In this Ultimate Travel Insurance Guide, we will take a closer look at eight insurance companies to find the Best Travel Insurance in Malaysia.
Travel Insurance is a great way to protect you from unfortunate events that can cost you a lot of money. In Malaysia, we have 12 insurance companies that offer travel insurance, and it is not easy to compare them and find out which is the Best Travel Insurance for you.
The benefit of buying online is that it is fast and you can even do it on your way to the airport when you have forgotten to buy it. The other benefit is that many insurance companies offer an additional discount when you buy online.
Quick Links to Content
- 7 Malaysian companies that sell Travel Insurance Online
- 5 Malaysian companies that sell Travel Insurance Offline
- Which travel insurance is the cheapest?
- Which Travel Insurance is the Best for me?
- – Step 1: What is the biggest worry when travelling?
- – Step 2: How much protection do we need?
- The BEST Travel Insurance for you only
- Wait? Why is Personal Accident insurance not important?
- Best Travel Insurance for Single Traveler:Allianz
- Best Travel Insurance for Trips with Travel Agent: Tokio Marine
| # | Company | User Rating | Product Name | Webpage friendliness |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Allianz Buy Online |  (916 reviews) | Travel Easy | VERY EASY |
| 2 | AXA Affin Buy Online | (233 reviews) | Smart Traveller | VERY EASY |
| 3 | Etiqa Takaful Buy Online | (2,514 reviews) | TripCare 360 (Takaful) | VERY EASY |
| 4 | Berjaya Sompo Buy Online |  (167 reviews) | Travel Safe Plans A,B,C | VERY EASY |
| 5 | Tokio Marine Buy Online | (243 reviews) | Travel Partner | VERY EASY |
| 6 | Tune Insurance Buy Online | (88 reviews) | Travel Easy | VERY EASY |
| 7 | AIG Malaysia Buy Online | (220 reviews) | Starter, Basic, Standard, Deluxe | EASY |
Source: Rating and Review counts are from http://review.ibanding.my dated 16.05.2022
| # | Company | Star | Product Name | Resources |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Takaful Ikhlas Find Takaful Ikhlas Agent |  (483 reviews) | IKHLAS Kembara Plus | Webpage |
| 2 | Great Eastern General Find Great Eastern Agent | (44 reviews) | Travel For More | Webpage |
| 3 | LonPac Find Lonpac Agent | (122 reviews) | Travel Secure | Webpage |
| 4 | RHB Insurance Find RHB Agent | (123 reviews) | Travel Protector Plus | Brochure |
| 5 | Liberty Find Liberty Agent | (284 reviews) | TravelStar | Webpage |
Source: Rating and Review counts are from http://review.ibanding.my dated 16.05.2022
Buying Travel Insurance online is Easy
We took a closer look at the webpages from all the seven insurance companies that offer travel insurance online and surprisingly, all of them are Easy to Very Easy to use. For most webpages, all you need to provide is the below information, and you can get a price on your travel insurance:
- Who is travelling? Single, Family or Group
- Â Where are you going to?
- From when to when are you travelling?
- Do you want to buy a single trip or an annual plan?
If you compare it to buying car insurance online, buying travel insurance is much easier even if you do not know much about insurance. And if you are still unsure? Keep on reading; we will show you how we found the Best Travel Insurance for us.
Many people like us, when it comes to buying anything, we look at the price and ask, which is the cheapest travel insurance? It is a typical question to ask because when we buy something, we do not want to pay more money if we can get it more affordable. We took a quick look at the prices for a sample trip of 7 nights to Japan for a single 30-year-old traveller. You might say that you are not travelling to Japan and it does not help you. But our example will give you a rough idea of how big the difference is between the insurance companies. You can then select a few companies to do your research and find the right insurance for you. Here are the results:
| Number | Company | Product Name | Japan - Single in RM |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | AIG Malaysia | Starter | 27.00 |
| 2 | Berjaya Sompo | Elite C | 37.00 |
| 3 | AXA Affin | Classic | 32.50 |
| 4 | Etiqa | TripCare 360 Silver | 42.20 |
| 5 | Tune Insurance | Travel Easy Basic | 46.00 |
| 6 | Tokio Marine | Basic Plan P100 | 51.25 |
| 7 | Allianz | Travel Easy | 54.00 |
What a difference in prices!
The price range for travel insurance goes from the cheapest RM 27 up to RM 54. The excellent news, Travel Insurance, is cheap. So Travel Insurance is something that everyone can afford. Especially if you consider that not having travel insurance can cost you up to RM 250,000 in medical expenses if you fall sick in another country.
If you look at the products, there are 7 possible Malaysian Travel Insurances that you can buy online. Some companies like AIG offer different product levels so that there are more travel products than insurance companies.
Our question “What is the cheapest travel insurance?” is easy to answer. In our case, it is AIG Malaysia Starter that only costs us RM 27.00. It is so much cheaper than a 5-piece Chicken combo at KFC.
But Wait !! Is Cheaper = Better?
The obvious answer is No. When it comes to insurance, the cheapest insurance is not always the Best Travel Insurance for you. The better question to ask is “Which Travel Insurance is the BEST for me?“. If we look at the cover for Medical Expenses and Travel Delay, we immediately notice that AIG Malaysia Starter only covers Medical Expenses for RM 100,000 compared to Allianz Travel Easy that includes Medical Expenses of up to RM 200,000. That difference is huge! In addition, Allianz also covers Travel Cancellation up to RM25,000 while AIG does not offer this.
| Company | Product Name | Japan - Single in RM | Medical Expenses | Travel Cancellation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AIG | Starter | 27.00 | RM 100,000 | RM 0 |
| Allianz | Travel Easy | 54.00 | RM 200,000 | RM 25,000 |
So if the price is not the right way to find the Best Travel Insurance, how do you find it? Many professional agents will agree that the answer is “It depends on you”. How many insurances do you already have? Are you married or single? Do you have a house loan that needs to be paid or you live with your parents. So yes, it might be worth talking to someone who is an insurance agent or someone who works for an insurance company to get their advice and opinion.
Once you learn more about Travel Insurance and how it protects you during your vacation, you can then decide for yourself. Below, we will give you a general step-by-step guide on how you can find which travel insurance is the Best for you. Legal disclaimer here, we are not a licenses insurance agent or financial advisor, and we do not sell insurance. So, the guide is our opinion, and you should talk to many people to get their views before buying insurance.Â
Step 1: What is the biggest worry when travelling?
In the first step, you need to brainstorm what would be something that you think could happen to you and cost a lot of money, when it happens during your travel. For example, the following three events occur most often to people when they fly to another country for vacation.
1. The flight delays more than six hours
The number one things that can happen during your trip is a flight delay. A flight delay of a few hours is inconvenient, but the world does not end, and you can still enjoy your vacation. If a flight is delayed more than six hours, then very often a lot of additional costs pop-up. You will miss your connecting flight. You have to stay for one more night in a foreign country without any hotel bookings. Many things that you did not plan for and cost extra money. If your flight is cancelled or delayed overnight and you need to spend another unplanned night => DISASTER. iBanding CEO Luke Roho described his experience of a cancelled flight with AirAsia in this article What I Did When My AirAsia Flight Was Cancelled and How I Received RM 700 for It
Flight delay is the most essential protection we are looking for.
2. Luggage is delayed or lost
You arrive at your vacation destination, and your luggage is missing. Your warm jacket on your winter trip to Japan is in the bags, and now you are freezing outside in Tokyo. Your business suit or dress for the meeting is missing. If your checked-in luggage is missing for more than a day, you most likely will need to buy extra clothes, toothbrush, soap and many more things to enjoy your vacation still. You do not waste time waiting in your hotel room for your luggage to arrive. You want to make the most of the limited time you have to enjoy your vacation. If your baggage is delayed or missing, then you need to spend a lot more money to enjoy your vacation still. A lot of money that you might not have or planned to use for tours, food, etc. instead of clothing.
Luggage delay is the second important protection we are looking for in a Travel Insurance.
3. You get sick during your vacation
Another worry, when travelling in countries where the living costs are much higher than Malaysia is Medical Expenses. Many Malaysians, when they go to another country for the first time, get sick, because they are not used to the different temperatures and environment. We are just not used to the different seasons like spring, fall and winter. In Malaysia, it is always summer. Hot dry or hot rainy.
You like to eat out and adventure on a food journey Makan-Makan? If you are this kind of person, then food poisoning is no stranger to you. If you get sick on your vacation, you might not be able to wait until you get home to see a doctor. Then going to the doctor or the hospital abroad is not cheap. A doctor visit as a foreigner in Japan can cost you about RM 220 – 730 because as a foreigner you pay even more than locals.  The low ringgit and the high exchange rate makes a doctor or hospital visits in developed countries like Japan, Korea, Australia or the US cost a fortune. The worst part is if you have an accident or need to get admitted to the hospital. Then the cost can go quickly into the hundred thousands of ringgit.
Medical Expenses is the third most crucial protection when we look for Travel Insurance.
So in our example cases, those are the three things that worry us the most: Flight delay, Delayed Luggage and Medical Expenses. You might ask, what about all the rest like Personal Accident, Permanent Disablement, Hospital Income, Funeral Expenses and more more more?
Wait? Why is Personal Accident insurance not important?
Many of the other protections might be more critical for you, so you need to look into those in more detail and compare those between the different insurance products. In our example, we decided that the three possible events, we worry the most for our vacation are Flight Delay, Delayed Luggage and Medical Expenses.
Many insurance companies especially highlight the Personal Accident Benefit of Travel Insurance. This means that if you die during an accident, then your surviving loved ones will get the Sum Insured. For example, Berjaya Sompo Basic the cheapest insurance will pay RM 100,000 and AIG the most expensive travel insurance will pay RM 300,000.
Travel Insurance is terrible to cover your death
The reason why Personal Accident is not our priority is that Travel insurance is terrible to cover you for your death. If you do want to have money for your loved ones, you should have protection not only during your vacation. YOU WANT TO HAVE PROTECTION ALL THE TIME. It just does not make sense to insure yourself for accidental death only for vacation. Out of 365 days a year, how many days are you on vacation? Why do you think that you will only have an accident during your vacation?
Travel Insurance is not Life Insurance
If you worry about your death and want to make sure that your parents, spouse and children have enough money when you die, then get Life Insurance or buy Personal Accident insurance is the better choice. The protection is then not only for the trip but for a whole year or longer. This is the main reason why we do not consider the sum insured for Personal Accident essential and worth looking at when reviewing travel insurance. When we buy Travel Insurance, we only want to look at the things we want to protect ourselves from during the vacation. Death from an accident is not one of them, because we want to be protected against accidents all the time. Not only on holidays.
Step 2: How much protection do we need?
In the 2nd step, we need to look at how much protection do we need for those three things that we worry the most?
1. Flight delays more than six hours
Insurance companies offer a fixed amount after a set number of hours of flight delay. For example, Berjaya Sompo gives RM 200, if your flight is delayed for six hours. If the flight is delayed for another 6 hours, so in total 12 hours, then you get another RM 200.
Etiqa is unique among the insurance companies because it pays RM 100 already after a flight delay of 2 hours. A 2-hour delay can happen quite often, especially during international flights.
Selection Criteria: When we look at the amount, we want the highest possible. The higher the amount, the better.
2. Luggage is delayed or lost
Here, we take the same approach as a flight delay. Instead of looking at how much the maximum payout is for delay or lost luggage, we look at the amount that is paid out after 6 hours of flight delay. Berjaya Sompo, for example, pays RM200 for every 6 hours your luggage is delayed up to an amount of RM 800. To get RM 800 your luggage needs to be delayed for 24 hours.
Selection Criteria: We prefer the insurance company that pays the most out after 6 hours. The higher the amount, the better.
3. You get sick during your vacation
The most significant difference between insurance companies is medical expenses. To recap, AXA Affin has the lowest amount of RM 50,000, and Tune has the highest of RM 300,000. The more we need, the more we pay for the Travel Insurance. This is why Berjaya Sompo is also among the expensive travel insurance. Here again, to find the Best Insurance for you, you need to decide for yourself, what medical expense amount makes sense. We are no experts for medical expenses in other countries, so we take the best approach possible, which is to go with the most popular amount. RM 200,000 is the coverage that most travel insurance companies provide, so we believe it is good choice to say that the insurance we want must provide at least RM 200,000. It can have more, but it should not have less than RM 200,000 in protection against medical expenses during the vacation.
Selection Criteria:Â The medical expenses coverage must be RM 200,000 or higher.
The BEST Travel Insurance in Malaysia for you only
Just by taking two simple steps, (1) Setting what protection is most important to you and (2) Setting what is the amount of protection you need, we have reduced the number of possible Travel Insurance products from 11 products to 8 products and are now able to put them into a ranking that you see below. At the top is the insurance that matches our criteria the most. At the bottom is the travel insurance that matches our needs the least.
3 Travel Insurance Products that can be the BEST for you
| Ranking | Company | Product Name | Travel Delay (6 hours) | Luggage Delay | Medical Expenses | Japan - Single |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Berjaya Sompo | Travel Safe Elite C | 200 | 800 | 250,000 | 37.00 |
| 2 | Tune | Travel Easy Basic | 200 | 1000 | 300,000 | 46.00 |
| 3 | Allianz | Travel Easy | 300 | 800 | 200,000 | 54.00 |
| not qualified | AIG Malaysia | Starter | 300 | 300 | 100,000 | 27.00 |
| not qualified | Etiqa | TripCare 360 Silver | 200 (2 hours) | N/A | 100,000 | 42.20 |
| not qualified | Tokio Marine | Basic P100 | 0 | 400 | 100,000 | 51.25 |
| not qualified | AXA Affin | Classic | 0 | 0 | 50,000 | 32.50 |
The current ranking shows Berjaya Sompo travel insurance as the BEST because it pays the highest after 6 hours of travel delay (RM 200), a high RM 800 for Luggage Delay after 6 hours and a high medical coverage at RM250,000. This also fulfils our requirement of RM 200,000 for medical expenses.
Berjaya Sompo travel insurance costs RM 37.00 and is just RM4.50 extra than AXA Affin Classic, but the medical coverage from Berjaya Sompo is 5 times higher. Also, AXA Affin Classic does not pay you any support when there is a Travel Delay. Berjaya Sompo pays you RM200 for every 6 hours of the delay. If you look for value for money, then Berjaya Sompo is clearly the value for money winner.
On second place we have Tune. It pays RM200 after 6 hours of travel delay, pays up to RM1,000 for Luggage Delay and a medical coverage of RM300,000
The insurance that fulfils our needs and is the best is Berjaya Sompo Travel Safe. Berjaya Sompo’s Travel insurance provides RM 200 after 6 hours of flight delay. Berjaya Sompo Travel Safe also covers medical expenses up to RM 250,000, which is the highest and fulfils the minimum amount we require. Berjaya Sompo Travel Safe costs RM 37.00 for our trip.
Summary:
Best Travel Insurance Malaysia has to offer is:
- Berjaya Sompo – Travel Safe Elite C
- Tune – Travel Easy Basic
- Allianz – Travel Easy
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