Comprehensive travel insurance is the highest level of cover you can buy. It typically includes cancellation cover, 24/7 medical cover, lost or damaged luggage costs, personal liability, family emergencies, additional cover for travel delays, and alternative transport expenses.

What is Comprehensive travel insurance?

Comprehensive travel insurance includes benefits for emergency medical coverage if you are injured or fall ill overseas, cancellation if your trip has to be cancelled, luggage cover if your baggage or personal effects are lost or stolen, and alternative travel expenses if your flights are delayed by bad weather. This is compared to basic or medical coverage, a more budget-conscious product which only covers medical expenses.

Compare Comprehensive Travel Insurance

When searching for the maximum cover, it’s a good idea to compare a few different companies to see which policy gives you the best bang for your buck! To get a comprehensive quote specific to your trip, use the quote box at the top of the page.

What does Comprehensive Travel Insurance Cover?

Don’t fret should you get sick or injured on your trip, because this is exactly why you’re buying protection for your holiday. Comprehensive travel insurance covers your medical expenses for injury or illness including hospital stays, surgery, dental, prescription drugs and doctor visits.

Sometimes trips just don’t go to plan! Cancellation benefits cover the cost of rearranging or cancelling your journey because of unforeseen circumstances such as illness, accidents and extreme weather conditions. Remember, cover starts from the day you buy your policy not when your trip starts.

It’s a real pain in the ar*e when your stuff is lost, stolen or doesn’t show up. At least if disasters happens on your holiday your policy will replace or reimbuirse you for your baggage and personal items if they disappear or are damaged.

Bummer, your flights were delayed, now what!? If your transport is postponed due to an unforeseen reason, your out-of-pocket accommodation, meals, and transport costs would be covered until you get back on track. Note, this benefit probably won’t kick in if you only have a short delay which is less than 6 hours.

It’s always a worry going on holiday leaving loved ones behind. Never fear, should a close relative, or the person you’re travelling with becoming seriously ill, injured or heaven-forbid die, your travel expenses would be claimable. Restrictions can apply to relatives ages, medical conditions and where they live.

A lawsuit would certainly put a dampener on your dream holiday. Relax as you’re covered in the event that you are found to be legally liable for accidental injury or damage you may have caused to another person or their property whilst on your trip.

What Doesn’t it Cover?

Let’s face it, travel insurance can’t cover everything! Just like waiting periods with your health insurance, or drink-driving exclusions with your car insurance, similar conditions apply to your travel protection. Here’s a few things to be aware of that might not be covered.

Pre-existing illnesses: Some medical conditions that exist before you travel may not be covered. If you’ve recently been in hospital, have planned surgery, or suffering from a serious illness where overseas treatment is likely, you may find getting cover is tricker than usual. That’s not to say if you do have a pre-existing condition you can’t get cover at all, you may just need to have your condition assessed before cover can be granted. If cover is declined, in most cases, you can still buy a policy that would cover you for all other benefits, and for any unrelated illness or injury (just not your known pre-existing).

Being reckless: We know that travel is all about new and exciting experiences, but if you deliberately put your life in danger (like jumping off a high cliff into the sea) you wouldn’t be covered. Injuries or loss when alcohol or drugs have been involved may not be covered either. Not too many piña coladas now!

High-risk activities: Hey there adrenaline junkie! Many high-risk activities and extreme sports (e.g. American football, boxing, skydiving, competitive cycling, rock climbing, polo and motorsports) are not covered. Always check whether your planned activities are before you go jumping out of a plane (for example.)

Travel supplier default: Does your tour operator sound a bit dodgy ? Travel insurance does not always cover for insolvency of travel agents, tour wholesalers, tour operators or booking agents. Make sure you’re confident in the operator making your travel arrangements.

Known events: Just like you can’t buy car insurance after you’ve had a car accident, you are unable to buy travel insurance to cover an event that has already happened. For example, if news of a hurricane has already been spread all over the media and it prompts you to buy cover, it’s already too late. You can of course still purchase, it’s just that that particular known event is likely to be excluded from your cover.

And more… We haven’t detailed all travel insurance exclusions here. Just the ones that tend to pop up. It’s vital that you read your chosen insurer’s Product Disclosure Statement before you purchase to understand the exclusions that apply to your cover. ()

Why you Need Comprehensive Cover

If you buy a policy for just one reason this is it! Falling ill or being injured while travelling is not cheap! Hospital costs in the USA can reach up to $10,000 per day. If this alone doesn’t convince you to buy cover for your trip, we don’t know what will!

Picture your dismay if you had to cancel your dream va-cay last minute. Nightmare!! Worse still, imagine you’re mid-martini when bad news breaks. Should you need to return home, you’ll be covered for unforeseen events like injury or illness of a close relative.

Loss, theft or damage to your prized possessions can be a common, yet gut-wrenching experience. Don’t worry, if your personal belongings go AWOL the right policy will pay to replace or repair them. Woop!

At the end of the day, your holiday is when you’re meant to have some down-time! Comprehensive travel insurance will take a load off so you can get some well-deserved R&R.

Still not convinced? We hate to be the fun police, but some countries simply won’t let you in without cover!

Comprehensive Travel Insurance FAQs

Which is the best travel insurance?

Which policy is best depends entirely on you and your circumstances. If you’re a backpacker on a strict budget, you might want a no frills medical-only policy, while if you’ve paid a lot in deposits or if you have pre-existing health conditions, a more comprehensive policy might work for you. Create a quote to start comparing prices and features.

Does comprehensive cover have age limits?

Some policies have no age restrictions at all, others limit certain products (such as annual multi-trips) to those under 65 years. Generally speaking however you can find a comprehensive policy no matter your age, you just might have to pay a little extra for the privilege in your vintage years. Use the quote box above to get a quote for your trip.

Does comprehensive travel insurance cover pregnancy?

You can buy travel insurance to cover you when you’re pregnant, but every brand has different rules depending on how many weeks gestation you are, whether you’ve had complications, and whether you’re looking for cover in case of emergency birth. Check out the handy table on our pregnancy guide for more information.

Can I buy comprehensive cover in Australia?

It depends on your definition of ‘comprehensive’. Medical coverage is not included in domestic policies as that is covered by Medicare. However travellers can still face eye-watering bills from lost deposits, unforeseen cancellations and damaged personal items on trips within Australia too. Some domestic policies cover as much as Unlimited Cancellation benefits and over $15,000 for Luggage.

Do comprehensive policies cover cruising?

Insurers policies are all different. Some include cover for cruises automatically, others require the purchase of a cruise “add-on”. Get a cruise insurance quote to find out who covers what.

Why should I buy comprehensive travel insurance online?

Comparing prices and features online makes it easier to find the policy that’s right for you and your circumstances. With Comparetravelinsurance.com.au, the price you see is the price direct from the insurer.

What is comprehensive travel insurance?

Comprehensive travel insurance is the most popular kind of travel insurance. It covers a huge range of benefits including medical, cancellation, public liability and luggage cover. Some countries require you to have travel insurance to enter the country or get a visa, which other countries have exorbitant medical systems which leave you with eye-watering bills. That’s where travel insurance comes in.

What does comprehensive travel insurance cover?

Comprehensive travel insurance covers cancellation, emergency medical, alternative transport expenses, luggage and personal effects that are lost or stolen, and public liability cover. This is opposed to basic or medical-only policies, which only cover your emergency medical expenses incurred overseas.

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Our comparison is a free service that allows users to compare quotes in a few simple steps based on limited personal criteria. Comparisons supplied are not a recommendation or opinion about the suitability of a policy for a user. Comparisons are default ranked according to price and users have the ability to sort by popular cover levels. Whilst we compare a vast range of policies, we do not compare all providers in the market. Get free travel insurance quotes from Australia's most trusted brands in just one search, including 1Cover, Fast Cover Travel Insurance, InsureandGo, Ski-Insurance, Travel Insurance Saver, Tick, Zoom Travel Insurance. Compare online and save today! The directors and shareholders are common with companies Zoom Travel Insurance and 1Cover Pty Ltd including it's subsidiary brand Ski-insurance. CoverDirect takes all reasonable care when preparing this information but does not warrant its accuracy. Pricing information is supplied by the providers who participate on this site and should be verified with the insurer before you purchase. This site links users to the website of the provider to verify quotes and access the relevant PDS to understand what is, and is not, covered by a policy prior to purchase. CoverDirect Pty Ltd owns and operates this website under AFS Licence 383590. 332 Kent Street, Sydney, NSW 2000 Australia.

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