Deciding which insurance company to use is even trickier. How do you know which is best? Studying the documentation can help, but you aren't really going to find out which company will deliver what you need until the worst happens.
Years ago our family used Mike Henry Insurance because that was what our travel agent offered. We never needed to make a major claim but, over the years, there were a few things that were stolen or damaged. We were always paid out in the end but every claim was a long, drawn-out fight, which rather turned me off.
In recent times we've used Westpac Gold Card Travel Insurance and Southern Cross Travel Insurance which, for us anyway, have been cheaper and less hassle.
So far we've only had to claim for breakages - mostly camera gear - but each time I've been impressed at how smooth and efficient the claims process has been, especially at Southern Cross.
In the light of that experience, I was interested to see that for the third year in a row Southern Cross has taken the top spot in the travel insurance rating by Australian research house Canstar Cannex.
After looking at 42 (Australian) travel insurance brands and 174 comprehensive travel insurance policies, Canstar concluded that for international travel, the best two companies were Southern Cross and Columbus Direct (both of which also operate in New Zealand).
Southern Cross was praised for having the cheapest average premiums for most destinations, plus high item limits (eg $2000 for unspecified item and $5000 for laptops). Columbus was singled out for offering policies for people aged up to 84 and accepting reverse charges on its helpline.
Like I say, you don't really know how good an insurance policy is until the worst happens. But in the meantime, it sounds like a reason for us to stick with Southern Cross.
* You can see the Canstar Cannex ratings here.
