Tripcover

Take Note of possible Out of Pocket costs if you do have to claim – Summary of events and observations... Purchased Allianz's Plan A “Nil Policy excess” cover through Tripcover. (Had done so several times before, the actual process is very easy and straightforward each time) Unfortunately, ended up colliding with a Kangaroo in rural Victoria that bounded out onto the roadway from behind some bushes directly… Read more ·  1

into the path of the hire car.

Rental company provided a (IMO what I deem as a rather inflated) repair quote for a cracked bumper and two small dents along the side caused by the Roo. This was challenged by myself, but it felt like to me Thrifty Vic had possibly all the scripted push-backs at the ready lined up to fire back at me one by one. Final Repair charge came to 2435 AUD, Excluding all the arbitrary charges that the Rental Car firm lumped on top. (And in my mind which Thrifty Vic did not adequately detail or disclose in any of their legal documentation)

I submitted the claim to Allianz and got paid out less Thrifty Vic's “Admin Fee”, “Transport (to Thrifty Vic’s nominated panel beater) fee”, and Thrifty's “Claim fee” leaving me out of pocket to the tune of 290 AUD (around twice the cost of the actual car hire by itself)

This further excludes the impact of any Foreign Margin Fees and charges that one's home bank may charge when Thrifty Vic takes out 4185 AUD (not just a "hold", but Thrifty Vic actually took it out from my CC as a full charge). While this is not in Tripcover / Allianz realm to really to deal with, International hirers using foreign Credit Cards need to be mindful of this and the consequential charges they may incur with their home bank when car hire companies do this.

While in the past, the Allianz product alone may have been sufficient to act as a stand in replacement to the Excess reduction offered by most of the major car rental firms, the situation looks to have changed. On this occasion, I'm thinking if I had taken up some sort of excess reduction directly with Thrifty in conjunction with the Tripcover policy, I would probably be out of pocket by a fair amount less than 290 AUD (not to mention NZ bank foreign currency charges on top of that).

I would not be surprised to learn that there may be some sort of Cat and Mouse game played by Hire car firms to discourage people taken out excess reduction cover with a 3rd party by landing the hirer, in case of a collision, with as much arbitrary charges as possible (and then seeing if the hirer’s own nominated excess reduction policy will cover it).

All that said, The Frontline Tele reps at Allianz Global Assist were super friendly to deal with, but they are obviously constrained by company policy as to what they can and can't do for you.

I fully intent to continue using Tripcover going forward as in my mind the premiums are very reasonable, though will probably look to now also combine this with some sort of excess reduction from the car hire firm in conjunction and only call upon the Tripcover policy for any shortfall and should applicable damage fall within the Car hire firm's exclusions.

Update / To Add: After writing my original review, Tripcover very kindly offered a refund of the original premium to help defray some of the out of pocket costs.

Easy to take out, not so easy to claim – First and foremost, Tripcover offers insurance cover for a fraction of the price charged by rental car companies. It's quick and easy to take out. I backed into a low fence, and put a scratch in the bumper bar of my rental car. When returning the car, the rental car company immediately took out $4000 - because in their contract it says they… Read more ·  3

can. This is in my opinion a disadvantage of Tripcover - you actually have to pay the rental car company and then deal with Tripcover in order to be reimbursed for the money you've paid.

I put in a claim - I started doing this online initially (needed a scanner etc), and then found my documentation used up too much bandwidth for Tripcover to accept, so in the end I had to submit my claim by post.

My documentation wasn't complete, but I didn't realise this for some time because it takes Tripcover 10 days from when they receive your claim before they assess it. After the 10 days, I was asked to submit a Damage Repair Quote from the rental car company, which I did. Then I had to wait another 10 days for Tripcover to re-assess the claim.

I submitted my application initially on the 4th January, and received notification that my claim had been approved on the 5th February. There's another 3-5 business days waiting period for the money to be paid into my account.

My advice is if possible get all your documentation checked off before you submit, as each time Tripcover ask for more documentation, there's another 10 day waiting period. This can be an expensive process if the rental car company take the entire $4000 and if you're paying interest on your credit card. It might also take time for the rental car company to get the quote. I rented at a busy time and I don't think they took the car our of service immediately. After returning the car, it was more than 3 weeks before I was able to get the required documentation from them.

The rental car company ended up charging me $600 for the repair, and refunded me $3400; Tripcover will pay half of the $600 - there was a $300 excess on my policy.

At the time of taking out insurance, I saved maybe $15 or so by accepting a $300 excess instead of $0; in hindsight I now know paying the extra would have been very good value and if I use Tripcover again (and I probably will), I would definitely pay the bit extra.

If you're not used to dealing with insurance companies, you might want to get assistance when you make a claim; it's a lot of work, as was dealing with the rental car company. The insurance offered by the rental car company might be a lot more expensive, but I'm guessing that the process of claiming would be easier if you damage their car than what I experienced with Tripcover - I found communication with them a bit remote and I finally received an SMS telling me my claim had been approved.

In some ways it offers better protection than what the rental car companies offer; however, I seem to recall that Tripcover do not cover hail damage, for instance, so as always read the fine print.

There are minor disadvantages but overall it's a good product and at least in my case a better option than the insurance offered by rental car companies.

Godsend!! – We all know that the insurance excess cover charged by car rental companies is a total rip-off. We always smugly thought we were pretty clever by purchasing travel insurance to cover our rental periods in the past because it incorporated a $3K car rental excess cover (and a death benefit as an added bonus ... not that we'd be around to enjoy… Read more ·  1

it!!) .... but during our most recent rental we noticed that the company had a $4K excess ... meaning our usual "ploy" was going to fall short if we followed the usual strategy.

This had us hunting around for some type of dedicated cover just for these scenarios.

Enter "Tripcover" - an insurance product that we never knew existed until a week or two ago. It fit the bill perfectly, was reasonably priced, and a cinch to arrange on line. Discovered by sheer chance.

Imagine our utter smugness when we had a look at Product Review after purchasing the cover and discovering how very well received it really has been!!

Our rental ended yesterday and we didn't have any problems ... but the cover we bought through Tripcover brought us utmost peace of mind with a clearly articulated , no-fuss policy.

Now we've found it we'll use it regularly.

Excellent customer service – Much cheaper than rental car companies insurance. Customer service was also excellent; I accidentally booked the wrong dates cover and emailed the company just an hour before we were due to collect the hire car, and they changed the cover dates without fuss or any extra charge. We really appreciated this!

Awesome Customer Service – I have used the access insurance and was pretty happy with the customer service. There was some confusion with the claim contact number but Des was awesome to sort it on time with 100% clarity. Will definately use the access cover in future (rather than paying hefty amount to the car rental companies ;)).

Great service!! – I booked and paid for excess removal insurance on a car and was charged twice - so I cancelled the policy. I then had a confirmation of the refund with an explanation that I was charged twice because I initially tried to pay with a card not accepted. Had Des not taken the time to email me ... I would never have known. Thank you Tripcover.

New terms of service are dodgy – I have used TripCover for years, I went to use them again and something made me double check the PDS, there is now a new clause stating that you must take out the minimum excess insurance offered by the rental company for the policy to be valid, additionally the max excess is now $3000, this is very misleading and I hope this review saves someone taking out a policy thinking they are covered when infact they will have no cover at all

Technical issues with their online purchasing but resolved satisfactorily – I had an issue with the payment process whilst trying to get cover from Tripcover. I am pleased to say that this has been resolved and therefore I would be willing to give this company another go next time I need a policy.

Something to watch out for! – We have used tripcover a few times when hiring cars & thankfully never had to claim. Whilst it is still a much cheaper option than the car hire company - we got caught out with the excess amount this time. We went with Europcar which we don't normally do & did not realise the excess was higher until we picked up the vehicle. As we were driving… Read more

off, I got straight on the phone to Tripcover to upgrade the excess cover from $4,000 to $5,500, however they refused. [name removed] advised that we would need to go back & cancel the whole hire contract, start a new contract & then cancel the existing Tripcover policy & take out a whole new one. As we were running late for an engagement, this was not an option for us & [name removed] refused to help. So, if we apply the same logic to house insurance, you would never be able to increase the value of that once the house is built or the mortgage signed?? Not happy with the unhelpful service/attitude at all.

Had to cancel a rental car excess policy with Tripcover after issues with my overall travel insurance from another provider. Des from Tripcover was great - very responsive and immediately processed my request. Very impressed with the level of customer service provided to a cancelation. Show reply

Above and beyond customer service – Booked camper van cover for New Zealand with Tripcover who were very prompt in responding to my enquiries. The cost seemed reasonable but what was really impressive was that I got my dates mixed up and bought cover for a week too short. When I discovered the problem I emailed them asking how I could extend the dates of my cover and they came… Read more

back very quickly and added the extra week at no cost. Excellent customer service and thanks to Des who dealt with my problem.

A gem of a product & service – Awesome product, great value and super easy to set up. We only wish we knew about you guys on all of our previous travels. But I've got you now :-) and we will be using you for plenty of other trips.

Always what I expect – Trip cover is fast and easy to do on the spot and when a flight and trip were cancelled they were just as easy to get a refund for the unused cover.

Fast Response and Great Value-Adder – Des Sherlock assisted us on my request professionally and provided the help we need. Thanks a brunch, like my earlier review 3 years back, Tripcover is our First Choice to go for Excess Coverage

Excellent Claims process – TripCover were excellent in dealing with our claim. I have not had claims on a car before, but you hear real horror stories about people spending months processing claims. Your company has already accepted that the windscreen cracked (through no fault of ours - just one of those things due to age of the vehicle). They have just emailed to confirm… Read more

that the repayment will be in our account within 4 working days. That is so efficient; we only put the claim in three hours or so ago!

Thank you for the peace of mind your cover always brings us Des and all at TripCover

Covers Every Aspect! – We have been using Trip Cover for a number of years for our travels and have been very happy with their competitive rates. The last time we did a trip it got cut short due to a need to return home before our insured time and worried if we would be refunded the cover not used. No sweat we were given a refund! Thank you for your excellent customer service. We'll be back!

Very affordable, Fantastic customer service – Taken out cover insurance for my upcoming campervan trip to the North of WA. The policy is simple and of such great value, I felt the need to double check on the details. From the outset, Des was always there to answer all my questions very promptly, and without fuss. Highly recommended !

Refunds no worries – I put the wrong dates on my Tripcover policy and had to ask for a refund, done over the phone, minimum time, fuss free. Happy with the outcome, overall great service.

Great value and easy to use app – Did have problems booking on my phone app which I have used before?, but made a booking on my PC without problems.Overall a fantastic booking app & very easy to navigate.

Easiest company to deal with – We have had to chop and change dates due to border closures and Des replies promptly, wants to issue a refund if there was a small difference (we have said dont worry about the refund due to all the mucking around has had to do). Show reply

NOTHING WAS TOO MUCH TROUBLE – I paid for cover in January and due to Covid could not go - forgot to cancel and e-mailed Tripcover with new dates and Des responded in no time with the change of dates done and no charge. He would have been within his rights to charge me again due to late cancellation - I have used Tripcover a number of times and service always polite, professional and flexible.

Fantastic customer support without any hassles – We had to cancel our policy, due to lockdown in Victoria, on the day it was due to start. Contacted Tripcover who cancelled the policy and refunded our money very quickly. Now lockdown is over we are travelling to Queensland in the next couple of days and have taken out another policy with Tripcover. We will certainly be insuring with Tripcover on any trips in the future.

Great hassle free service – I needed to extend the hire before my trip started and without any problem Des the manager cancelled and credited my old policy so I could renew for the correct dates. Thanks des!

Great Product and the Best Rates – I have used Tripcover a number of times and have found them very good. Very easy to sign up for online, they are backed by Allianz so is certainly reputable, and they seem to have the lowest rates around. Have not had to claim as yet, thankfully, but have cancelled insurance when our plans changed and the money was returned promptly. Definitely recommend.

Excess cover with no excess worries and 5 star service – After searching for excess cover to bridge the gap between the standard cover provided by the rental company and their own inflated policies, I found Tripcover, their amazing service and simple to use website. I am hoping that I never have to make a claim but knowing that their service is underwritten by a global company in Allianz is very… Read more

reassuring. Des went the extra mile to ensure my cover was in place - even replying on Christmas Day !!! - Champion levels of customer care.

Great Customer Support – I kept getting an error message when buying a rental car excess policy and I had assumed that the payment was not going through. I had intended following up with the company, however before I could do that Des from Tripcover contacted me and helped me sort it out. Des also let me know that payments had gone through and that he had arranged a refund.

Best rates for rental car insurance – I always use Tripcover rental car insurance whenever I book a rental car in New Zealand. Their insurance rates are the best in the market and significantly less than rental companies' rates. Whenever I have contacted them with a query they have been prompt to respond.

Very helpful and fast response – Our flight was cancelled by the airlines due to Covid-19 restrictions, and true to the statement on their website, we were able to cancel our policy and approved for the refund.

Fast response! – During Covid-19, Trip Cover made it so easy to make a change at the last minute with our policy as our trip was cancelled due to a border closure, so we didn't lose any of our holiday money. We've used them for many years (much cheaper excess reduction car insurance than with a hire company). Thanks Trip Cover!