hi people, from my hospital bed in xalapa, vera cruz, mexico a heads up. world nomads have just refused to pay any medical costs after a moto vs car in which i came off 3rd best, car - mini bruise, bike - few bruises, me, # fractured femur, dislocated shoulder and chronic indigestion from hospital food and lack of , their reason, my moto is too big, i.e. above 125cc. when i purchased this policy in aug-sep last year to continue with one bought the previous aug-sep they again said that size was only related to bike damage claims and not medical ones, it would appear that not only lawyers have the tongues of vipers. mexico is not that expensive compared with other places, i reckon this little incident is going to cost me between 7 - 10 thousand pounds, but if it had been 3 weeks later when i had planned to be in the usa, it would have meant selling the house so be warned, "all that glistens is not gold". if anyone is passing through over the next 3 weeks or so, smuggle me in a chilled one, cold turkey is no fun. ride safe.

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Mike
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Mike is riding the twisty road in the sky

I too am having to delve into murky insurance waters to try to fish out a policy that covers me for what I want to get up to.

I am leaving the UK for Oz for 2 years+ and need to get cover for at least the first year.

Problems encountered so far are similar to those experienced by other posters in this thread - restrictions on motorcycle size (under 125cc); restrictions on length of policy (longstay and backpacker cover extends to a max of 18months from what I have managed to find); dodgily worded policy documents:
An exclusion in Direct Insurance policy (and I saw it in another one this evening, but can't remember which one it was... but look out for it):

'Anything arising from owning or using any aircraft, mechanical or motorised vehicles'

I did call to find out exactly what that meant, and Claire and her Duty Manager were unable to say - neither of them knew.

I have had insurance with Insure & Go before, but the motorcycle extension only covered a period of up to 30 days - that said however, I never had to give them the dates for those 30 days. Hmmm. Anywho, they aren't applicable for my current needs.

World Nomad ticks all the right boxes and appears to have been put together by people who have travelled and understand what we are faced with, but their policy document has this interesting General Exclusion:

'You are not covered for anything caused directly or indirectly by the following, unless you have contacted us and we have confirmed in writing that you will be covered.
1. ...
...
19. motorbike touring or where a motorbike is the main mode of transport'

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Hi Maja,

Sorry to hear about your mishap and I wish you a speedy recovery.

Now you got me seriously worried, as I have just extended my WM policy for another year. But then, I'm an NZ resident and that may make all the diference. Must check that out, though.

All the best,
Peter.

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Cheers,
Peter.

Europe to NZ 2006-10

If I just got an insurance policy from Carol Nash in Dublin to cover my m.c trip Europe/Africa 8 month for 104 Euro - initially the perosn I spoke with said they only provide 45 days max coverage - I asked this person to speak with her supervisor and the got back to me with the quote above, hope this is helpfull..Mike

Nice one Michael will give them a phone tomorrow morning

I got my cover from World Nomads for a 4 month trip. Premium was 201 Euros.

I am in the process of making a claim and I have to deal direct with the underwriter. Because I live in France, the policy is underwritten by IHI of Denmark.

Might be worth contacting them direct for a quote, even if you Do live in the uk

IHI - International health insurance, travel insurance, expat insurance

John

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Nostradamus Ate My Hamster

No one knows how good their policy is until it needs to be claimed upon, but based on a number of seperate stories from people I actually know (not friends of friends) and from what I have been hearing about the excellent service provided by Carol Nash European recovery services I think I would tend to seriously give them a try for ALL my insurance needs

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'He who laughs last, was too slow to get the joke'
Never confuse the map with the journey.

i use www.flexicover.co.uk as they have a range of information on the different medical circumstances etc. ideal for sourcing information before you go away.

Apologies if anyone has already mentioned this company - it's a long thread...

I used a UK company called MRL Insurance for our long term cover and will definitely use them again.

Cover was very well priced, they do long term cover globaly, and it is aimed at independent travellers rather than package holiday cover.

As part of thier service though they have a contact centre, and if you are in any kind of trouble or emergency and can reach them, they will act on your behalf and make phone calls to friends/relatives and arrange for your problem to be fixed - they will also send cash by express courier to wherever you are in the world (as long as a courier can reach it I guess). Thankfully something we never needed but it was very comforting to know that if we had an empty tank of gas, no ATM's and no dollars left we wouldn't be there for long.

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www.simba4x4.com

Driven me mad trying to get insurance. I posted earlier about the "Final Hurdle" catching me out each time... Being over 65....Bike over 125....trip over 30 days...etc....finally thought I'd sorted it with Hayman( recommended by me above) only to be told that as Mauritania is on the UK Govt Foreign and Commonwealth office "No Go" list..ie advice is not to travel at all...the whole policy is null and void.................Thanks to folks above for recommending the Post Office....insurance sorted in about ten minutes on the phone. NO cover whilst IN Mauritania...but no problem with the rest of the itinerary.....ie Morocco ...south western Mali ...B-Faso..Benin....back to Senegal and the Gambia. Cost £485.....but cover is excellent...

A current thread about World No... nads is providing an update, as at April 2012, here:- http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...d-nomads-48863

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Dave

Being old, very old, travel insurance is getting harder to find, however, one of the many advantages of being retired is that you have time to search the internet and I have found a company called "Go Walkabout" which almost seems too good to be true giving me a quote of 400 pounds for 288 days in the Americas riding anything that is covered on my UK license. Anyone have any info on this lot? Ride safe.

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Mike
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Mike is riding the twisty road in the sky

Many thanks for your excellent post. I would also like to remind people that they should all check the Foreign Office (or their countries advice) to see if warnings are given for the areas people intend to travel. Insurance companies will NOT COVER YOU for areas that are deemed unsafe.
It's well worth asking your insurer if this applies to areas that are safe at the time of purchasing insurance but later become dangerous.

Remember those insurance fu$%ers will do anything not to pay!!!

My medical insurance is up for renewal. Last year when I tried renewing my policy with Navigator, I was told they could no longer get policies for us (too many claims had made policies uneconomic for insurance companies).

I bought a policy with Tokyo Marina HCC. I was about to renew it until I read all the angry reviews from policy holders trying to get a claim out of the company.

I'm a UK citizen currently in Mexico. Any ideas of a good insurance company to call?

Cheers,

Bob

I work for a medical assistance company so when you phone your insurance company with a problem, it is usually someone like us you will talk to.
Tokyo is one of the ones we deal with, I am on the medical side so don't get too involved in the nitty gritty of policies but my wife does. She says Tokyo can be a bit of a pain, we don't have any delegated authority so everything has to go through them, this makes the policy difficult to verify and slow to confirm cover, which means your potentially picking up a bill for thousands in the initial stages. They also ask for details of your previous medical history from your GP for almost everything which again can cause delays. They are also quite picky about the policy detail and related medical history.

Of the ones we deal with Endsleigh are good as they let us just get on with sorting stuff out so you get action quickly, don't pay and claim though because their claims department are a pain and take ages, let us deal with the hospital direct. We aren't sure if the cover motorcycling.

Maven/Aon is another good one that does cover bikers.

Aviva products and RSA are also good.

Be aware though that any claim for a condition that may be related to previous medical history will require us to check with your GP for most companies which may cause delays, so be prepared to have to lodge a deposit of potentially several thousand pounds with the hospital.

It is also a condition of most policies that you must be registered with a UK GP, so make sure you are still registered and keep your registration active.

Don't assume the hypocratic oath exists in other countries, it doesn't, if you can't pay then they will quite literally dump yoou in the street to die in some countries.

Declare everything so at least you know if there are any exceptions and there won't be any nasty surprises..

Read the policy documents carefully to ensure you aren't doing anything you might be excluded for, this might include travelling to certain countries, riding certain motorbikes, not taking your malarial tablets or indulging in a prohibited activity such as quad biking, or staying beyond the trip limits of the policy (most high street policies are limited to 31 days, and they will check).

Don't believe you can pull the wool over the insurance companies eyes, they employ special investigation teams, they've seen it all before and whatever your scam is, you won't be as original or clever as you think you are!

Don't underestimate the costs of treatment, bills of hundreds of thousands of pounds are not uncommon, so make sure your covered for what you are doing

Hope that helps

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1990 Landcruiser H60. Full rebuild completed 2014