Southern Cross travel insurance working
If you’re a Kiwi with a passion for adventure and exploring new destinations
overseas, ensuring you’ve sorted your insurance goes hand in hand with
checking your passport expiry and whether you need any visas. No matter
where you’re headed, even if it’s just across the ditch to Australia, taking
out insurance is essential.
In 2019, one insurer published its statistics showing over 1,691 claims were
made with them by Kiwis in Australia, totalling over 1.7 million dollars in
claims – mostly for medical reasons.
In this guide, we’ll take a look at options for travel insurance with
provider Southern Cross. Covering what's included, the benefits of choosing
Southern Cross, types of coverage and more, we’ve gathered all the details
so you can make an informed choice before heading overseas.
Who is Southern Cross?
Backed by 40 years of industry experience, travel insurance with Southern
Cross is a dedicated insurance product available to New Zealand travellers.
100% New Zealand-owned, Southern Cross Travel Insurance is part of the
larger Southern Cross group that also provides private health insurance
within New Zealand.
Southern Cross travel insurance packages
Depending on your travel's purpose or duration, Southern Cross offers three
core insurance package options.
1. International Comprehensive Single Trip
Ideal for a single planned trip, this policy type offers comprehensive
coverage for a journey lasting up to 12 months. ³
2. Annual Multi-trip
This comprehensive policy allows you to go overseas and return to New
Zealand multiple times within 12 months without needing to purchase a new
policy for each departure.
3. Working Holiday
Intended for individuals who will be heading overseas to work temporarily or
on a working holiday, this policy offers some differences in cover compared
to a standard travel policy.
Cover can be purchased for any duration not exceeding 12 months duration and
must not include work in a professional sporting capacity or hazardous role.
Who Administers travel insurance on behalf of Southern Cross?
Southern Cross is relatively unique in that it underwrites all its policies
themselves. This means there are no third parties involved.
When it comes to making claims and having them resolved, this can mean a
less complicated process as you’re dealing directly with the assessing
advisors.
What are the main benefits of travel insurance with Southern Cross?
Wondering whether Southern Cross is a good fit for you? Here are some key
benefits offered when taking out a comprehensive policy with them.
- As mentioned above, they underwrite their own policies, cutting out the middleman for a more streamlined process
- Unlimited medical coverage with 24-hour emergency assistance from qualified medical advisors
- Cover for baggage and personal items
- Option to increase cover for cancellations and changes
- Rental vehicle excess cover
- The ability to tailor coverage to include moped/motorbike cover, skiing and snowboarding cover and cruise cover
- Option to add cover for pre-existing medical conditions⁷
- Types of coverage offered by Southern Cross travel insurance
- The following is a table comparing the key coverage and claim limits for Southern Cross’ overseas travel insurance policies.
Prices in NZD | International Comprehensive Single Trip⁶ | Annual Multi–Trip⁸ | Working Overseas Travel Insurance⁹ |
---|---|---|---|
Maximum policy duration | 12 months | 12 months | 12 months |
Medical and evacuation | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Emergency dental | $2000 | $2000 | $2000 |
Cancellation or changes pre-departure | $2500 | $2500 | $2500 |
Travel disruption | $50,000 | $50,000 | $50,000 |
Baggage and personal items | $25,000 | $25,000 | $25,000 |
Cash and travel documents | $1000 | $1000 | $1000 |
Personal liability | $1,000,000 | $1,000,000 | $1,000,000 |
Rental vehicle excess | $10,0000 | $10,0000 | $10,0000 |
As seen on 20 October 2023
While all three policies offer the same core coverage and benefits, these
may alter depending on your preferences. For instance, you can opt for
unlimited coverage for cancellations and changes for an additional premium.
Southern Cross travel insurance main fees
When it comes to determining the fees for your policy, there is no
one–size–fits–all solution. Your final policy costs will be tailored to reflect your destinations,
duration of travel and any added coverage for cancellations, activities or
pre–existing health conditions. You can obtain a quote for your trip specifics directly with Southern Cross
via their website.
What’s not covered under this travel insurance
Like most insurers, some things cannot be covered, even with a comprehensive
policy in place. These include claims arising from:
- Incidents where the policyholder is under the influence of drugs or alcohol
- Breaking the law in a destination
- Anything related to hitchhiking
- The theft or loss of unattended/unsecured belongings
- Undeclared, pre-existing medical conditions
- Incidents involving activity for which cover was not selected such as skiing or moped use
Eligibility for Southern Cross travel insurance
To be eligible for any of the travel insurance options offered by Southern
Cross, you must meet the following criteria.
- Be aged between 0 and 118 years of age
- Live in New Zealand permanently
- Be eligible for funded treatment under New Zealand’s public health and disability services
- Be in New Zealand at the time the policy is purchased
- You will travel to a destination outside of New Zealand and return to New Zealand at completion of travel
- You have a New Zealand bank account and access to an email address
- You have not been denied cover previously, had a claim declined or had a policy cancelled or voided due to fraud
How to get travel insurance with Southern Cross
The simplest way to obtain travel insurance with Southern Cross is via their
website. Their online quotation tool allows you to quickly and easily input your trip
details following which an instant quote is generated.
If eligible, you then have the option to purchase this policy on the spot or
contact their customer care team to discuss further. Remember, if you have pre-existing medical conditions, you’ll need to
declare these and receive approval before finalising your policy purchase.
Making a claim with Southern Cross travel insurance
Claims can be submitted online with Southern Cross via their claims portal.
Be sure to have at hand:
- Your policy number
- Any receipts
- Medical or police reports/documents related to your claim
- Your bank account number for any approved payments
At the time of writing, Southern Cross advises a processing timeline of
between 5 to 30 days from the initial claim submission date. Complex claims
or those with missing documentation may take longer. ¹³
During an emergency
Follow the above claims process unless it’s during an emergency, in which
you should call the emergency line directly for support. Documentation for these claims should still be retained as evidence and may
be requested by the insurer at a later date.
A word on Southern Cross travel insurance and COVID-19
Southern Cross travel insurance offers limited coverage for COVID-19 within
their policies. While this includes unlimited medical cover as needed if diagnosed while
travelling there are limits on costs for changing your journey. This affects
both changes or cancellations as a result of diagnosis pre-departure or
during travel.
Covid-19 cover is not provided:
- If you travel against the advice provided on the SafeTravel website
- If you ignore a destination’s government restrictions or
- If you fail to obtain the necessary documentation required by an airline or destination such as a negative test result or vaccination history
Additional things to keep in mind
While the process for securing insurance and obtaining adequate coverage
with Southern Cross is quite straightforward, remember:
- You are only covered for pre-existing medical conditions if you declare these and are approved for them by the insurer
- If you didn't select cover for a moped, skiing or other listed activity, you participate in these at your own risk
- Where moped or motorcycle cover is in place, be sure to also check the local laws in place regarding this or you may breach your cover
- Be clear about your destinations, departure and return dates as required and if these change, notify your insurer immediately so any adjustments can be made and cover retained
Contacting Southern Cross
Whether you’d like to chat with Southern Cross about their cover or need to
contact them in an emergency while travelling, they can be reached as
follows.
In New Zealand:
- Call 0800 800 571 anytime Monday to Friday between 8.30 am and 7.00 pm
From overseas:
- For non–urgent enquiries call +64 9 979 6593
- For 24/7 emergency assistance call +64 9 359 1600
Travel with Wise
With a Wise Account you can hold money in over 40 currencies and spend it in
over 150 countries. Whenever you exchange currencies it’s done using the
mid-market rate with a conversion fee shown upfront.
To make everyday spending easier you can order a Wise Debit card for your
Wise Account and generate virtual cards as needed. If you have the local
currency in your Wise Account the Wise card will use it for local payments.
If you don’t, it uses smart technology to auto-convert your money at the
mid-market rate and charges you a conversion fee.