Recommendations on annual travel insurance policy?

Hi all, I have been using Travel Insurance Direct for the past few years for our family annual travel insurance. I have heard a few bad reviews about their coverage. I was wondering if you could recommend a few options that I could research to compare to TID. Many thanks.

Finder has a pretty comprehensive list.

Do you have the entertainment book? They have 2 companies offered there, with discounts to boot.

Choice also did a comparison recently and recommended Australian Seniors and American Express Travel Ultimate. They also rated the insurance that comes with the Macquarie Bank credit cards very highly as well, and that even includes one of Macquarie's no annual fee credit cards. Compared to Finder, I think Choice is easier to compare the details of the various policies, but you'll need a membership whereas Finder is free and open to everyone.

If you have an ABN (which technically you can get without trading), the QBE Corporate Travel Insurance is ridiculously impressive - primarily because it barely excludes anything. Technically meant for business travel but it has the ability to cover leisure travel also without issue.

Finder is good at a high level, but some companies aren't included such as Cover More. They provide insurance for a number of companies, Australia Post, Virgin, Medibank and have a pretty good rep. I purchased them through Flight Centre when traveling and made a claim that was dealt with in a week. Not too bad!

Note that Finder only displays insurers which pay commissions to Finder, thus why Cover More and others don't appear in their listings, so don't take it as a comprehensive list of cover (and note that sometimes, prices can be different by going directly to an insurance provider's website rather than applying via Finder, because going direct means the insurer isn't paying a hefty commission and can, in theory, offer you a better price).

1 Cover Travel Insurance

AMEX travel insurance is fantastic, so much l signed up with AMEX for a CC immediately so l could have their automatic insurance when l payed for travel with this card.

I put in a claim and the money was in my account within 48 hours and the actual claim process was phenomenally easy.

My wife had QBE purchased through the QANTAS website and it was insane how bad our experiences were in making claims from the exact same trip (we had separate tickets as her company paid for her travel) .It took nearly 4 months to finally have her claim payed out, and this was only after l put in a complaint with the ombudsmen. I spent untold hours on the phone, emails and more dealing with this, not to mention the stress of having a few thousand dollars sitting against a credit card relating to what we were claiming for. We eventually got refunded for the insurance policy it was that bad and now my wife also uses AMEX travel insurance.

Use the choice.com.au website for independent and comprehensive evaluation of coverage by the different policies. Two maxims to keep in mind: 1. insurance offered by your credit card provider for travel booked with the card is likely to be more restricted coverage and thus lowest cost to the card provider; and 2. insurance sold to you by a travel agent will always involve a commission for them.

Thanks to everyone for their feedback. It is much appreciated.

I now have a annual Southern Cross Travel Insurance policy. Covers trips within a 45 day period. I had a annual Covermore policy but they now charge more than double what SCRI do. This way I can use any credit card I like and travel most of the world and am covered. I suggest you look into Southern Cross.

I've purchased a Covermore Annual Travel insurance policy for the last 5 years - I find the cover good, the price reasonable and the link with Velocity puts a few extra points in the account.