Insurance?

[spandex]

Dose any one know if there is any good world wide cycle insurance out there that will cover Very long tours? I have tried the CTC and around 12 overs for joint cover (Me and bike) but none will cover the bike for anything like what it is worth. I cant seem to find any cover just for my bike over 43days as Im going to be needing it for over 6months...?

 

[Brains]

Give one of the Overland companies a call. Dragoman have always been helpful, they should be able to point you in the direction of a couple of specalist companies

 

[spandex]

Thanks for that but Dragoman and Overland do not do any cover for bikes.

 

[andym]

It looks pretty grim (I'm planning a long tour too). I was going to suggest one of the companies who specialize in bike-only insurance - but both Cycleguard and E&L have a 45-day limit (they were probably in the 12 you tried).

Then I thought 'what about the CTC travel insurance?' I thought that you could get insurance from them for very long tours but they have a 100-day limit (has this changed with a change of underwriters?).

So I thought, 'what about the British Mountaineering Council?'. They have a good general travel policy underwritten by Fortis which options that cover cycle touring ('Trek') or mountainbiking ('Rock) and there is an option to have an annual policy with trips longer than 93 days but the bad news is they have a single item limit of £350.

I suspect that the the only option is a good lock (and most insurance companies would require that anyway).

 

[spandex]

The CTC insurance company is one that will go upto 180days I do not know if they have changed but I phoned them on Friday and 180days is as far as they will go! but that is better then all the overs I have found saying they do cycle insurance. So I think I need to phone them on Monday and find out just what is covered and if I do stay over the 180days Ill just have to wing it I think?

 

[Arch]

I guess the answer to this will be no, but can you take out two separate policies, one set to start when the other expires? Seems too obvious to be possible (and of course, you'll pay two premiums).

 

[spandex]

but for the 2nd to start Ill have to come back to the UK

 

[Arch]

but for the 2nd to start Ill have to come back to the UK

Oh, right, I assumed there would be a problem like that...

 

[andym]

I hope you're right about the CTC limit being 180 days (and apologies if I caused any panic). I was going on this policy document following the link from this page on the citybond.co.uk website. Hopefully it's just a website glitch - the document actually looks more relevant to the multi-trip policy.

If you deliberately set out on a trip that's longer then 180 days with a policy that only covers 180 days then technically you could invalidate the whole policy. On the other hand if you didn't make it back within the 180 days because your trip took longer than expected ...

 

[stephenjubb]

at

http://www.worldnomads.com/faq.aspx

you should have no problems, however it is not cheap about 500 pouhds plus per year, covers cycle touring (but not intercontinental touring - not sure about that)

seems the best choice from my research.
from their website

Is there a limit to the number of times I can extend my policy? No, you can extend your World Nomads cover as many times as you like but please refer to your policy wording for any restrictions that may affect your extension. Please note once your policy has expired and you wish to buy another period of cover, you will have to buy a new policy and be issued with a new policy number.
All policy expiry dates and times are currently calculated on Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST), although we are working hard to offer a more appropriate timezone solution.

 

[stephenjubb]

forgot to add don't think they cover the bike if it gets nicked.

 

[stephenjubb]

also a lot of insurance companies don't cover your medical expenses if you are caught up in terrorism, I believe some were caught out in turkey when a bomb exploded (there was uproar rightly in the press).

this policy does cover the above

What countries that I travel to are covered by the policy? World Nomads cover every country in the world but you are not covered for medical expenses once you have returned to your country of residence. You also need to be aware that like all travel insurers, we do not cover claims resulting from war. Regarding terrorism, our policy covers medical costs, additional expenses and damage to your personal belongings, provided that the terrorism act was unexpected, however our policy does not cover the costs and deposits lost if you cancel your travel due to an act of terrorism.

 

[andym]

you should have no problems, however it is not cheap about 500 pouhds plus per year, covers cycle touring (but not intercontinental touring - not sure about that)

But beware - you need to choose the Level 2 cover. The Level 1 cover is only for 'incidental' cycling.

My quick comparison suggests that the BMC insurance might be better value. I got £234 for an annual policy with the more-than-93-days option.

 

[Creamcrackered]

For our six-month trip. after spending days looking at the small print of numerous policies I gave up trying to get the bikes insured. We used the BMC annual policy in the end (we were expecting the trip to be 9 month). On another trip (trekking in the Himalayas) when we ended up being rescued by chopper, the support we got from the BMC's provider was excellent. At the end of the day, I think what you are really after is a policy that will cover medical and repatriation costs for cycle touring.

 

[spandex]

But read the fine print on that BMC insurance I think you'll find that your not covered if you leave your bike out side Lock or not!!!