Southern Cross travel insurance. What’s on offer and how does it work?

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.¹

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.

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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. ²

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

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. ⁴

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. ⁵

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.⁶

• 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.¹²

What’s not covered under this travel insurance

Like most insurers, some things cannot be covered, even with a comprehensive policy in place.¹⁰

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.¹¹

• 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.¹²

If eligible, you then have the option to purchase this policy on the spot or contact their customer care team to discuss further.¹⁰

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.¹⁰

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 1600¹⁵

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Sources:

1. Allianz – NZ traveller claims data pg. 1
2. SCTI – About Us
3. SCTI – Policy types
4. SCTI – Working Holiday Cover
5. SCTI – Underwriter Details
6. SCTI – Comprehensive single-trip benefits
7. SCTI – Pre-existing Medical Conditions
8. SCTI – Comprehensive multi-trip benefits
9. SCTI – Working holiday benefits
10. SCTI – What’s not covered/Contact Us
11. SCTI – Eligibility
12. SCTI – Instant quote tool
13. SCTI – Make a claim
14. SCTI – COVID-19 cover
15. SCTI – EmergencyContact

Sources checked on: 20 October 2023