Insurance, touring above 1000 metres

[robjh]

I'm trying to get travel insurance for a short touring holiday across the centre of Spain. I've got numerous quotes, but almost all of them link back to the same - or very similar - terms and conditions which cover as standard touring only up to a height of 1000m.

The problem is that large parts of inland Spain, including major towns such as Segovia and Avila, are above 1000 metres, and the roads crossing the surrounding countryside will be higher. It strikes me as unlikely that the insurers have really intended to bar road cycling in these areas, but the small print does precisely that. The only other option in the conditions are for mountain biking to 3000m, at a premium, but nothing else explicitly regarding road cycling.

I have contacted two insurers for more clarity, but so far had no very helpful answers.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this and what to do?

Extract from typical terms and conditions :

 

[gom]

Have you tried CTC insurance? http://www.cyclecover.org.uk/
I’d be very surprised at such a restriction. I doubt one has done half the climb of Ventoux at 1000m.

 

[robjh]

Have you tried CTC insurance? http://www.cyclecover.org.uk/
I’d be very surprised at such a restriction. I doubt one has done half the climb of Ventoux at 1000m.

You're right, the CTC insurance covers road cycling up to 3000m - so good just about anywhere in Europe short of the road up Veleta in the Sierra Nevada, but I'm not going there - but is nearly twice the price of many of the other quotes. It might yet come to that.

 

[Milkfloat]

This is a real eye opener for me - I have not looked back at all my old policies, but for the last 2 years I have not been covered for large parts of my trips.

However, if I were to tour by unicycle I would have been covered.

 

[gom]

They also repatriate your bike, which is not common either - see an earlier thread.
I don’t have any connection with CTC insurance! Or use them at the moment, due to getting travel insurance as a freebie via work. It does not pay for repatriation and I’m beginning to wonder what else is excluded!

 

[gom]

OMG, two ! in the same paragraph. The shame.

 

[Globalti]

Why not just get standard European cover and tell them it's a cycling holiday?

 

[User269]

Read the small print. Another trick they play in addition to 'max 1000m' is 'incidental use only'. In other words, you're only covered if the main purpose of your trip is not cycling.

The bikes are covered under out house insurance, even for foreign trips, but the travel insurance covers us for personal injury, repatriation etc.

 

[srw]

You might have found a selection of policies with different distributors or brands and the same underlying underwriter. And it's not impossible that a - to you - surprising proportion of the premium goes to the distributor not the insurer.

As with so much in life, you get what you pay for. If you want a policy with coverage for touring and the other extra benefits a cycle tourist may want , it's not surprising you may have to pay more for it.

Just wait for the hikes in premium when EHIC cards go up the swannee...

 

[slowmotion]

Try The British Mountaineering Council.

 

[robjh]

You might have found a selection of policies with different distributors or brands and the same underlying underwriter. And it's not impossible that a - to you - surprising proportion of the premium goes to the distributor not the insurer.

As with so much in life, you get what you pay for. If you want a policy with coverage for touring and the other extra benefits a cycle tourist may want , it's not surprising you may have to pay more for it.

Just wait for the hikes in premium when EHIC cards go up the swannee...

I'm glad you've come along to clear that one up. The fact that a raft of different providers ('distributors' in your terminology above), offering a similar product at the bottom end of the market, all incorporate an identical 'activity pack' table in their T&C made me suspect a single underwriter or else some kind of new industry standard that I've not seen before.

Actually all I really want are the emergency medical and repatriation parts, I'm fairy chilled about the rest of it, but an exclusion clause is an exclusion clause and I'd rather not find myself at the wrong end of a wrangle about reasonable interpretations of something which is, on paper, rather black and white.

 

[robjh]

Why not just get standard European cover and tell them it's a cycling holiday?

The quotes in the OP were for generic Europe-wide travel insurance, not specifically for cycling, but I am a suspicious old whatsit and like to read the small print.

 

[robjh]

The good news is that there are some usable policies around, but finding them takes a bit more perseverance than going to the first comparison website and clicking on the first few cheapest ones.

One of the others has now emailed me flatly contradicting the 1000m clause in their own T&C, but an afternoon of email nit-picking, and the sense that my interlocutor may not know the detail of their own policies and documents, is not inspiring confidence.

 

[Shut Up Legs]

I've just emailed the travel agent who sold me the travel insurance for my September cycling trip to the Pyrenees, to get confirmation there are no similar restrictions on it. After all, I'll be spending a great deal of time well over 1000m!

 

[robjh]

I've just emailed the travel agent who sold me the travel insurance for my September cycling trip to the Pyrenees, to get confirmation there are no similar restrictions on it. After all, I'll be spending a great deal of time well over 1000m!

If you have a link to the policy on line, then look for a link to 'policy wording' or similar, and go for the full one, not just the summary. In all the cases I've found it is listed in a table under 'Activity Pack 1 - included as standard'.