World Nomads Travel Insurance Review

Save 7% on your World Nomads travel insurance just enter the code VOYGNR when you reach the checkout. There isn’t much point in reviewing insurance unless you have had to make a claim and have seen both sides of the service. If I had not had to make a claim all I could say was [...]

Tuesday August 11 2009

5 comments

Save 7% on your World Nomads travel insurance just enter the code VOYGNR when you reach the checkout.

There isn’t much point in reviewing insurance unless you have had to make a claim and have seen both sides of the service. If I had not had to make a claim all I could say was that the purchasing and other online features of World Nomads provide is top notch. Buying and managing my insurance easily online will appeal to any Digital Nomad.

During my stay in Phuket I left my digital camera in my hotel room, after two rather big nights where I didn’t actually stay in my room I discovered that my camera along with a couple of knock off watches had been stolen. I presume by the cleaner. I talked with the hotel manager with the usual Thai “What can we do?” attitude towards it then lodged my claim online. I soon found I should have left that until after the inevitably weird experience of reporting the theft to the police. Because I was leaving Phuket that day and Thailand soon after, the police decided that because my actual report would require investigating the crime scene, combined with the fact that would create actual work for them and time constraints with me leaving it was best to fabricate a story. The police officer took pity on me and wrote up a report claiming that the camera was actually stolen while I was on the beach after being “hugged” by a ladyboy. Thanks Mr policeman

I put my claim in with World Nomads the day I found out but I didn’t send the completed supporting paperwork until almost a year later, thankfully my procrastination was no problem for World Nomads and they processed the claim without a hitch.

I don’t suggest you take as long as I did to send the documentation to World Nomads, while they will still happily process it for you they take depreciation into consideration when they decide the value of your claim, because my camera was a year old by the time I submitted the completed claim it had devalued considerably since it had actually been stolen. I’d estimate being so lazy about returning the required paperwork actually cost me a good $100 off what I would have been insured for if I had sent it in a more timely fashion.

With the difference in the claim I first submitted and the police report sent with the paperwork combined with the extended delay in sending the documentation, I actually expected something to go wrong with the claim, had it been any other company there probably would have been so I was really happy when World Nomads processed everything without a hitch.

I think the most important thing is to understand when buying insurance is what yours will cover, most negative reviews seem to come from people who haven’t paid attention to what their policy covers, read the fine print and you’ll minimize any misunderstanding and other problems later.

My 3 month policy ran to about $200 with a 5% discount applied. That was by far the cheapest I could find with no discernible difference in cover at the time, now there are cheaper providers but WN maintains the best reputation with travellers. Now as a partner of World Nomads I can offer you a 7% discount on your policy, just enter this code VOYGNR when purchasing your insurance to lock in the 7% discount.