Travel insurance for touring

[ch3]

Two weeks to go for my two months touring in Europe and I am now looking into a suitable insurance.

First of all do you think it's essential, or should I not bother?

I did a search on the forum and I got these two from older posts.
snowcard.co.uk does it for 85
citybond.co.uk for 77

Do you know any other company to recommend?
I don't think my house content insurance will cover anything outside the house, so that's not an option. My bike is insured with LCC which again doesn't cover for outside UK.

thanks

 

[andym]

I think the best bet is likely to be the CTC/CityBond policy.

Snowcard will only insure for up to 60 days. But if you can live with that limitation they have the option of getting up to £2000 cover for activity equipment. So might be worth checking out.

CTC/City Bond single trip insurance seems to cover for more than 60 days (I tried getting an online quote for 62 days). (But note that if you take out the annual insurance policy the maximum trip is 50 days).

I don't think house/flat contents insurance is an option: IIRC if I'm away from home for more than 30 days my cover lapses (but I could be wrong).

The other potential option is insuring the bike against theft/damage, but looking at Cycleguard just as an example, the individual trip limit is 30 days. Also the premiums for this type of insurance are about 10 per cent of the value of the bike per year.

As far as the question of is it worth it is concerned, at the end of the day it's got to be a personal decision, but you might want to consider:

- your EHIC card will go a lot of the way towards covering the costs of your care (but remember we are treated on the same basis as the locals - so if they have to pay, or pay upfront, then so do we);

- on the other hand EHIC won't cover all of the other costs that might be associated with getting sick or injured - eg the costs of getting you and your bike back home;

- the other major issue is theft. How much of a blow this will be to you obviously depends on the value of the bike. Clearly if you've got a £500 bike then insurance may not be as important as it would be if you have an expensive one.

Oh and finally, if you go down the CTC/CityBond route, be aware that if you leave your bike unattended then it has to be locked to an immovable object with an approved lock. For bikes that are worth between £500 and £1000 that is a lock rated silver or better by Sold Secure.

 

[snorri]

Perhaps it depends on which countries in Europe you intend to visit, but I have never been able to find a company offering just the cover I want and not lots of things I have no worries about, like missed ferry connections etc.
The level of security the insurance companies demand is just impractical on cycle touring with a tent.

 

[ch3]

andym -> I don't think the tour will last more than 60 days.
I've just ordered a EHIC card as well, just in case, but I guess proper insurance is always an extra peace of mind.
I will be carrying a top range ABUS dLock with me, despite of its weight. That what happens when you had your bike stolen twice in the past year.
Even having an insurance though, having you bike stolen while touring, would be a disaster anyway. It took about 3 weeks to get the money from my insurance, in order to buy a new bike, so I wonder how much longer will it take if that happens abroad in the middle of nowhere.

snorri -> I'll be going around France and Italy.
snowcard give you the option to choose or not to add cover for missed connections, delay, cancelations etc.
http://www.snowcard.co.uk/pages/policy_cover.asp

 

[andym]

I have never been able to find a company offering just the cover I want and not lots of things I have no worries about, like missed ferry connections etc.
The level of security the insurance companies demand is just impractical on cycle touring with a tent.

As ch3 says, the Snowcard/ActivCard offers you the option of not insuring for travel delay etc. I thought I didn't need it - what a false economy that was.

It's not impractical to carry a lock, but like anyone else I'd rather not if I can help it.

It took about 3 weeks to get the money from my insurance, in order to buy a new bike, so I wonder how much longer will it take if that happens abroad in the middle of nowhere.

The CTC/CityBond policy also covers cycle hire (not sure about Activcard), but I've never had to put this to the test. I guess that's possibly another advantage of travel insurance over bike insurance in that travel insurance should cover you for the extra costs of getting back if you simply decide to abandon.

I also remembered that the British Mountaineering Council do a policy. I thought I'd mention it for completeness but I think it's probbaly more of an option for longer expeditions.

 

[ch3]

Hmmm unfortunately snowcard can't cover me. For some reason they don't like one way trips like the one I am planing to do and Il have the return back to UK at the end of it.
I'll have to email citybond and see what they say.

 

[PaulSB]

- on the other hand EHIC won't cover all of the other costs that might be associated with getting sick or injured - eg the costs of getting you and your bike back home

For years, as a family, we took our summer holiday in Europe without insurance believing any likely occurrence would be covered by other policies; items away from home, cash etc by either the, now, EHIC scheme or our household policy. We used to extend the car insurance and make sure the recovery breakdown was adequate. This all changed when a good friend found it necessary to arrange for an uninsured relative to be flown home from Majorca - the air ambulance cost £40,000 which they are still paying off 4 years later. It's the unexpected you have to worry about.

If I was doing such a trip I think I'd be looking for advice from CTC, surely they should be the organisation with the best knowledge in this area? If not you'd have to wonder why not?

 

[andym]

I've just remembered that in the past I've used the travel insurance from Fortis (they're the underwriters for the Snowcard policy and they used to do the insurance for Skedaddle). The policy specifically covers mountainbiking (so therefore presumably cycle touring as well) with £1,500 cover for personal belongings (I couldn't see any reference to a single item limit). You can't buy over the internet, but have to go through a broker (the Fortis site has a search engine for finding brokers).

Paul. I don't understand what your point is about the CTC: the policy designed by the CTC is probably the best there is and covers things like bike hire and the costs of getting the bike home that insurance companies would never have considered unprompted.

 

[CopperBrompton]

Whatever you do with your bike, don't skimp on health insurance: there is a tonne of stuff the EHIC card doesn't cover. As Paul points out, air ambulance repatriation is the biggest risk. I know two people who've been air ambulanced home, fortunately both with decent travel insurance to pick up the tab.

 

[PaulSB]

Paul. I don't understand what your point is about the CTC: the policy designed by the CTC is probably the best there is and covers things like bike hire and the costs of getting the bike home that insurance companies would never have considered unprompted.

Sorry, I was trying to say, obviously badly, the best place to look would be the CTC as by its very nature this organisation should have the best cycle touring insurance available or at least know where to buy it. I've never needed to read their policy because I haven't toured abroad but I'd hope to buy from CTC based purely on reputation.

 

[pinkkaz]

I think the only insurer which covers reparation of bikes is CTC, although I could be wrong. We almost came a-cropper of this on our touring holiday last year in France when my husband had to go into hospital. Luckily he recovered enough to wheel his bike through Paris.

DEFINITELY get some form of travel insurance. Our bill would have come to about £5k, even with an EHIC card, when the cost of new eurostar tickets, hotel for me etc was factored in. Our insurance was a tenner from Columbus.

Read about my woes here! http://www.cyclechat.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=15858

 

[snorri]

Our insurance was a tenner from Columbus.

I am amazed, if I had had a quote as low as that I would have considered it too good to be true.
Good to hear the insce cover worked for you.

 

[pinkkaz]

I am amazed, if I had had a quote as low as that I would have considered it too good to be true.
Good to hear the insce cover worked for you.

That was last year - haven't found anything near that this year! Although we always have to declare my husband's pneumothoraxes now so that adds a bit - not much though luckily!

 

[ch3]

Ok, I think I'll go with CTC as well. I just phoned them and gave me a quote. Most of all they are ok about my one way trip.

thank you