ANZ Credit Card Travel Insurance

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Nate001

607 posts

Ultimate Geek

#305721 30-May-2023 20:27

Has anyone had experience with credit card travel insurance recently? Specifically ANZ Visa Platinum? I've had the card for a year but never used the insurance.

Looking at the wording and I'm nervous about eligibility. They state "You must purchase at least 50% of Your pre-paid travel expenses on Your ANZ Premium Card." Pre-paid expenses include Air tickets, other transport tickets, accommodation etc etc.

My question is, what is a pre-paid accomodation expense? We've booked most of our nights on booking.com which does not require any payment before hand. We've paid for all our flights in full on the card. I plan to pay for the accomodation using the card, but payment is processed 1-2 days before we arrive at each place.

If we need to make a claim, how technical will they get with proof of spending/eligibility? Am I better to buy proper travel insurance policy instead?

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2692 posts

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#3082592 30-May-2023 22:06

It's 50% of what you've paid at the time you leave, that needs to be in your credit card. What you spend after departure is irrelevant.

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surfisup1000

5288 posts

Uber Geek

#3082598 30-May-2023 22:51

We've used it several times.

CC travel insurance can be inadequate for rental car excesses, check the amount your CC company will payout vs the rental car company excess.

My daughter had an accident requiring surgery while we were in the USA and it was difficult to validate our credit card cover. I spent about 6 hours on the phone in the middle of the night, and it was a bit of a nightmare trawling through credit card and bank statement's with our bank.

In the end it worked out OK, CC insurance paid for the surgery. But it was not worth the stress and hassle.

So now I like the idea of travel insurance where there is no questioning as to whether you bought the insurance! The banks could improve things by issuing a pre-travel proof of cover certificate.

Wheelbarrow01

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Chorus

#3082601 30-May-2023 23:09

I also have an ANZ Platinum card, but personally I have never relied on their travel insurance cover. The one major item I always need is rental car excess cover, and theirs is pitiful because it requires you to take out the maximum voluntary excess reduction offered by the rental car company - which makes the ANZ cover totally worthless and redundant because most rental agencies can reduce your excess to zero if you pay enough.

I use 1Cover because they are relatively cheap and offer pretty good cover for everything, including $5000 rental car excess coverage as standard (with higher cover on application).

It's worth checking them out - www.1cover.co.nz

[Edit - added extra detail on excess reduction]

surfisup1000

5288 posts

Uber Geek

#3082613 31-May-2023 07:43

Wheelbarrow01:

I also have an ANZ Platinum card, but personally I have never relied on their travel insurance cover. The one major item I always need is rental car excess cover, and theirs is pitiful because it requires you to take out the maximum voluntary excess reduction offered by the rental car company - which makes the ANZ cover totally worthless and redundant because most rental agencies can reduce your excess to zero if you pay enough.

I use 1Cover because they are relatively cheap and offer pretty good cover for everything, including $5000 rental car excess coverage as standard (with higher cover on application).

It's worth checking them out - www.1cover.co.nz

[Edit - added extra detail on excess reduction]

I complained to our bank about the ridiculously low rental car excess limits ... it hasn't moved in 15 years at least. The CC insurance is worthless if you are renting a car. Otherwise, it is OK.

For my recent trip to Aus, I paid $80 to southern cross for 4 of us to be covered for 8 days....that included $10,000 rental car excess. I was double insured . Interesting in making a claim because both policies say they other policy must pay first.

I keep my platinum card is for the points. Even points are of diminishing value because so many more retailers and service providers add on a 2-2.5% CC fee (ie, the cost of the CC points). The government's crowing about making banks reduce CC payment fees was all hot air.

Rant over :)

timmmay

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#3082615 31-May-2023 07:48

I'm pretty sure I claimed on ASB Platinum credit card travel insurance once or twice. I'd still get separate travel insurance for somewhere like the USA where things are so expensive, but for Australia and Pacific Islands I'd be ok with the credit card insurance.

tieke

617 posts

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#3082633 31-May-2023 08:36

I don't normally rent cars, so the other comments are obviously salient there, but I can say that when Covid initially hit and put paid to a long-planned trip, although I managed to get refunds from a lot of my booked accommodation and flights there were several which wouldn't do so and I used my ANZ Visa Platinum travel insurance for the remaining couple of thousand dollars, so I can say it's worked for me the one time I've needed it. (That I booked the flights etc before Covid had even begun to be reported was probably very helpful).

Before a short Japan trip this year I went to ANZ's site, filled out some info and then printed out the "you've got coverage" page just for peace of mind. I too used booking.com for a couple of places and paid for the flights with my card.

surfisup1000

5288 posts

Uber Geek

#3082634 31-May-2023 08:41

tieke:

I don't normally rent cars, so the other comments are obviously salient there, but I can say that when Covid initially hit and put paid to a long-planned trip, although I managed to get refunds from a lot of my booked accommodation and flights there were several which wouldn't do so and I used my ANZ Visa Platinum travel insurance for the remaining couple of thousand dollars, so I can say it's worked for me the one time I've needed it. (That I booked the flights etc before Covid had even begun to be reported was probably very helpful).

Before a short Japan trip this year I went to ANZ's site, filled out some info and then printed out the "you've got coverage" page just for peace of mind. I too used booking.com for a couple of places and paid for the flights with my card.

It's nice having pre-travel coverage but I wonder if this bank system is just a question flowchart that asks if you paid for flights by CC etc, and if you did, it says you have coverage.

If you did have a medical emergency while overseas, the first thing they ask is for your policy number and insurer. If all you have is a print out from the bank saying you have coverage, and no policy number... it doesn't necessarily help the hospital determine coverage. Hopefully the printout you're talking about is enough for an overseas hospital to proceed with treatment.

heavenlywild

4558 posts

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#3082642 31-May-2023 09:07

That sounds confusing - with ASB you basically just need to put 50% of your flights on the card and you are sorted. If the flights charge additional fees for using the credit card, then as long as you have proof of that fee you won't need to spend a cent on the card to qualify,

FineWine

2680 posts

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#3082705 31-May-2023 11:53

surfisup1000:

So now I like the idea of travel insurance where there is no questioning as to whether you bought the insurance! The banks could improve things by issuing a pre-travel proof of cover certificate.

We are going on a 9 day island hopper cruise with P&O in August. We have ANZ Premium card travel insurance. We requested a Certificate of Insurance from ANZ as requested by P&O and had no trouble obtaining it. This is for two people.

ANZ Travel Insurance 📞 0800 499 666

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shk292

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#3082738 31-May-2023 12:42

I'm interested to know how some of the opinions regarding ANZ insurance have been reached. From what i can see on their policy wording there is no requirement to take out additional excess reducing options. Details are in section 5.1 of policy linked from here https://checkyourcover.co.nz/anz/page/schedule

Also, the amount payable under this section is up to $6k, which seems consistent with excess accounts for hire cars

tanivula

965 posts

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#3082901 31-May-2023 15:48

shk292: I'm interested to know how some of the opinions regarding ANZ insurance have been reached. From what i can see on their policy wording there is no requirement to take out additional excess reducing options. Details are in section 5.1 of policy linked from here https://checkyourcover.co.nz/anz/page/schedule

Also, the amount payable under this section is up to $6k, which seems consistent with excess accounts for hire cars

Interesting. I did look at the policy wording a few years ago and do recall having seeing a statement about needing to purchase cover from the rental company if it was offered or something similar. Scoured through the new policy (March 2023) and can't see it anwhere!

Senecio

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#3082905 31-May-2023 16:04

I've only ever viewed CC insurance as a back-up. I've always taken out specific travel insurance for big holidays that require a large outlay up front. It not that expensive and gives piece of mind that you know what is covered.

Wheelbarrow01

1444 posts

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#3083050 31-May-2023 23:06

tanivula:

shk292: I'm interested to know how some of the opinions regarding ANZ insurance have been reached. From what i can see on their policy wording there is no requirement to take out additional excess reducing options. Details are in section 5.1 of policy linked from here https://checkyourcover.co.nz/anz/page/schedule

Also, the amount payable under this section is up to $6k, which seems consistent with excess accounts for hire cars

Interesting. I did look at the policy wording a few years ago and do recall having seeing a statement about needing to purchase cover from the rental company if it was offered or something similar. Scoured through the new policy (March 2023) and can't see it anwhere!

Yes I admit my experience of reading the ANZ policy is from a few years ago too, so it sounds as if they have changed the wording on rental car excesses. I'll check it out.

MartinGZ

276 posts

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Subscriber

#3083515 1-Jun-2023 22:35

Senecio:

I've only ever viewed CC insurance as a back-up. I've always taken out specific travel insurance for big holidays that require a large outlay up front. It not that expensive and gives piece of mind that you know what is covered.

Depending on your specific travel insurance, this can be a minefield. Policies I've looked at have a clause that state costs covered by any other policy must have those claims made first. So if your CC has travel insurance and you buy additional cover elsewhere you can see the issues and paperwork that would be involved. If I was going to buy a dedicated policy I would try and avoid using a credit card to do the bookings. Easier said than done, but something like a Wise card would do the trick (I avoid using my bank debit card for web payments).

I've recently done a comparison of Kiwibank CC insurance and AA/Tower (same underwriter) and the dedicated policies do give greater cover, although medical cover was unlimited for all three. Rental car excess cover mentioned elsewhere was only $2k for the CC, $6k for the others.

We ended up buying dedicated cover for the last trip as the CC insurance would only cover 44 days and we were away longer. You need to spend a bit of time reading the small print.

Nate001:

My question is, what is a pre-paid accomodation expense? We've booked most of our nights on booking.com which does not require any payment before hand.

My reading of policies is that they are woefully behind the times and seem to be in an era where everything was done at the travel agent and you paid upfront. Cancellation e.g. does not incur the costs that were needed 20 years ago, for as you state, much of it is not paid until you are actually travelling and can be cancelled quite late in the day. When you do the sums, the cost of cancelling is relatively small as most things can be refunded, including airfares (depends of course).

openmedia

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#3083557 2-Jun-2023 07:36

We've used the Kiwibank Credit Card policy backed by Tower a number of times. Once for baggage delays and another for rental car excess. They we're pretty good dealing with it both times. We missed out on another claim as we were below the excess.

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