Well this has certainly got you thinking, and a glass of wine sounds good to me. I will be traveling in A fully equiped Range Rover overlander, and with at least one other vehicle, My sat phone has great GPS, It was suggested to me by a friend that if your insurred for a six figure number, the cost of a Rescue to a insurance company would be far less, even to perhaps send a Helicopter or truck, yes such insurance would be costly, But may be possible? no doubt the premium would be out of reach of most, I think that even if I had such insurance would not rely on it, but is it the case that if your stuck in the middle of Sahara alone you just have to Die?

I'll have another glass and think on it for a while. Have one with me? LB.

__________________
\"Bon Chance\"

ok LB I will do that, I suppose some form of medical cover is good and one can live in hope that somebody else might be able to give you a lift to wherever to be repatriated? I am going to make enquiries andput results on here later mine is white medium german,
Dave

Why do people get so excited about travel insurance - because they think it will offer protection? All it really can do is save money. If it was so vital or useful it would be law, no?
I went through rescue scenarios with a loss assessor years ago for the book and concluded what I already knew: at certain times and places you are on your own and all problems short of outright fatalities can and must be solved. What use would insurance have been during my sticky moments out in the desert? None, but for first time travellers it can be a hard thing to accept when back home, everything from your roof downwards is, must or can be insured.

Ch

__________________
Morocco Overland 4 pre-order for Xmas • Trans Morocco Trail

I see your point Chris, I guess we would all like that ultimate Safety line, That as you say is not there, all good reason for preparation a priority, I shall leave it there, thanks to all for input,
Dave

Hi, McDarby, you forgot to put one essential part into your scenaroi:
You call the insurance line and you get a machine, with nine menu choices!
My Iridium phone couldn't manage the handover from one satellite to another, so there's a cut off every ten or so minutes... get the idea ;-)

While my wife and I were looking at all that, we concluded that our normal car insurance is good for Morocco (Norwich Union) once in Mori we pay for a good night in a flash hotel with our VISA card and we're covered for three months from that date.
It's worth looking at the repatriation insurance offered with the VISA association.
After the three months, we figured that another card (my wife's) could get us another three.

Thankfully we didn't need it, despite a bad bout of typhic salmonella (hospitals in BF are pretty efficient) so I can't comment on quality of service.

Happy preparations.
Luke

Dave,
Despite the gung-ho advice being offered here consider the following:
1. If you have a problem and are aided by your mates etc. to get to a hospital/clinic whatever, most will not even give you a bandaid without cash up front. With no insurance this means wiring what could amount to several thousand pounds (assuming a major medical problem). Such a scenario could leave you in pain for several days. It happened only a couple of years ago to a high-profile Brit.

2. In the very worst case repatriation or disposal of your body will cost an awful lot of money. Do you really want your loved ones to have the added burden of finding the cash?

3. The thought that no insurance company will cough up for aerial search facilities is wrong. They do. That is why you take out a policy worth at least 5 million in benefits. Think back to that idiot Mark Thatcher getting lost in the desert for 3 days before an intensive search located him. His insurance company paid.

I can only think that people who advocate not wasting money on insurance are the type who care so little for their lives (or deaths) that they do nothing about life insurance/pension provision etc. Incredible in this day and age.

Specially nowadays insurance is a must.

Tourist's groups willing to travel in the Great Jamihirya by private cars will be soon officially requested to have one at he border from the country of origin or international .

Budrinna

__________________
Budrinna Co.

Thanks luke, Interesting, still looking into it.. Dave

I'm sometimes a bit confused as to what people are referring to as regards to insurance. Do you mean vehicle based or travel based insurance? I'd suggest travel insurance is possibly more important. The financial loss of losing a vehicle is bad, but compared to the possibilty of being sued for hundreds of thousands of dollars it's a tiny amount. Most travel insurance has 'personal liability' and medical costs cover. I thought travel insurance was reasonably easy to find for any destination? But would it cover you if you killed someones breadwinner in a RTA? Or needed air vacced and weeks in hospital cos you were hit by a truck?
One other thing that occurs to me, has anyone ever had a problem crossing a border because their vehicle insurance does not cover them for that country?
Matt

__________________
http://adventure-writing.blogspot.com

http://scotlandnepal.blogspot.com/

*Disclaimer* - I am not saying my bike is better than your bike. I am not saying my way is better than your way. I am not mocking your religion/politics/other belief system. When reading my post imagine me sitting behind a frothing pint of ale, smiling and offering you a bag of peanuts. This is the sentiment in which my post is made. Please accept it as such!

Europ Assistance, got a guy into a private clinic and then top hotel in NKT (bad fall, broken collar bone and 2 ribs). Then flew him back first class with Air France, then taxi home.

We were crossing a sand-sea, no piste - and they had no issues with what we were doing (trail bikes in Sahara).

Standard cover gives all of that, don't know about it's availability to non-Belium residents, but I think the company is actually French - so they are larger than just one.

Last note, we self-extracted from the sand - the cover is fantastic, but has limits.

Sam.

The only time I have needed travel insurance was when I had in fact bought a very expensive policy from the best known expedition insurance touts at the time. I carefully read the small print before we left and it seemed that I was covered for green men decending in a space ship during the night, so thorough it all sounded. I had visions of air ambulances landing on some desert reg if need be.

The green men turned out to be the niger military who took us 2000 km out of our way to the capital in Niamey - a process which took 10-14 days (depending on where you start counting their involvement). Once in the capital, our passports were returned and we were 'welcomed to niger'. We were left with flying home and shipping the vehicle back. The extra costs were considerable.

Despite documentation of the event, said famous insurance company didn't want to know our plight. We got not a penny from them - just a scribbled note saying how sorry they were that the trip hadn't worked out as planned.

It all comes down to an assessors interpretation of events and whether the events qualify which, if you want, you can challenge in court. Good luck if you do.

I haven't bothered with the insurance scammers since.

Just had a look, Europ Assistance area also in UK.

Definately worth a look, I was very impressed with them.

Make sure that you write to them (ideally registered!) explaining exactly what you are planning on doing. If you send it registered, and they fail to reply by registered post, then you have them anyway...

Sam.

The evidence keeps coming in - its a comforting idea, but first timers using this forum should be fully appraised of its limitations in the wilderness. The job of assessors is not to pay. My friend was stabbed by a maniac in Asia, hospitalised and sent home. The insurance would not pay.

>3. The thought that no insurance company will cough up for aerial search facilities is wrong. They do.

Some may well do eventually - we'd love to hear about it - but who is going to organise this search in the first place? The Malian RAF who dont have 2 planes to rub together, or perhaps the Sand Sea RNLI? The idea that somewhere in the desert some palms flop to the side of a ramp and Thunderbird 2 comes roaring is a fantasy.
Sure you can get lucky with military patrols, oil camps and the like, but lost soldiers, ex-pat oil workers and Rally competitors are the only candidates likely to be saught.
Look how long it took the Algies to start searching for the abductees in 2003. There rels had flown out and organised their own ground searches at their own expense before any Alg aircraft was scrambled - famously using heat-seeking scanners on the baking rocks of the Tamelrik plateau...

>.... that idiot Mark Thatcher ...
Not the best example is it - the Boy Thatch paid 1000s to be in a Rally with the full support you'd expect, let alone the obvious advantages of his connections... Anyway, he was stranded out there with a French porn actress wasn't he?

>Europ Assistance
I was about to say EA and the like are only valid for lucky Continentals who can benefit from proper ins - but I guess not. I would certainly feel confident that a French organisation would have good conections in the dz.

Even 15 years ago a Swiss mate lost his TLC at gunpoint neat Tam and got the whole loss refunded; car, trauma, expenses. Now that's what I call insurance! Without paying a ridiculous premium, that sort of cover has never been available in the UK to my knowledge. I believe that since 9-11 insurance companies around the world have taken the opportunity to turn the screws/whack up premiums.

Campbell Irvine - who I used to recommend - seem to be out of the game now - or at least cite FCO places as off their map.

>they do nothing about life insurance/pension provision etc. Incredible in this day and age.

Never thought I'd see the P-word on this forum - now that is incredible!
When I first went to the Sahara some people thought that in itself was criminally irresponsible - they would actually get quite angry. Luckily, now that we can insure our washing against not drying on time, the world and especially the Sahara are much safer.

Seriously, 2 quid a day is not much is it, but all I am saying it's important not to take a domestic insurance mentality out to the desert - on an RTW trip for that matter. Some parts of this sorry world are simply beyond its range but it does not mean it is foolhardy to go there.

Ch

[This message has been edited by Chris Scott (edited 03 October 2005).]

__________________
Morocco Overland 4 pre-order for Xmas • Trans Morocco Trail