Advice on Insurance for France Trip??
Moomaloid
Posts: 2,040
Hey People, i'm going to the Pyrenees for the tour and some riding and its a first time, so need some advice on Insurance? Where should i be looking guys?
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So thats nobody then...
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Sort of depends what you want, insurance for the bike, health insurance? Many policies exclude cycling so look out for that. Make sure you have your EU health insurance card and you will be covered by the public health system. If you are a British Cycling member you may also have cover there, I do with Cycling Ireland. Maybe foolhardy of me but I have never taken out specific insurance myself travelling in Europe. Helicopter evacuations from the high mountains are priced at around €700 I believe if you have to pay for them yourself; not going to break the bank
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Have a look at the insurance policy offered by the CTC (although I don't think you have to be a member to buy it) there's also the insurence offered by Activcard - underwritten by Fortis.
As blorg says many insurance policies exclude cycling other than a bit of pottering about. Cycle-specific policies may also include things like bike hire if your bike gets nicked and/or repatriation. non cycle policies may also have a very low maximum level of theft cover.
If you are mainly concerned about theft you may be better off insuring your bike with your household contents.
And it's always worth using the search engine...0 -
Good point on the household contents, I had my bike on that years back and it was free/included for theft/damage anywhere in the UK & Ireland with a small premium to cover theft/damage anywhere in Europe (much lower than any bike specific policy I have ever seen.) The main exclusion on such a policy tends to be bikes used for racing which I am presuming would not affect you.0
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Nice one guys! Many thanx0
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I'm also struggling, having left it too late as usual.
Off to France this week and need to cover 3k's worth of bike/box etc against the airline losing it.
Only option i could find was e and l but they needed 7 days notice to cover. The annual policies like cycleguard come out at 600 quid for my (fairly respectable) postcode!
Any other ideas gratefully received!0 -
To be honest it is unlikely the airline are going to lose it if is a point to point flight. Damage is more of a concern but if it is a solid box you should be fine. I travel often enough myself with bike and have never had a major issue.
I think almost all travel insurance has low single item limits.
Have you tried home contents insurance?0 -
thanks for reply. Dont trust the airlines not to lose bike so thats the bit i'm most after covering as for rest of four days bike will be with me most of time. Was surprised at lack of options i could find for this thus far, really struggling
No option to extend home insurance cover to Europe sadly so will keep looking.0 -
MrZ wrote:I'm also struggling, having left it too late as usual.
Off to France this week and need to cover 3k's worth of bike/box etc against the airline losing it.
Only option i could find was e and l but they needed 7 days notice to cover. The annual policies like cycleguard come out at 600 quid for my (fairly respectable) postcode!
Any other ideas gratefully received!
You have tried CTC and Activguard?0 -
andymiller wrote:MrZ wrote:I'm also struggling, having left it too late as usual.
Off to France this week and need to cover 3k's worth of bike/box etc against the airline losing it.
Only option i could find was e and l but they needed 7 days notice to cover. The annual policies like cycleguard come out at 600 quid for my (fairly respectable) postcode!
Any other ideas gratefully received!
You have tried CTC and Activguard?
Yes thanks, but their levels of bike cover are too low (1500 and 500)0 -
Three options and you probably won't like any of them:
- you may be better off ditching your existing contents cover (even if your policy has some time to run) and going to a company that offers extended contents cover - eg Tesco Finest, or Direct Line;
- buy a more cheaper bike for travelling with;
- pony up the £600 for the E&L policy. It's fricking expensive but I suspect they have the market to themselves.0 -
When you get to £600 I think you have to look at the odds. Is there a 1 in 5 chance of your 3k bike being destroyed by the baggage handlers (answer: no there is not.) £600 is crazy money.andymiller wrote:Three options and you probably won't like any of them:
- you may be better off ditching your existing contents cover (even if your policy has some time to run) and going to a company that offers extended contents cover - eg Tesco Finest, or Direct Line;
- buy a more cheaper bike for travelling with;
- pony up the £600 for the E&L policy. It's fricking expensive but I suspect they have the market to themselves.
I have gone with (2) and have a cheaper bike (a Planet X) for winter, training, and travel. Did the Marmotte on it this year and it was great. My good race bike is a Litespeed which I couldn't afford to replace. The PX also has a compact while the Litespeed is a standard. A compact is better for things like that.
Incidentally though you probably have a much higher chance of destroying your bike racing than you do entrusting it to the baggage handlers (presuming it is packed well.)0 -
blorg wrote:[When you get to £600 I think you have to look at the odds. Is there a 1 in 5 chance of your 3k bike being destroyed by the baggage handlers (answer: no there is not.) £600 is crazy money.
Yes, after I posted I did think I should have included 'self-insure' as a fourth option. But on the other hand £3000 is a big hit to take.
Incidentally, when I had insurance with E&I the going rate was 10 per cent of the value of the bike - I'm not sure why it has gone up so much (OK it was a good few years ago now).
Oh and I should have said 'Marks and Spencer' instead of 'Direct Line'. I've rented out my flat at the moment, but I was paying M&S £35 a month or so for contents insurance including several thousand in extended contents cover. I was being perfectly serious when I suggested giving the existing policy the boot - even if it means writing off a good chunk of the premium you've paid.0
