Essential Travel Insurance

Our Comprehensive, Essential and Domestic Travel Insurance plans are available for you to buy as a Single Trip or Annual Multi-Trip policy. With an Annual Multi-Trip policy, you can choose a maximum trip duration and be covered for an unlimited number of trips within 12 months to your chosen destination/s, up to the chosen maximum trip duration for each trip. 

Learn more about our Annual Multi-Trip Travel Insurance.

We cover $unlimited overseas medical expenses if you are diagnosed with COVID-19 during your trip overseas. “$Unlimited” means no dollar capped sum insured. Cover will not exceed 12 months from onset of the illness. 

Additional expenses up to $2,500 are also covered during your trip if you're diagnosed with COVID-19 and required to self-isolate and incur additional transport and accommodation expenses after being diagnosed with COVID-19. Cover is $Unlimited in the case where you require hospitalisation. “$Unlimited” means no dollar capped sum insured. Cover will not exceed 12 months from onset of the illness. 

Please note that COVID-19 Amendment or Cancellation Costs cover is NOT automatically included but is available for you to buy as a separate option if you wish.

For claims related to COVID-19, sub-limits and a special excess may apply.

This benefit provides cover for costs associated with rescheduling your trip or the cancellation of your non-refundable prepaid travel tickets, hotels, tours or other travel related expenses so that you're not left out of pocket. Cover for rescheduling your trip is limited to the amount it would have cost to cancel your trip.

Please note that COVID-19 Amendment or Cancellation Costs cover is NOT automatically included but is available for you to buy as a separate option if you wish.

If you need medical treatment, you'll have $unlimited cover (for up to 12 months from onset of the illness, condition or injury) for the cost of emergency overseas hospital and medical treatment. “$Unlimited” means no dollar capped sum insured.

You’ll also have cover for emergency dental treatment up to $1,000. This means you can focus on staying healthy while you're away from home.

You can still get cover for travel insurance, if you have an existing medical condition. 

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 Combined FSG & PDS for more information about existing medical conditions and what the policy covers.

If you rent a car while you're travelling and it is damaged or stolen, you'll be covered for the lower of the rental vehicle excess or the repair costs for the vehicle, which you become liable to pay (excluded from our Basic plan).

We can cover the cost of repairing, replacing or reimbursing you for your belongings if they're lost, stolen or damaged (limits and sub-limits apply). Depreciation only applies to items more than 2 years old.

Personal legal 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 full details regarding Personal Liability cover, please read the Combined FSG/PDS. For example, there is no cover for personal liability claims arising from using a mechanically propelled vehicle such as a car or motorcycle.

We cover a range of adventure activities when you're travelling including surfing, bungee jumping and zip lining. This means you can experience the activities you love, while you're travelling overseas or interstate.

Some adventure activities and snow sports may not be automatically included in the cover. Cover is available to buy for certain adventure activities and snow sports. Please read the Combined FSG/PDS to learn more about which activities you'll be covered for.

Get cover for even more activities with Adventure Activities Cover, Snow Sports Cover and Motorcycle/moped riding Cover.

If you're taking a cruise holiday, our Travel Insurance policies can cover you during your cruise overseas or outside Australian Coastal Waters with Cruise Cover available on our international Comprehensive, Essential and Basic plans. 

With Cruise Cover we cover $unlimited medical expenses (for up to 12 months from onset of the illness, condition or injury), and dental expenses (up to $1,000) when you receive treatment onboard a cruise ship outside Australia by or on the advice of a qualified medical practitioner. “$Unlimited” means no dollar capped sum insured.

You'll also be covered for ship to shore emergency transportation, sea sickness cover, missed ports and shore excursions and cabin confinement up to the specified policy limits.

Compare all benefits, features and benefit limits.

Not all benefits apply to all levels of cover. Terms, conditions, limits, sub-limits and exclusions apply. For full details, please read the Combined FSG/PDS (PDS).

For an additional premium, you can add one or more of the following covers to your Essential Travel Insurance policy:

There are two levels of Snow Sports Cover:

1. Snow Sports includes On-Piste snow skiing, snowboarding and snowmobiling, and cross-country skiing only.

2. Snow Sports+ includes everything covered in Snow Sports, plus Off-Piste snow skiing and snowboarding (conditions apply) as well as heli-skiing/boarding.

See the full list of snow sports included in Snow Sports and Snow Sports+ cover.

There are two levels of Adventure Cover:

1. Adventure cover includes  paragliding/parascending/parasailing (over land), sailing, water skiing and more.

2. Adventure+ includes everything covered in Adventure, plus BMX riding, horse jumping, trekking the Kokoda track and more.

See the full list of activities included in Adventure and Adventure+ cover.

You can purchase the optional COVID-19 Amendment or Cancellation Costs cover to be covered for costs associated with rescheduling your trip or the cancellation of your non-refundable, non-recoverable prepaid travel tickets, hotels, tours or other travel related expenses of up to $5,000 per policy on the Essential plan:

• if you or your travelling companion are diagnosed with COVID-19 before your trip and can't travel. 

If you include the optional COVID-19 Amendment or Cancellation Costs cover on your policy and it is purchased within 21 days of your scheduled trip departure date, we will only cover the travel costs you paid for:

• in the 48 hours prior to buying the policy; and
• after buying this policy.

(What that means is, for example, if you booked and paid for your trip in full 6 months ago and then bought this policy a week before your departure date, there will be no cover available if you cannot travel because you or your travelling companion are diagnosed in Australia with COVID-19.)

You’ll also receive Amendment or Cancellation Costs cover during your trip in case you or your travelling companion are diagnosed with COVID-19 and your trip is cancelled.

A COVID-19 special excess applies to the scenarios above only.

The following scenarios are also included:

• If Your non-travelling Relative or business partner residing in Australia or New Zealand becomes sick due to COVID-19 and the condition is life threatening.
• If you are a pharmacist, nurse, doctor, paramedic or other health care professional and your leave is revoked by your employer due to COVID-19 related reasons and that means you can’t go on your trip.

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.

With two levels of cover available, Motorcycle/Moped Riding covers riding a motorcycle or moped with an engine capacity of 250cc or less while Motorcycle/Moped Riding+ insures unlimited engine capacity. Conditions apply.

Available on the International Comprehensive and Essential plans and the Domestic plan.

You can increase the amount of cancellation cover to suit your travel needs such as particularly expensive flights and/or travel arrangements. Select an amount from the options available when you get a quote.

Typically, people look to choose an amount that will, in total, cover all prepaid travel tickets, hotels, tours or other travel related expenses, that are non-refundable in any other way, for all travellers on the policy.

For Amendment or cancellation costs due to COVID-19, cover is available to buy via options to vary cover. Additional premium applies.

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.