Travel Insurance

[Ollie]

A group of me and a few mates (including the wonderful marmot) are looking to head to Italy and France this summer for a bit of a break, get some climbing and walking in etc.

First question of many regarding this... what should we be looking for in terms of travel insurance? :confused: What sort of price should we be looking at for what 'features' etc?

Ollie

[Shaggysheep]

Try the BMC web site they do travel insurance for hikers and climbers also the equipment you take as well

[andyharbach]

Agreed. The BMC are an excellent choice, offering both Rock and Alpine / Ski policies, depending on the activities you are planning.

[pie2k]

Having recently renewed car insurance i suggest Endsleigh. Special deals for students! Woo. Don't rely on Marmot being able to drive there tho. Some policies won't let you drive on the continent if you're under 21 or been driving for less than a year.
A couple of years ago, for the family holiday we caught a train that went from Belgium (great chocolate and beer), through Germany (great beer),Austria (great mountains and skiing) and finished off in tuscany (great sun and food). Think the tickets cost bout £200. Might be easy for a summer trip while taking in the some of the best parts of Europe.

[Ollie]

Surely you want to start at the active end at get gradually lazier!! :D

We've had 'Insure and Go' reccommended to us. http://www.insureandgo.com/

Anyone know anything about them? And pros or cons? Looks cheap! :D

Ollie

[Hillwalker]

For the continent you need to remember that Mountain Rescue is not a voluntary service, it is by private company with a helicopter that has to be paid for, and they will want your insurance details first!

You need to think about the cost of search and rescue, additionally, medical costs and repatriation to the UK, loss/damage to personal equipment as well as all the usual 'holiday' stuff. Don't forget to obtain your Health Insurance Card before you go (it replaced the E111), you can do it all online at www.nhs.uk (http://www.nhs.uk) very easily.

BMC are probably the best ( a phone call puts you staight through to somebody who will advise you without all the sales guff). I would be reluctant to trust an 'ordinary' insurance company to give me specialist advice.

[tinkettle]

For cheap(ish) holiday insurance you might want to try "insureandgo.com", this is backpacker type insurance and covers loads of adventure sports. All medical and repatriation etc and you can take out insurance for 12 months for about the same price as most single trip covers - also, when I took out insurance with them earlier this year they offered free winter sports / ski insurance - which is handy as I'm hoping to go skiing over xmas.

Definitley worth checking out.

[wandering_fox]

I use SnowCard which covers me when I'm caving abroad, but I'll check with IandG an see if they're cheaper. I wouldn't expect BMC to be chepaest but they will be comprehensive. Make sure whoever you use will cover the helicopter rescue as described above.

[Ollie]

I used the BMC insurance in the end - luckily i never had to actually use it so I can't really comment on how comprehensive it was! Buying it certainly wasn't difficult, although obviously you have to be/become a member, but that's all I can really say...

[Flutterby]

When do you need insurance? What's it for? I thought we were covered by the NHS?

[MariaD]

Mountain rescue isn't free in every country, and it can be a very costly business!

Also, if you're outside the EU or you haven't got a UK health card with you, you will probably have to pay medical costs if you get injured and require treatment of any kind.

[Marmot]

Anyone got any more thoughts on this - 18 days tiol i go, so tying up the small loose ends, like insurance.
Am pretty well covered for travel insurance through family policy - but suprise suprise, it doesnt cover anything interesting/dangerous, so am trying to find insurance that will cover just activities, not the whole trip - and is proving to be difficult

[insane_climber]

try the bmc

[insane_climber]

they do insrurance for interesting activities

[Ollie]

Who did you go with in the end by the way Nick?