What does domestic travel insurance cover?
Your level of cover will depend on your travel insurance provider and chosen policy. However, usually, domestic travel insurance policies are very similar to international ones, although without medical and accidental injury cover.
Domestic travel insurance typically offers cover for scenarios including:
- Cancellation of journey – cover if you have to cancel/delay your trip due to circumstances beyond your control
- Additional expenses – for accommodation and expenses if your travel is delayed due to illness/injury
- Alternative transport expenses – to help you get back on schedule if you have to attend an event
- Epidemics and pandemics – cover should your plans be disrupted due to illness
- Medical expenses – where not covered by public health/ACC/your own personal healthcare
- Emergency dental expenses – for incidents that first occurred during your trip
- Funeral expenses – cover for costs of transport of body
- Accidental death or permanent disablement
- Personal baggage – cover for lost/damaged baggage and emergency replacement of key items
- Rental vehicle excess – where you caused damage to a rental vehicle
- Personal liability – cover for liability for accidental injury/death to others and/or damage to property
Do note that certain inclusions may come at an additional cost eg. cover for injury caused by snow sports.
How does domestic travel insurance differ from the insurance offered by airlines?
This depends on what insurance you're being offered.
Some airlines offer their own travel insurance. However, while such policies are typically underwritten by/offered in partnership with a travel insurance provider, they may not be the best value policy on the market.
So it pays to shop around and compare policies, rather than simply adding the first insurance product you're offered to your basket.
On the other hand, many airlines offer certain protections that, while potentially beneficial, don't act as a replacement for comprehensive travel insurance.
For example, most airlines offer flexi-tickets that allow you to change your flight details at will. But while that's great, it doesn't provide any protection for other things that can go wrong, such as lost/damaged luggage.
If you chose a comprehensive travel insurance policy instead, you might not need such a ticket upgrade, as your policy will likely already cover you for missed/delayed/cancelled flights.
As always, it's important to read the fine print to understand the full level of cover your purchasing.
Should I get domestic travel insurance?
Travel insurance is always an important consideration. Although depending on the nature of your travel, you can vary your level of cover.
For example, if you're just taking a domestic weekend trip to visit friends, and are carrying nothing but a change of clothes or two, you may feel it's fine to skip the insurance. Although, in this instance, some limited insurance to cover missed flights (whether through a flexi-ticket or a travel insurance product) may be beneficial, rather than opt for comprehensive travel insurance.
On the other hand, if you're flying down to Queenstown for a week of snowboarding, you might be more inclined to get full cover, including for snow sports. For if something does go wrong, it's likely to cost you a lot more money.
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