Annual travel insurance

Cheap annual travel insurance

Cheap comprehensive: Travel Insurance Saver Annual Multi Trip

• It can cover you for up to 45 days per trip. The average is around 30 days.
• It comes with COVID-19 cover. This includes unlimited medical expenses and rearrangement costs if you or someone you are travelling with catches the virus.
• It comes with fairly high limits, most likely enough for multiple trips e.g. up to $12,000 for luggage, $10,000 for cancellations, $5,000 rental car excess insurance and unlimited travel delay expenses.

• FastCover Traveller Saver comes with unlimited cancellation cover. Travel Insurance Saver has a $10,000 cap.
• There are more comprehensive options, if you're willing to pay more. For example, FastCover and CoverMore have annual policies that all come with higher limits. These could be better for trips over $10,000.

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Why we picked Travel Insurance Saver

Finder's insurance and innovations editor looked at 45 annual travel insurance policies available on the Finder engine and a handful of other well known brands including CoverMore and Medibank. Travel Insurance Saver offered the cheapest comprehensive policy for 5 different annual multi trips:

• Bali, USA, New Zealand
• Bali, Japan, New Zealand
• Bali, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand
• Bali, Italy, France, New Zealand
• Bali, Thailand, New Zealand

Cheap basic: Insure4Less Annual Multi Trip Essentials

• It's good if you want a very cheap policy covering medical only, including if you catch COVID-19.
• Out of 45 annual multi trip policies, it was the cheapest available on Finder.

• It really is a bare bones policy. It only covers medical expenses. It's no help if you need to cancel, rearrange or your luggage is delayed or lost.
• It can cover you for up to 31 days per trip. If you have a longer trip planned, you should look elsewhere.

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Why we picked Insure4less

Our insurance and innovations editor picked Insure4less because it's typically the cheapest annual multi trip policy in the Finder database. Insure4less offered the cheapest basic policy for 5 different annual multi trips:

• Bali, USA, New Zealand
• Bali, Japan, New Zealand
• Bali, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand
• Bali, Italy, France, New Zealand
• Bali, Thailand, New Zealand

Is it cheaper to buy annual travel insurance?

It's typically only cheaper to buy an annual travel insurance policy if you plan to go on a few big trips in the next 12 months. If you're only going away for around 2 weeks per trip, multiple single travel insurance policies are often cheaper.

Here's a table showing the prices if you were to take out multiple single travel insurance policies, as opposed to taking out a multi trip travel insurance policy.

"I saved $500 getting an annual multi-trip policy. I had two big overseas trips planned, one a ski trip, and it was cheaper to get an annual policy instead of individual cover (this was for 2 people). And now I'm covered for the rest of the year too, including on domestic trips. "

Tim Bennett

Insurance expert

What does annual travel insurance cover?

Multi trip travel insurance covers all the same things as a single-trip policy. This means you can expect cover for:

• Medical expenses including evacuation. If you get sick or injured while overseas, your policy will cover the cost of your ambulance, hospital bed, surgery fees and evacuation to the nearest hospital (or back to Australia if necessary). Most annual policies offer unlimited medical for international trips, which helps with peace of mind knowing you're covered no matter where you go.
• Additional emergency expenses. This covers the additional travel and accommodation expenses related to emergencies outside of your control, like becoming medically unfit to travel or the unexpected death of a close relative back home. Most policies will also pay for someone in Australia to travel to you if you're hospitalised overseas.
• Cancellation fees and lost deposits. This covers your non-refundable pre-paid travel expenses and any cancellation fees if you have to cancel your trip due to unexpected events outside of your control.
• Luggage and personal belongings. Covers the repair or replacement costs for luggage and personal items that are lost, stolen or damaged during your trip. Some policies will pay you an emergency allowance to help you purchase essential clothing and toiletries if an airline temporarily misplaces your luggage.
• Travel delay. This pays for unexpected meal and accommodation costs when your flight or other prepaid transportation is rescheduled or delayed for a significant amount of time.
• Rental vehicle excess insurance. This brings down the unreasonably high excess car rental companies charge if you damage one of their cars. Some policies offer this for free. Others charge extra for it.
• Cruise and Ski cover. Some annual travel insurance policies include cruise cover and ski cover in their policies. Benefits include onboard medical expenses, missed ports, cabin confinement and more.
• Personal liability. This pays your legal fees and penalties if you accidentally injure someone or damage their property while travelling.

Our expert says

"At first annual travel insurance might seem like a bit of an upfront cost, but if you have a couple of big trips planned in the next 12 months (it looks like many of us do – there's been a 50% increase in departures compared to this time last year) then it's often cheaper than buying multiple individual policies."

Gary Ross Hunter

Editor, Insurance

What's not included?

All policies have a list of exclusions, which outlines what your policy won't cover and what situations will void your policy. These include if:

• You're travelling somewhere there's a travel warning. The Australian Government issues advisories for a reason. If you choose to travel to a do not travel country and ignore these warnings, your insurance will be invalid.
• You don't take care of your belongings. Your insurer won't pay for lost items if you weren't careful with them. This includes leaving your luggage or valuables unattended or leaving your hotel room unlocked.
• You're taking part in extreme or dangerous activities. Most policies won't cover extreme sports or other dangerous activities such as base jumping or mountaineering.
• You were acting recklessly. Your insurer can deny your claim if it finds you were acting recklessly at the time. This can include being drunk, being high, breaking the law or putting yourself in harm's way.
• Illness or injury from pre-existing conditions. If you fail to disclose any pre-existing conditions, your insurer could deny medical claims if they think the new injury or illness is related.
• You're pregnant. Most policies will not cover childbirth at all and they'll stop covering you if you're pregnant at around 30 weeks. However, they will cover all unrelated medical conditions like a broken wrist for the duration of the trip.

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Frequently asked questions about annual travel insurance

• What is annual multi trip travel insurance?

  Annual multi trip travel insurance is a type of travel insurance policy that covers multiple trips over a 12 month period. It's also known as a multi-trip policy. It's made for people who go abroad more than once a year and can sometimes be cheaper and more convenient than taking out multiple single trip policies every time you travel.

• Can I get travel insurance for 12 months?

  Yes. Multi trip policies can give you cover for an unlimited number of trips in a year. It can sometimes be cheaper than buying multiple policies in a year and it's convenient as you don't have to get a new travel insurance policy every time you head overseas.

• How much is travel insurance in Australia?

  Travel insurance ranges from around $5 to $20 per day but prices can vary significantly depending on the length of your trip and where you travel. On average, a basic policy for a one week trip could cost between $30 and $150. It often becomes better value for money to take out annual travel insurance if you have more than 2 of 3 big trips planned in a year.

• I am going to multiple destinations on my next trip. Do I need an annual multi-trip policy?

  No. You can get cover for multiple destinations on a standard single-trip policy, as long as all the destinations are part of one overall journey. There are long term travel insurance policies that cover single trip journeys of up to 540 days. You generally only need the annual policy if you will be returning to Australia between trips.

• I mostly travel for business. Is there any point to buying an annual policy?

  For sure. Business cover is usually included in an annual frequent travel insurance policy, which means it doesn't matter whether you are travelling for business or going on a holiday.

  However, insurers usually won't pay any medical bills that are already covered by your employer's workers compensation policy. Some policies will also exclude manual labour from cover.

• Can I get annual travel insurance for more than 90 days?

  Just barely. The longest max-trip duration we've seen is 93 days from Travel Insuranz and Insure4less. If you're taking a single trip that's longer than that, you'll need to get a separate single trip policy for that trip.

• Can I get travel insurance for multiple trips?

  Yes, multi-trip travel insurance is designed to cover multiple trips within a set period, typically a year. It is ideal for frequent travellers and eliminates the need for purchasing a new policy for each trip.

• Do couples with travel insurance need to travel together?

  Couples' travel insurance policies may require you to travel together to be covered under the same plan. Check the terms and conditions to ensure your individual travel plans are covered.

• Can you get travel insurance if you have already left?

  Some insurers do offer travel insurance after you have departed, but it is less common and may come with restrictions or higher premiums. It is best to secure coverage before leaving.

• What is an example of double insurance?

  Double insurance occurs when you have more than one insurance policy covering the same risk. For instance, having two travel insurance policies covering the same medical emergencies would be considered double insurance.

Written by

Gary Ross Hunter

Editor, Insurance

Gary Ross Hunter was an editor at Finder, specialising in insurance. He’s been writing about life, travel, home, car, pet and health insurance for over 6 years and regularly appears as an insurance expert in publications including The Sydney Morning Herald, The Guardian and news.com.au. Gary holds a Kaplan Tier 2 General Advice General Insurance certification which meets the requirements of ASIC Regulatory Guide 146 (RG146). See full bio

Gary Ross's expertise

Gary Ross has written 659 Finder guides across topics including:

• Health, home, life, car, pet and travel insurance
• Managing the cost of living