COTA Travel Insurance

Our verdict: With comprehensive cover for COVID-19 and no age limit, COTA Travel Insurance is a good option all-round, but particularly so for older travellers.

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Nicola Middlemiss

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COTA Travel Insurance

Pros

  • COTA Travel Insurance has comprehensive COVID-19 benefits and may cover cancellation costs, quarantine costs, transport costs, medical fees, childcare costs, and pet boarding fees.
  • With no age limit and the option to take part in medical screening for some existing conditions, COTA Travel Insurance is a good option for older travellers.

Cons

  • Although COTA Travel Insurance covers cruises as standard, the PDS doesn't include information about cruise-specific risks so it's not clear exactly what's covered.
COTA Travel Insurance is not currently available via Finder. You can head to the COTA Travel Insurance website or compare alternative options available below.

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Summary of COTA Comprehensive policy

Overseas Medical and Hospital ExpensesUnlimited
Cancellation and Amendment FeesCover chosen
Luggage and Personal Effects$12,000
Maximum Age LimitNo age limit (110 on engine)

Table updated September 2023

How does COTA Travel Insurance cover COVID-19?

COTA Travel Insurance offers strong COVID-19 protection. Travellers will be covered in a variety of situations including:

  • Overseas medical costs related to COVID-19
  • Cancellation or amendment costs if:
      • -you or a travelling partner is diagnosed with COVID-19
      • -a close relative or business partner is hospitalised or dies due to COVID-19
      • -you're permanently employed as a healthcare worker, residential care worker or law enforcement officer, and your pre-approved leave is cancelled due to COVID-19.
  • Travel and accommodation costs if a tour is cancelled due to your tour guide contracting COVID-19 or if your accommodation can't operate due to staff contracting COVID-19.
  • Travel, meals and accommodation if you're not permitted to board your scheduled public transport due to being suspected of having COVID-19.
  • Travel, meal and accommodation costs if you're required to enter compulsory quarantine due to COVID-19.
  • Childcare costs if COVID-19 renders you unable to care for your dependent children while on holiday.
  • Pet care costs if you can't travel back to Australia at your scheduled time due to COVID-19.

There are some scenarios that are not covered by COTA Travel Insurance including if you buy a policy knowing you already have COVID-19 or if you are not vaccinated against COVID-19.

What policies does COTA Travel Insurance offer?

COTA gives you the choice of 5 plans: Comprehensive International, Essentials, Annual Multi Trip, Australian Travel, and Cancellation and Additional Expenses.

Travel plane luggage passport

Comprehensive

Passport

Essentials

Hiking

Annual Multi-Trip

Australian Map Icon

Domestic

The insurer of this product is Pacific International Insurance Pty Ltd. It comes with a cooling-off period of 21 days and choice of $250 standard excess for international plans.

Here's a breakdown of COTA Travel Insurance features

Standard features
Optional add-ons
Exclusions

Check icon

Standard features

These are some of the main insured events that COTA Travel Insurance will cover.

Some of these inclusions are only available on the Comprehensive plan.

  • Overseas medical expenses
  • Travel delay
  • Emergency travel and accommodation
  • Lost, stolen or damaged belongings
  • Stolen cash or credit cards
  • Loss of income
  • Personal liability
  • Total permanent disability
  • Accidental death

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Optional add-ons

As well as the benefits above, COTA also lets you add Snow Sports Cover to your policy. It comes with a range of benefits including:

  • Ski lift passes
  • Ski run closure
  • Hire costs for replacement snow equipment

cross icon

Exclusions

Unfortunately, travel insurance doesn't cover everything. Generally, COTA will not pay your claim if it relates to:

    • Unlawful, wreckless or unreasonably unsafe behaviour by you
    • Behaviour while you were drunk or under the influence of drugs
    • Expenses related to a pre-existing medical condition
    • An act of war, invasion or revolution
    • Insolvency of a travel agent, tour operator or accommodation provider
    • Mandatory quarantines or isolations
    • An act of war, invasion or revolution
    • You being unfit to travel or travelling against medical advic
    • Childbirth or pregnancy complications after the 24th week of gestation or if you have had previous pregnancy complications
    • A multiple pregnancy or one where the conception was medically assisted
    • An elective medical or dental treatment, cosmetic procedure or body modification (including tattoos or piercing)
    • Self-inflicted injury or illness, suicide or attempted suicide

Make sure you review COTA's PDS for a detailed breakdown of what won't be covered, found under its list of general exclusions.

How to make a COTA Travel Insurance claim

You can download a claim form from COTA's website and follow the instructions.

If you need help, you can phone 1300 625 229 within Australia or +61 2 8263 0487 outside Australia. Alternatively you can email claims@nibtravel.com.

Here's the bottom line about COTA Travel Insurance

COTA offers strong travel insurance, particularly in relation to COVID-19 related expenses. It also extends cover for pregnancy up to 26 weeks, longer than some other providers, and will consider offering cover for existing medical conditions, if you complete an online health assessment.

With no age limit, it's a good option for a wide range of travellers. However, with limited information about how exactly cruising is covered, anyone setting sail might want to clarify the PDS with a CODA representative or consider a specific cruise travel insurance.

If you're still not sure about COTA, you can compare other travel insurance companies here.

Frequently asked questions

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Nicola Middlemiss is a journalist with nearly a decade of experience in personal finance and insurance. She has contributed to Domain, Yahoo Finance, Money Magazine and Insurance Business Australia, offering in-depth insights into commercial insurance in the Australian market. Nicola holds a Bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Leeds and a Tier 1 General Insurance (General Advice) certification, which complies with ASIC standards. See full bio

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14 Responses

    Eva's avatar
    EvaAugust 1, 2016

    Hi there,
    I’m over 70, travel a lot overseas and am trying to find out if you have a yearly multi trip insurance. I have never had a claim, but finding it difficult to get yearly insurance at this age. For the next 12months I expect Asia and maybe Europe.
    Many thanks
    Eva

      Richard Laycock's headshotFinder
      RichardAugust 2, 2016Finder

      Hi Eva,

      Thanks for your question. I’m afraid Cota is not currently one of the travel insurance brands in our panel.

      However, many of the travel insurance brands in our panel do provide annual policies for people over 70 years of age. If you would like to compare these policies, you can do so on our annual travel insurance page. The comparison table does not only show the age cut-off but the maximum single trip length as well.

      I hope this was helpful,
      Richard

    roz's avatar
    rozAugust 22, 2014

    I am 67 and my husband is 76. Do you offer a multi trip 12 months travel insurance policy?

      Richard Laycock's headshotFinder
      RichardAugust 25, 2014Finder

      Hi Roz,

      Thanks for your question. According to the COTA Annual Frequent Traveller Plan PDS its “… plan is for frequent domestic and/or international travellers. It
      covers multiple trips of up to 50 days each during a 12-month period.”

      If you are interested in getting in contact with COTA about taking out a plan, COTA’s number is 1300 1300 50.

      I hope this was helpful,

      Richard

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