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Cheap Travel Insurance
Cheap Travel Insurance
Written by
Rachel Gregg
Edited by
Andrew Kemp
Reviewed by
Adrian BennettEasily compare Travel Insurance
Save time and effort by comparing a range of travel insurance policies with iSelect
Long story short
Comparing your travel insurance options is the first move
Lining up policies side-by-side can help you avoid paying for features you don’t need and could help you spot the ones that line up with your plans.
Tweaking your policy could lower your premium
Choosing the right level of coverage, adjusting your excess, and picking out extras you’ll actually use could affect your final price.
Trip details play a bigger role than you might think
Buying early, choosing the right policy, and understanding how your age, health, and destination can be the core of your premium cost.
How can I get cheap travel insurance?
The goal isn’t just to find a cheap policy that skips on all the additional expenses; it’s about getting the right level of cover without overpaying. Finding the best price for your travel insurance is what most people want. Knowing where cost factors kick in and where you can make smart cuts could help you find the right balance between coverage and cost.
Compare
Comparing available cover options can be a simple way to weigh up cost vs value and find where potential savings might be hiding. Looking at multiple insurers side by side is a quick way to spot who’s charging more for the same protection.
Using a comparison tool from iSelect lets you filter out what you don’t want and focus on policies that match your budget and insurance needs.
Choose the right level of cover
Travel insurance usually comes in tiers. A lower, medical-only or basic plan will often be more affordable since it won’t cover as much, possibly making it more attractive for backpackers on a tight budget. Comprehensive travel insurance will cost more but give you a bigger safety net, so if you’ve got a rental car or are worried about lost luggage, you should be sorted.
Think about your holiday and what type of cover will best match your plans, while giving you enough peace of mind while you’re overseas.
Choose the right policy type
The policy type you choose can be just as important as cover level. A single-trip policy protects a single holiday from the moment you take off to your return home and, when paired with worldwide insurance, can cover as many countries as you want to visit (as long as they aren’t listed as a ‘do not travel destination). An annual multi-trip policy covers as many trips as possible across 12 months, within set trip limits, making it a good choice for frequent travellers. Depending on your travel plans, one might make more sense than the other, and potentially work out cheaper than stacking separate insurance products throughout the year.
Choose suitable extras
Once you’ve chosen the travel insurance plan, you can then choose extra coverage for exclusions on your main policy. This is where prices can jump up quickly.
Add-ons exist for cruises, snow sports, adventure activities, rental vehicle excess, scooters or mopeds, and valuable items. Snow sports could have higher limits for damaged snowboarding gear or ski disruptions, while cruise cover often increases medical limits for expensive onboard services or evacuation. If it’s not on your schedule, it probably doesn’t need to be on your policy.
Adjust your excess
Travel insurance excess is one of the simplest ways to influence your policy price. Reducing your excess means a higher premium, but if you end up claiming it means you pay less for the actual incident. If you increase your excess, you’ll pay more if you claim, but it could lower your travel policy price in return. A lower excess could be a good option for travellers who plan to be away for a long time or want to have as many adventures as possible.
Check your cover limits
Travel policies come with dollar caps on different inclusions like luggage or cancellation coverage. Some insurers let you adjust these limits, which, like your excess, could affect the cost of your travel insurance. Increasing cover limits can mean more protection for your expensive baggage or long list of prepaid tours, but it could mean a higher price. Make sure to look at your sub-limits, too. These are limits for specific items under a broader inclusion, like your phone, which falls under luggage coverage.
Buy early
Buying early isn’t about scoring a bargain; it’s about getting trip cancellation cover as early as possible. Once your policy reaches its start date, you’ll be protected if something forces you to cancel before take-off. Waiting until the last minute leaves a big window where your trip is all paid for but uninsured, which means if something happens those cancellation costs are on you. It could also mean you have fewer insurers to choose from when you are ready to buy.
Look into discounts
Sometimes buying insurance online could come with some more opportunities to score a discount. Some insurers have seasonal promotions around big sale times, like the end-of-financial year or Black Friday. Others reward loyalty from returning customers. While not all travel insurers will offer discounts, a quick search or email sign-up could give you insider deals to make a noticeable difference in your insurance price.
Think about your holiday and what type of cover will best match your plans, while giving you enough peace of mind while you’re overseas.
Helpful tip
If you’re still looking for a few small ways to cut costs on your travel insurance, consider buying all your policies from a single provider. For example, if you’re planning a family holiday, some insurers might let you add kids to your policy for free. Others might offer a discount if you and your travelling companions buy your policies together, which is great if every cent counts in your budget.
Adrian Bennett
General Manager for General Insurance
What other factors affect travel insurance premiums?
Age
Medical expenses are one of the leading costs for Australian travellers. And, as travellers get older, insurers may factor in a perceived rise in health risks into travel insurance costs. The nearer you reach your insurer’s age limits, the more criteria you’ll have to meet and the higher your premium or excess could rise.
Trip length
How long you need to be covered could affect the price of your policy. Some insurers view longer trips as a greater risk, which will likely mean higher costs. Shorter trips are often cheaper since the likelihood of you needing to claim is smaller.
Location
Each country has its own level of danger and risk that a travel insurer must consider, whether that’s the risk of natural disaster or how easy it is to access local medical centres. This is why where you travel affects your premium price and why certain countries are excluded after travel alerts are updated.
Countries with higher medical costs (like the US) might be more expensive, while places that have Reciprocal Health Care Agreements with Australia (like New Zealand) can be more affordable. In New Zealand, for example, all you have to do is flash your passport and Medicare card and some of your medical bills may be covered.
Pre-existing medical conditions
Having a pre-existing condition doesn’t mean you can’t travel, but it can change your final bill. Insurers also won’t automatically cover all conditions, and if they do, they’ll need you to complete a medical screening before charging you extra for coverage specific to your condition. If your insurer can’t cover your condition, you may have to settle for a policy that doesn’t cover condition-related events. So, make sure you think about what potential hospital fees could look like without coverage.
Should I always buy the cheapest international travel insurance policy?
While that cheap option might seem appealing now, once you’re on foreign soil, it could be a different story. Travel insurance is something that proves its worth once it’s needed. The cheapest policy might look like a win at checkout (especially when those savings could fund another day tour or a dinner), but it could turn out to be a big regret.
Travel insurance is here for worst-case scenarios – the ones you hope will never happen. The cheaper route might work in your favour if nothing goes wrong, but if it doesn’t and you don’t have the right coverage level, any out-of-pocket costs could wipe those initial savings out.
Let’s take our fictional friend Emma as an example, she learnt all about cutting corners the hard way in Rome. She picked a medical-only policy that only knocked her budget back $51. But after strolling around the piazza one night, she came back to find her hotel room broken into and her laptop, headphones, and jewellery stolen. Her policy doesn’t cover belongings, leaving her thousands out of pocket. When you think about how a higher coverage policy could have really softened the financial hit for Emma, it makes you rethink whether going for the cheapest options is really worth it in the long run.
Choosing the cheapest policy isn’t always wrong. It just needs to match your destination’s risk level and trip plans. Thinking about worst-case scenarios helps you choose with your eyes open so you can still find an affordable plan that covers you where and when you need it.
Frequently asked questions
What travel insurance providers are available in Australia?
Starting your holiday planning? Here are some insurers that iSelect can help you compare with:
- Fast Cover
- Huddle Insurance
- Insure4less
- InsureandGo
- ReadySet Travel Insurance
- Southern Cross Travel Insurance
- Tick Travel Insurance
- Travel Insurance Saver
- Travel Insuranz
- Travel Protect
- WAS Insurance
- World2Cover
- Zoom Travel Insurance
Other travel insurers in the market include:
- 1Cover
- Allianz
- Blue Insurance
- Budget Direct
- Bupa Travel Insurance
- Cover-More
- Everyday Travel Insurance
- Medibank
- Nib
- RACV Travel Insurance
- Travel Insurance Direct
Note: iSelect does not compare all travel insurance providers in the market, or all products offered by our partners in your area.
When should I buy travel insurance?
There’s no single ‘best time’ to buy travel insurance, but we’d recommend buying sooner than later. Buying insurance when you book your flights is ideal, since it means you’ll be able to use your cancellation coverage if things take a turn for the worse and your holiday is canned a few weeks before take-off. While you can leave it to the last second, you risk a travel expense blow out if your first or connecting flight is cancelled before you have your insurance policy lined up.
What does travel insurance excess mean?
Travel insurance excess is the amount that you need to pay when you make a claim. It’s like your slice of the risk-sharing deal. That’s why you’ll often see insurers offer a lower premium for customers that choose to pay a higher excess. If you need to make a few claims from the same event, you’ll also only need to pay one excess.
Compare travel insurance before your departure
Whether it’s Bali beaches, trains across European borders, or a spontaneous long weekend, travelling is more enjoyable when you’ve already covered off all the boring stuff. Compare from a range of travel insurance policies and plans online with iSelect to lock in cover that fits your travel plans.
Easily compare Travel insurance quotes
Save time and effort by comparing a range of travel insurance policies with iSelect
iSelect does not compare all travel insurers or policies in the market. Travel insurance is only available through our website and not all policies are available at all times or in all areas. Not all policies available from our partners are compared by iSelect and due to commercial arrangements and customer circumstances not all policies compared by iSelect will be available to all customers. Click here to view iSelect’s range of providers.
iSelect General Pty Limited ABN 90 131 798 126, AFS Licence Number: 334115. Any advice provided by iSelect is of a general nature and does not take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. You need to consider the appropriateness of any information or general advice iSelect gives you, having regard to your personal situation, before acting on iSelect’s advice or purchasing any policy. You should consider iSelect’s Financial Services Guide which provides information about our services and your rights as a client of iSelect. iSelect receives commission for each policy sold.