A Guide to Buying Travel Insurance Online
You will be quoted immediately and make purchase right there and then. Travel insurance is designed to be a short term insurance policy hence, simpler underwriting process with immediate issuance are available at your fingertips and on-the-go.
You simply have to provide the issuer your personal and trip information, accept quote by purchasing right away using a credit card. Upon payment, your travel policy will be emailed to you along with a confirmation of purchase and its coverage. Furthermore, you can have 24/7 access to your policy documents stored in your email inbox forever!
How to Choose and Compare Travel Insurance Plans
First and foremost, what is your biggest concern when travelling? Here are some examples of the common travel inconveniences:
-
Flight Delayed
-
Baggage Delayed
-
Getting ill overseas
How Much Coverage Do You Need?
Secondly, you will have to look at the extent of coverage you might need based on your travel concerns. According to what we believe to be the most common concerns are - Flight Delay, Baggage Delay and Medical Expenses.
It is important to note that there are many other coverage areas that may matter more to you, thus making it important to study the travel insurance policy in detail before making a purchase.
Travel insurance is mainly designed for short term financial protection during the holiday. Travel insurance is not meant to cover accidental death or a substitute to what a life insurance policy can provide. So it is highly discouraged to rely solely on Personal Accident or Accidental Death coverage from a travel insurance.
To be fully protected, get a Life Insurance or a Personal Accident insurance policy for a lifetime coverage.
For illustration purposes, let’s say you are a single 28 year old traveller who is looking to buy travel insurance online for a 7 nights trip to Australia with the same concerns over travel inconveniences. How much coverage do you need?
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Flight Delay
Flight Delay is one of the most common travel inconveniences and hence the most important protection to look out for. You may need to make additional and unplanned hotel bookings, buy extra air tickets and more!
Generally, travel insurance companies offer coverage on the first 6 hours of the flight delay at an average of RM200. In comparison, Etiqa TripCare 360 Takaful Gold provides RM100 for the first 2 hours, then RM250 for every 6 hours thereafter and you can claim up to RM2,000.
Ideal Coverage: The highest coverage amount for the first 6 hours. Average: RM200
2. Baggage Delay
Second most common travel inconvenience is when your checked-in baggage did not arrive with you. Usually when this happens, you will have to additionally buy emergency toiletries and clothes while you wait for your baggage to arrive. These are extra costs which you did not expect to take out from your holiday budget.
Similar to flight delays, protection is generally based on every 6 hours your baggage is delayed with average coverage amount at RM200. While Allianz Travel Care offers coverage at a maximum of RM800 for 6 consecutive hours your checked-in baggage is delayed.
Ideal Coverage: The highest coverage amount for the first 6 hours. Average: RM200
3. Medical Expenses
Falling ill while you're overseas is worrying. We are prone to getting sick due to change in temperature and environment, especially in countries with different seasons.
Other than that, we can’t always be too careful when it comes to accidents. Considering the high exchange currency rate, it would cost a fortune to seek medical help in developed countries like Australia. This makes buying travel insurance so crucial while traveling.
Coverage for medical expenses can be as low as RM100,000 and as high as RM1,000,000. Many insurance companies chose an intermediate level with a minimum coverage of RM300,000. We suggest to choose travel insurance plans that provide coverage no less than RM300,000 as it provides sufficient protection - not too low and not too high
However, it is worth mentioning that AIG Travel Guard Deluxe offers the highest medical expenses coverage amount of RM1,000,000 - which makes AIG the most expensive travel insurance policy. Having said that, it is important to find the best travel insurance plan in which the medical expense makes the most sense to you.
Ideal Coverage: Coverage amount must be RM300,000 or higher. No lesser.
Based on the 3 common travel inconveniences and coverage ideals, we have picked and ranked them below:
10 Best Travel Insurance Products by Ranking
# |
Product Name |
Issuer |
Flight Delay (6 hours) |
Baggage Delay (6 hours) |
Medical Expenses (max) |
Premium Australia - Single |
1 |
Allianz General |
RM300 |
RM800 (max) |
RM300,000 |
RM45.00 |
|
2 |
Etiqa Takaful |
RM250 |
RM1,000 |
RM300,000 |
RM51.60 |
|
3 |
AIG |
RM150 |
RM150 |
RM1,000,000 |
RM95.00 |
|
4 |
Tune |
RM200 |
RM200 |
RM300,000 |
RM42.00 |
|
5 |
Tokio Marine |
RM200 |
RM200 |
RM300,000 |
RM50.00 |
|
7 |
MSIG |
RM200 |
RM200 |
RM300,000 |
RM58.00 |
|
8 |
MSIG |
RM200 |
RM200 |
RM400,000 |
RM87.00 |
|
9 |
Berjaya Sompo |
RM150 |
RM200 |
RM350,000 |
RM52.00 |
|
10 |
Zurich |
RM150 |
RM200 |
RM300,000 |
RM55.00 |
Ranking Rationale
#1 Allianz Travel Care
Highest flight delay coverage at RM300 for the first 6 hours. Other than that, baggage delay payout is very high in comparison to the average of RM200. Medical expenses meets the ideal average coverage amount of RM300,000. Premium is also at the cheapest considering the higher amount of coverage it has to offer in comparison to Tune Protect Travel Easy insurance plan.
#2 Etiqa TripCare 360 Takaful Gold
The highest amount of RM1,000 payout for every 6 consecutive hours your checked-in baggage is delayed. While flight delay coverage amount is slightly lower but medical expenses meets the requirement of RM300,000.
#3 AIG Travel Guard Deluxe
A whopping payout amount of RM1,000,000 on medical expenses hence making AIG the most expensive travel insurance plan at RM95. However when compared to MSIG TravelRight Plus Plan 2 with medical expenses coverage of RM400,000 at RM87, pricing is not very far off. If medical expenses is an important coverage for you, you may want to consider buying this.
Subsequent Rankings
With a consistent coverage amount of RM200 for baggage delay, we have ranked the subsequent travel insurance products based on low to high premium price and the extent of coverage amount they offer.