefits and protection travel insurance brings to the table are well worth the extra cost.  

What’s the difference between business travel insurance and corporate travel insurance?

Corporate and business travel insurance sound like the same thing, and they pretty much are. Both business and corporate travel insurance are similar to standard travel insurance, with a few more business features thrown in.  

Corporate or business travel insurance policies can be purchased each time (for companies that don’t need to jet their employees off too often) or annually. Annual policies are like the set-and-forget option, they cover an estimated number of trips across a year. Once the policy is up and running, you can send your employees off without having to worry about coverage each and every time. Then, at the end of the policy’s date, you just need to tally up the number of business trips actually taken and settle any differences if you exceeded the number of trips you estimated would be taken.   

How to choose the right business travel insurance for your employees

Picking the right travel insurance for your business trip shouldn’t feel like fitting into a suit that’s shrunk in the wash. It needs to meet your needs, your team, and your budget. Here are a few considerations to make sure your policy fits as well as your suit.   

What’s covered?

Everyone’s definition of ‘comprehensive’ is a little different, so it’s worth checking what your provider includes. Some might cover luggage and delays as standard, while others treat them as optional extras. 

Additional benefits

Does your policy include protection for rental cars or business equipment (like your work laptop)? Having coverage for those essential business trip items can mean more coverage for more value.  

What’s their claims process like?

If something goes wrong, you don’t want to be left hanging. Look for providers that offer 24/7 support so you can get the ball rolling on your claim asap.  

Price versus value

Cheaper isn’t always better, especially when it comes to work. Make sure to weigh up all the coverage options and policy prices against a few providers to make sure you’re getting the best balance.  

Travel insurance that means business

Business trips aren’t all frequent flyer points and stepping out of economy to the big leagues (business class), things can still go sideways. If you’re looking to extend your excursion overseas and squeeze a few days on annual in too, it’s important to make sure you’re still covered. If you want your time off to go as smoothly as your work trip, you can compare online from a range of plans and policies with iSelect to find your match.