Travel insurance

[ctznsmith]

Does anyone have any recommendations for travel insurance for long (3 months plus) cycle/bikepacking tours in Europe?

I'm generally insurance adverse (i.e. I wing it) but I'm not paying.

[jameso]

As a member I always use BMC, on the basis that they have different cover levels and should be used to the more complex cases of accident + rescue.

[ianfitz]

I've had (but not used!) BMC too. they are fine about covering mountain biking - for a price - whereas most other mainstream insurers excluded it.

And I'd guess that if you happen to riding 'off road' on a 'mountain bike' they will not pay!

[lionelrik]

We used a smaller firm (the name escapes me right now). You couldn't book online but they were very helpful and the cover was excellent for the price. Completely off topic but still Interesting, is that one leg of our journey took us up the Pacific Highway in California. We'd assumed that this would add a significant amount on the the final price. But, it turns out that as long as the majority of your holiday/tour is outside of the USA then your insurance shouldn't cost you any extra at all...........quite a few companies tend to conveniently omit that fact.......just saying! I'll get the name of the agent from the better half.

[lionelrik]

If anyones interested.......http://www.navigatortravel.co.uk

Seemed like a good company, although I guess you never know till you really have to use them.

[voodoo_simon]

For rovaniemi150, I used sports cover direct. Was about the only group to insure me, but rates were good. They also sent your insurance out on a credit card, so no need to carry paper with you

[Nevis]

I've always used endsleigh. They cover mtb under their standard policies and the price is good.

[InspiredRamblings]

I've used Dogtag a few times, as exactly what activities they cover at each level is very clear. I originally found them because I was struggling to find diving cover that explained properly what was included and excluded.

You can log into their website to show the level of your cover to medical providers, should you need it.

And they give you actual Dogtags. On a chain.

[Farawayvisions]

I used Coverwise.co.uk for last trip in Morocco to cover medical expenses etc. I have annual ETA cycle insurance for normal things like 3rd party and theft etc.

[ZeroDarkBivi]

I've used BMC for the last decade, but shocked by how much the premium has escalated in that time; about 300% increase. I had an accident mountain biking in Canada resulting in spinal surgery then aeromed, which they arranged and paid for, probably $100k worth of expenses, and no qualms I was very much off-road at the time!

[Firmo]

Is it absolutely necessary for this kind of Travel Insurance when in Europe?

I've always expected my standard Travel Insurance plus EHIC to be adequate cover.

Am I wrong?

[Taylor]

EHIC covers 80% of medical costs, as I found out last month.
Everything else is covered by yourself or insurance.

[jameso]

Is it absolutely necessary for this kind of Travel Insurance when in Europe?

I've always expected my standard Travel Insurance plus EHIC to be adequate cover.

It's all I have when riding in Europe, aside from bikepacking or chair-lift 'DH' stuff in the Alps. Appreciated that there may be no difference in possibility of injury, maybe just more about my sense of risk and likelihood of accident. In fact, it's off-road where I'm more in control of my situation.

[Taylor]

Stumbled across this article re: costs and insurance.
Admittedly it's to do with snowsports but I assume the same applies with summer "mountain" sports.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/snowa ... escue.html

[ctznsmith]

Is it absolutely necessary for this kind of Travel Insurance when in Europe?

I've always expected my standard Travel Insurance plus EHIC to be adequate cover.

Am I wrong?

My opinion is that travel insurance within the EU is totally unnecessary assuming you have the spare cash to pay for getting back home if you have an accident. After burning myself in Spain I didn't have travel insurance just handed over my E111 card, paid no money for treatment and then bought my own bus/ferry to get back home. Total costs incurred were probably comparable to what I would have paid to buy travel insurance (and less when you factor in coming back early and therefore not spending money on that portion of the trip).

However in this instance my parents have offered to pay for travel insurance as a gift.

Not sure on the 80% rule mentioned above, I thought it was more dependent on treatment, so you would only get the treatment that you would get for free at home. As I said I didn't pay any medical costs in Spain.

[InspiredRamblings]

I crashed on the Camino de Santiago a couple of year ago and had to go and get patched up at a doctors surgery. It wasn't anywhere remote and I rode away from it and paid nothing with the EHIC card. As far as paying for costs of normal travel / replacement gear then I think I might tend to agree with you about the costs of insurance possibly not being worth the risk. But, the potential for needing a helicopter ride from somewhere remote in the event of a more serious crash, plus proper treatment and then a med flight back to the UK is what makes me think about having proper insurance. I guess it depends on the nature of the trip, as well as how risk averse you are.

[ianfitz]

It's the rescue element which could be expensive as a friend of mine found out - £8,750 for a helicopter pick up after an accident in the alps.

That's what you're insuring. Plus if you are not able to make your own way back to the uk after hospital treatment, or need an air ambulance transfer you could be looking at a very big bill. Even an aeromedical flight within the uk could be £10,000. Although this would be 'free' thanks to the nhs - in the case of a within the uk transfer.

[ctznsmith]

Yeah I have been thinking a bit more on my point above and I hadn't considered 'rescue'.

If you can't afford it do they leave you on the mountain?

[Taylor]

As I said above my EHIC covered 80% of my stay in hospital.
I still had to pay €237/£172 so that means it cost €1160/£860 for a single night in hospital with an X-ray and a CT scan on my bonce. I also received two packets of biscuits, a bread roll, glass of OJ and two cups of coffee.
I never needed a "big yellow taxi" or French equivalent, repatriation, medicines or ongoing care other than a trip to the GP to make sure she was happy for me to drive and not invalidate my car insurance.

I dread to think how much the final cost would be for somebody who "winged it".
Is it worth saving £20/30/40 or whatever to find out?

[ctznsmith]

Is it worth saving £20/30/40 or whatever to find out?

The prices of travel insurance that include either cycle touring or mountain biking are a bit more than that.

EHIC varies from country to country. So France as you found has a 20% patient contribution.

Information for each country is available here: http://www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/Healthcare ... ntries.asp

Yeah I hadn't considered being 'rescued' from somewhere, not a very likely occurrence though based on my routes/plans generally.