If you live in Australia, you probably think that it isn’t worth having domestic travel insurance. But just because you’re travelling to a different state, it doesn’t mean that something can’t go wrong! Cheap travel insurance in Australia is often easy to find and means that you can save hundreds of dollars if you run into any unfortunate situations.
THE BENEFITS OF DOMESTIC TRAVEL INSURANCE
It gives you peace of mind while travelling, even if it is only in the state next door. Travel insurance means that you don’t have to personally wear any excess fees or expenses if you get into any sticky situations. It can cover you for:
- Expenses relating to accommodation, flights or other transport if you are sick or lose your travel items,or if things like natural disasters or union strikes affect your travel.
- Losses related to the cancellation of your holiday (e.g. flights and accommodation) due to an emergency or an unforeseen circumstance.
- Losses relating to theft or damage of your personal items, including luggage, documents, credit cards, passports, licences, wallets, bags, etc.
- Rental car expenses related to late returns or damages resulting from theft or accidents.
- Disability, death or personal liability, under some policies, if you happen to cause harm to someone else or damage another person’s property.
Note that most domestic travel insurance policies won’t actually cover you for health or medical expenses as an Australian citizen; instead, you should invest in private health cover to ensure your medical needs are taken care of.
WHY DO I NEED DOMESTIC TRAVEL INSURANCE?
Other than the reasons above, there are many reasons why you should take out domestic travel insurance, whether you are planning a weekend away or a year-long journey around the Aussie coast.
- You can often take more luggage with you on a domestic holiday
If you are going fishing, golfing, camping, kayaking or surfing, for example, it means you are hauling valuable luggage with you on your trip. Travel insurance can save you the cost of replacing or repairing these items if they are stolen or damaged. While your two-man tent and your BBQ might not be all that expensive, a good set of golf clubs can easily cost around $2,000.
- A loss is still a loss
You might think that cancelling your international flights and accommodation will cost you thousands, for instance, andthat cancelling your domestic flights and accommodation is only going to result in a couple of hundred dollars. But do you still really want to have to pay this money from your own pocket?
Let’s say that Bill and Jane decide to go on a summer weekend trip to Sydney. However, when they arrive at their serviced apartment in Sydney, they discover it’s been evacuated due to a fire.
They feel that they can easily book another affordable apartment or hotel, but what they don’t realise is that this is one of the busiest weekends in Sydney and that everything is booked out. The only thing they can find for that night is a two-bedroom suite priced at $700. So, instead of being $200 out of pocket as they predicted, they are now out of pocket three times that amount.
