Overland travel insurance

[AndyCook]

interested to know what insurance cover folks take out for travel insurance
for example, overland trips in Europe, going on unpaved roads and camping
do you get specific cover for this?

i have used worldwide insure in past, they used to have a category for "overland safari without a guide" but they don't have this anymore, only the option with a guide

I have been asking them about cover
they have wanted to known what an "unpaved road" is, how I define "remote"' which regions of Spain I would travel in.... Getting tedious, I have offered to send them a GPS track log of my proposed route !

 

[Crispin]

only the option with a guide

What constitutes a guide? Does he/she have to have gone to guide school or could it be a local who has lived there 100 years?

 

[Chris]

Interesting.

I guess it's really about what you are trying to insure. If you want to be repatriated from a foreign country then that probably means from a hospital. So how you came by the injury is irrelevant. Hit by a bus outside the airport or bitten by a snake in a cave. it shouldn't matter. If you are trying to insure against injury caused by a mechanical failure where the car goes over a ravine then you're really trying to insure the wrong thing, aren't' you? Paved, unpaved, it shouldn't be a factor.

This is just me being logical. I haven't had the conversations that you've had,. But often people struggle within insurance because they narrow the field too far. Like green laning. Does this insurance cover me for any accidents on any official UK public road. Yes sir. What about green laning? What's that sir, you mean off roading. No it doesn't. Is that a motorsport sir? A green lane is a road. End of story. Let them prove otherwise.

See what I mean. So, if the insurance covers you for any illness, medical condition or accident related trauma, then is it not possible to leave it at that. Maybe read the whole policy yourself if they will send a copy? But asking too may questions raises only more questions. Asking what it doesn't cover is possibly a better question.

You can't predict where your appendix is going to rupture can you. Now getting medi-vaced out of a remote valley is another question altogether

 

[Crispin]

I see their point though - like Olazz came across in Portugal a few years back. Numpty in his shiny new 4x4 goes off piste into the wilderness in his fancy shoes, hits a rock, can't continue and now needs much money to get him and his gear back. Their idea of a guide required is to hopefully stop that type of action.

 

[AndyCook]

Yeah, see what you mean chris

the insurer often makes you select "activities" - for example we got mountain biking on these trips and you have to specify this.

and on skiing trips, if you we are going off piste and on glaciated terrain, you also have to select thay and pay the extra..

so so I was thinking it would be similar for my "green laning" in Spain

 

[MarkW]

I use standard Annual Travel Insurance for myself and local 3rd party car insurance for the country if outside of Europe.

I don't think you'll find anything reasonably priced that covers offroad travel in remote areas. But it would be worth asking over on sites like the HuBB or http://overlandingassociation.org/

 

[Chris]

Always remember to book into the hotel before you call the ambulance eh?

Bit like ringing the AA. Make sure you're on a proper road first.

Typically when I speak to insurers by which I don't mean brokers but someone who actually holds the cash they say there is little that you can't insure. It's just a question of paying for it. I remember the Top Gear episode when they had the Ford Cossie and got a quote for insurance on it. The car was worth £19,995 and the insurance quote was £19,995.

You really need a bespoke insurance package somehow. It's always worth looking at what you can get from your home insurance. Also look at critical illness cover. Once back in the UK obviously you are with the NHS. Big problem is medical fees in other countries.

Mark is right about difficultly being insurance in remote areas because they start to be influenced by remoteness rather than the likelihood of anything actually happening. Remote does not mean hazardous. It's simply an additional difficulty factor.

What do people who sail use? Please don't say a boat. That's remote, fairly hazardous and small illnesses / injury can really balloon.

 

[ByronJ]

Always remember to book into the hotel before you call the ambulance eh?

Bit like ringing the AA. Make sure you're on a proper road first.

Typically when I speak to insurers by which I don't mean brokers but someone who actually holds the cash they say there is little that you can't insure. It's just a question of paying for it. I remember the Top Gear episode when they had the Ford Cossie and got a quote for insurance on it. The car was worth £19,995 and the insurance quote was £19,995.

You really need a bespoke insurance package somehow. It's always worth looking at what you can get from your home insurance. Also look at critical illness cover. Once back in the UK obviously you are with the NHS. Big problem is medical fees in other countries.

Mark is right about difficultly being insurance in remote areas because they start to be influenced by remoteness rather than the likelihood of anything actually happening. Remote does not mean hazardous. It's simply an additional difficulty factor.

What do people who sail use? Please don't say a boat. That's remote, fairly hazardous and small illnesses / injury can really balloon.

I use Pantaenius to cover my boat and for 3rd party but have never managed to get worthwhile medical cover for long trips if I tell the complete truth. So do not bother.