Travel Insurance

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Based on my 12 month dealings with AAMI although not with travel insurance, I wouldnt insure anything with them ever. Speaking to the insurance obbudsman last year, AAMI has the highest number of complaints across the board. Stay away from any company under SUNCORP which includes AAMI and GIO.

They have an underlying policy of refusing claims whenever possible, hoping that the customer does not force the issue or appeal, even when they know the customer is covered.

On the other hand the best insurance companies are QBE, RACV and ALLIANZ in terms of customer satisfaction, and the number of complaints, which really is what you want given that we are talking about issues that can ruin a persons life, ie - not have claims covered.

I have spent the past year dealing with AAMI, Suncorp Senior Executives, Ombudsman. Local Minister and Mayor, and I would advise anyone to pay extra if you have to, and get good cover.

Marvel - would you not agree though that AAMI is a MUCH larger company than the others so it stands to reason they would have more complaints - they have more customers??????

We have AAMI for houses and cars etc and have had to claim and with hail storms aplenty and a few things here and there we have had to make claims. I felt they didn't do a bad job and handled it as quickly as it could be expected.

Not sure whether you are comparing apples to apples when comparing to QBE and Allianz.

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

We have previously purchased our insurance through TA's with Covermore. I know I know - idiots right for the cost .

This time I did insurance myself through TID - the price is great and I feel good about reviews I've read.

 

[melbarkwith]

We had travel insurance through AAMI on our last trip and will never use them again! DD6 (at the time) split her chin open at Hojo's water playground.

AAMI chewed me out over not getting approval to have her chin stitched before taking her to the hospital. Um, I returned to our hotel room after shopping to discover DH had taken her to the hospital. I phoned them as soon as we got back to Hojo's, hung around on hold for 30mins and decided to deal with it when we got home. Apparently first aid comes AFTER speaking to them.

This time we are using Covermore, as most other companies will not cover DD#3 because she has been hospitalised for asthma within the last 12 months. QBE and several others refused cover

 

[ky71]

We have had several travel insurance claims over the years.

We used One Cover in 2008 (Grand Gathering at WDW for our family). FiL had a seizure by the pool at Pop Century and spent over a month in Celebration hospital. He had also injured his shoulder in the collapse and had a titanium ball and joint operation then flew home first class. Total cost to him was the $300 paid to hospital upfront and an added $200 excess when he arrived home. Insurance estimate it was a $300 000 claim!

Just last year my youngest DS was bitten by a monkey in Bali. We were using our credit card insurance (Zurich). We paid for all of the expenses whilst in Bali (AU$700) for doctor at Hard Rock hotel, his nurse to get rabies medication from Denpasar, daily dressing and sleeping medication. Once we were home we submitted to Zurich and were paid direct to bank account. Australian tax payers funded the next three weeks of rabies shots but the story made DS pretty cool at school!

In 2007 we visited Hawaii and same DS suffered a major ear infection. We visited a local medical centre and paid upfront for two visits and medication. Then upon arrival home One Cover refunded all but the first $200. We did call the reverse charge phone number to make sure we got required documentation before we left Hawaii to make the claim go smoothly.

Unless we are travelling for more than 21 days we just use the credit card insurance. We are still trying to decide on our cruise trip whether to get additional travel insurance. Most items are BETTER on credit card insurance but lost luggage (which we have NEVER had) is a little better covered on other policies...