What's covered by Basic Travel Insurance
- $Unlimited* overseas medical expenses benefit, including COVID-19 related medical expenses. Cover will not exceed 12 months from onset of the illness, condition or injury.
- Overseas dental expenses – Up to $500
- If you are diagnosed with COVID-19 – self-isolation expenses if you are too sick to travel – Up to $5,000
- Luggage and personal effects – Up to $2,000 (sub-limits apply)
- Personal liability.
- Activities (e.g. surfing, bungee jumping, zip lining).
*Where ‘$Unlimited’ is used, it means that there is no capped dollar sum insured.
What's not covered by Basic Travel
- Amendment or cancellation costs (e.g prepaid travel, accommodation)
- Rental vehicle insurance excess
- Amendment or cancellation costs due to COVID-19
- Adventure activities (e.g. skydiving, water skiing)**
- Snow sports (e.g. skiing, snowboarding)**
**Cover is available to buy via options to vary cover. Additional premium applies.
Medical cover will not exceed 12 months from onset. Terms, conditions, limits, sub-limits and exclusions apply. Please check the Combined Financial Services Guide and Product Disclosure Statement for further details.
Benefits Included in Basic Travel Insurance
Overseas medical and dental expenses
With Budget Direct Travel Insurance, you’re connected to the help you need. Day or night, you can reach our team of support staff and travel experts. We’re here to assist you with a range of things, including:
Finding a doctor or hospital if you get sick or injured during your trip.
Helping you to pay your medical bills (if your claim is approved).
Dealing with lost passports, travel tickets, or credit cards.
Making changes to your travel plans if something unexpected happens - such as a natural disaster.
You may also get up to $500 for emergency dental care.
Luggage and personal effects
With a Budget Direct Travel Insurance policy, we can cover the cost of repairing, replacing or reimbursing you for some of your belongings. If items such as clothing, cameras, mobile phones and souvenirs are lost, stolen, or damaged, we may pay to repair or replace them, up to the policy limits. Depreciation may apply.
Existing medical conditions
Travelling and wondering how an existing medical condition may impact you? Here’s what you need to know.
We automatically cover a range of existing medical conditions, including asthma, coeliac disease complications, epilepsy, allergies, and more (subject to the criteria).
When you request a travel insurance quote, be sure to disclose any relevant medical information. While we try our best to cover most health conditions, there are some inclusions depending on your personal situation. For example, you cannot be covered for medical conditions that are undiagnosed or awaiting a specialist’s opinion, or if you have booked a trip against a doctor’s medical advice.
Check the Combined FSG & PDS for more information about existing medical conditions and what the policy covers.
Personal liability
When it comes to our travel insurance policies, personal liability provides cover if you accidentally damage someone else's property or injure someone else during your trip and as a result of your negligent act, you become unintentionally legally liable to pay compensation. For example, there is no cover for personal liability claims arising from using a mechanically propelled vehicle such as a car or motorcycle.
For full details regarding Personal Liability cover, please read the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS).
COVID-19 benefits
If you get COVID-19 while travelling overseas, we’ll cover $Unlimited medical expenses. $Unlimited means there’s no dollar limit on what we will pay for your treatment, though this cover lasts for up to 12 months from when you first got sick.
You can claim up to $5,000 for additional expenses, if a medical practitioner certifies that you are unfit to travel due to your COVID-19 diagnosis. If you require hospitalisation from COVID-19, those bills are also fully covered, with no dollar cap for up to 12 months from the start of your illness.
Our Basic plan does not cover costs if you have to change or cancel your trip because of COVID-19. Also, for any COVID-19 claims, there may be sub-limits and you may have to pay a special excess.
Add to Your Basic Travel Insurance Cover
For an additional premium, you can add one or more of the following covers to your Basic Travel Insurance policy:
Snow Sports Cover
There are two levels of Snow Sports Cover:
Snow Sports includes On-Piste snow skiing, snowboarding and snowmobiling, and cross-country skiing only.
Snow Sports+ includes everything covered in Snow Sports, plus Off-Piste snow skiing and snowboarding (conditions apply) as well as heli-skiing/boarding.
Check the full list of snow sports included in Snow Sports and Snow Sports+ cover.
Adventure Activities
Whether you’re surfing waves, taking an adrenaline-fuelled leap during bungee jumping, or rushing through trees on a zip line, you can revel in the fact you can enjoy your favourite activities and know you’re covered.
Not all adventure activities are automatically covered. Please read the PDS to learn more about which activities you'll be covered for.
Check the full list of Adventure sports included in Adventure Activities Cover.
Cruise cover
Sail the oceans with our Travel Insurance! It covers you for a cruise on an ocean or sea, outside of Australian Coastal Waters. This is required when cruising, and is available on our international Comprehensive, Essential and Basic plans.
With cruises, we’ll cover $Unlimited medical expenses (meaning: no cap for what you are covered for) for up to 12 months from when your illness, condition or injury starts. This also includes up to $2,000 of cover for dental. These medical expenses are covered as long as you get your treatment on the board of a cruise ship outside of Australia. You also need to make sure you are treated by a qualified medical practitioner.
Additionally, you’ll also be covered for ship to shore transport, should you need to be taken to shore for emergency reasons. This also includes sea sickness, missed ports, excursions to shore, and cabin confinement up to the specified policy limits.
Increase Luggage Item Limit
You can increase your luggage item limit on your travel insurance policy if you're carrying a valuable item that you want to insure for more (maximum limits apply). Make sure you also have receipts or valuations of that item on hand.
Motorcycle/Moped Riding Cover
We offer two levels of cover for riding motorcycles or mopeds during your trip.
- Motorcycle and Moped Riding: This covers you if you're riding a bike with a smaller engine - that is, 250cc or less.
- Motorcycle and Moped Riding+: This is for bigger bikes, covering any engine size, no matter how powerful.
How do I add these cover options to my policy?
You can add one or more of these cover options when you get a quote and buy a policy.
If you've already bought a policy and wish to add any of these covers, call us on 1300 792 001 (within Australia) or +61 2 8907 5079 (from overseas) to discuss the options available to you.
Need More Cover?
Our most extensive international Travel Insurance policy can provide cover for our full list of benefits and entitles you to our maximum benefit limits.
- Luggage and personal effects – Up to $10,000 (sub-limits apply)
- $Unlimited* overseas medical expenses benefit, including COVID-19 related medical expenses. Cover will not exceed 12 months from onset of the illness, condition or injury.
- Overseas dental expenses – Up to $2,000
- Travel amendment or cancellation costs – Up to $10,000 (or the amount you choose) per policy
- Rental vehicle excess – Up to $10,000
Our essential international travel policy provides cover for fundamental benefits and entitles you to generous benefit limits.
- Luggage and personal effects – Up to $5,000 (sub-limits apply)
- $Unlimited* overseas medical expenses benefit, including COVID-19 related medical expenses. Cover will not exceed 12 months from onset of the illness, condition or injury.
- Overseas dental expenses – Up to $1,000
- Travel amendment or cancellation costs – Up to $5,000 (or the amount you choose) per policy
- Rental vehicle excess – Up to $4,000
*Where ‘$Unlimited’ is used here, it means that there is no capped dollar sum insured. Cover will not exceed 12 months from onset of illness, injury or condition.
Medical cover will not exceed 12 months from onset. Terms, conditions, limits, sub-limits and exclusions apply. Please check the Combined FSG/PDS for further details.
Travel Insurance FAQs
Can I buy travel insurance after booking my holiday?
You have the flexibility to secure your Budget Direct travel insurance policy even after you’ve made your travel bookings. However, it’s essential that your policy is purchased and active before you actually depart for your trip.
If you purchase this policy while you are already travelling, a 3 day no-cover period applies. This means your cover starts 72 hours after the issue date shown on your Certificate of Insurance. You will not be covered for any incidents that occur during this waiting period.
You can be covered by getting your travel insurance as soon as you’ve booked and paid for any part of your trip. You can be covered for your prepaid travel if you have to amend or cancel your holiday due to an event covered by the policy (e.g. unforeseen illness).
Does Basic Travel insurance cover medical and hospital expenses overseas?
All of Budget Direct’s international travel insurance plans – Comprehensive, Essential, Basic – include an $unlimited cover amount (for up to 12 months from onset of the illness, condition or injury). This helps cover the cost of overseas medical expenses including:
emergency medical treatment
ambulance transportation
surgery and hospital costs
emergency repatriation/evacuation.
$Unlimited means no dollar capped sum insured. There is no cover for any medical, dental or hospital expenses in Australia.
If you have an existing medical condition, you can still get cover for travel insurance.
Budget Direct travel insurance covers a range of existing medical conditions automatically (subject to the criteria).
For others, you can complete a health assessment at the same time you get your quote. If approved, an additional premium may apply.
Check the PDS for more information about existing medical conditions and what the policy covers.
