h31per

Hi,

My wife and I fly to Australia later this month. We will purchase a campervan on arrival and spend 12-18-24 months travelling around the country. We will then settle down in our favourite place. We have qualified for permanent residency by the way, and, as such, have a couple of questions regarding travel / motor / health insurance...

I am just about to take out a travel insurance policy for UK residents travelling to Australia, which will cover the first couple of weeks of our trip. Perhaps two weeks is excessive? As new Ozzie residents, maybe the UK policy need only cover us to arrival in Australia... What do you think?

I have also been looking at travel insurance for domestic travel for Australian residents, which will cover the length of our road trip. A quote of $2,500 for 12 months travel is a little more than I expected, so just wondering if this is really required? Our trip could last anything from 12-18-24 months, and will be spent in a to-be-purchased-on-arrival 4wd campervan.

Which leads me onto motor insurance. As we will have no fixed address in Australia, how easy will it be to take out motor insurance for the campervan that we buy?

As permanent residents we qualify for MediCare, which we need to arrange when we arrive. However, is additional health insurance required?

Thanks =)

steen1976

Can't see how domestic travel insurance would be required in Australia. It wouldn't cover you for breakdown of your van. You will need motor insurance and breakdown cover. Assume you will need to get accommodation on arrival and until you purchase the van so just put that address down for the motor + medicare etc. I'm sure others can advise on top up healthcare.

Also be careful with the cover you arrange from the UK - many policies will assume in the small print that you are on a holiday - i.e. have return flights and intend returning. As such they may not pay out if you have a problem.

h31per

Very interesting! Definitely something worth investigating. Thanks

I am surprised (I think) that travel insurance would not be required for our backpacking/holiday at the start of our new life down under. But then again, I have never purchased travel insurance for domestic travel within the UK...

steen1976

The only risk I can think that wouldn't be covered under a standard motor policy and a healthcare cover would be theft/loss of personal belongings. You can normally have this covered under household insurance (in the UK anyway) but obviously you're not going to get that. There may be a specialist motor home cover which includes theft of personal belongs - from the person rather than theft from the vehicle (i.e. if you are mugged).

Otherwise at the price you've been quoted you would be better off buying a return ticket and arranging travel insurance cover from the UK for the year

h31per

Yeah, had thought about personal belongings. WorldNomads will insure them on our travel insurance from UK, but then they'll only be covered for duration of that policy - maybe two weeks at most.

Motorhome cover is a good shout and, again, well worth an investigation... =)

fish.01

I live in Brisbane. When I fly to another place in Australia and hire a car I take domestic travel insurance. Hire care companies by default charge a large excess - say $2500-$4000. They then offer you an additional payment of $x dollars per day to reduce this excess down to $300 or so.

Domestic travel insurance often has coverage for the large excess built into the insurance so you can avoid the extra daily charge the hire care place charges. Paying domestic insurance has often been significantly cheaper than paying the daily charge.

Only downside is if you have to claim you pay the large excess up front and then claim back from your domestic travel insurance.

As you are purchasing the camper this is not relevant to you but others may find it helpful.

The upside, apart from a lot cheaper, is that you are covered for baggage, cancellations etc.

I use www.travelinsurancedirect.com.au

Just did an online quote covering a family for 6 months travel in Australia only (max age 49 - you can adjust for older if required). They quoted $429.

They cover a maximum of 6 months so maybe you could use a couple of different online insurance companies to cover your trip. Or maybe they let you take another policy after first one expires?


Here's what they cover:

Cancellation Costs $20,000
(Financial loss due to unforeseen cancellation of pre-paid travel and accommodation arrangements. Includes conference/course fees not refunded as well as travel agency cancellation fees charged.)
Additional Expenses $20,000
Luggage and Personal Effects $8,000
Rental Vehicle Insurance Excess $4,000
Return of Rental Vehicle $500
Personal Liability $1,000,000
Accidental Death $20,000
Snow Skiing Piste Closure $1,000
Snow Skiing and/or Golfing Benefits $400
Snow Skiing and/or Golfing Equipment Replacement $400

I doubt many Australians would have domestic cover for a road trip but as someone mentioned they would probably leverage their home/car insurance to ensure personal valuables were covered.