Travel Insurance Underwriters

Understanding the nuances of insurance is no mean feat. With so many brands, policies, insurers, and underwriters, how do you choose the right one for you? Our travel insurance experts help explain how looking at who the underwriter is can be beneficial if you’re struggling to find cover. So, what does an underwriter do? The insurance underwriter determines whether an insurer can provide coverage to a specific customer segment. They will rate the risk associated with providing the cover being sought, generally against a set of pre-determined criteria considering their risk appetite. Although many brands offer travel insurance, only a handful of underwriters in Australia issue and underwrite these policies. You will often find that policies that have the same underwriter may all have the same general exclusions.

Top Tip:

If you’re struggling to find coverage for a particular scenario, consider exploring policies from different underwriters rather than comparing several policies from the same one. There is likely to be more variance in coverage in activities and exclusions between different underwriters or niche brands. For example, when assessing an application to cover medical conditions, the risk rating threshold can vary making it difficult to find cover if you’re only looking at policies from the same underwriter. Likewise, in terms of adventure activities, an underwriter may have a specified limit for altitudes heights that they will cover. Looking at some alternatives could open up your options. Some of Australia’s popular travel insurance underwriters to look out for include Allianz Australia Insurance Limited, certain underwriters at Lloyd’s, HDI Global Specialty, Pacific International Insurance Pty Ltd and Zurich Australian Insurance Limited.

Let someone else handle the risk

When you take out a policy, you're paying the insurance company and the underwriters a fee to cover your risk. If something goes wrong, you could end up in a world of pain if your policy isn't backed by a reputable underwriter with an experienced claims team. Fortunately, all brands listed on our site are underwritten by reputable insurers. All brands listed offer 24/7 emergency assistance to help you in your time of need. We do our best not to list riff raff!!

We've Put Together An Impressive List!

But it's important to note that it is not exhaustive. There are plenty of other brands in the market. We don't want to trick you about our service either, so we've marked which travel insurance brands we provide quotes for and those that we don't. Check out which insurer is behind each policy to help you in your hunt for the best cover for your holiday.

General Advice Warning: The contents of this article were accurate at the time of writing. Insurers change their policies and underwriters from time to time, so some information may have changed. You should always read the Product Disclosure Statement of your chosen insurer to understand what is covered and what isn't. The information provided is of a general nature only and does not take into account any personal objectives, financial situation or needs. Before making a decision you should consider the appropriateness of the information having regard to your personal circumstances.