Once again I have just renewed my medical only travel policy with "1 Stop Travel", £277.00 for 10 months all world, a UK based firm with a web site and once again I re-emphisised the fact that I was traveling on a big bike and was a pensioner. They were, once again, happy with this and, once again, a very good price. Ride safe.

Yip, but the other key factor is the FCO list. Half(?) of my intended route is through countries listed on the FCO website, so I want cover in those countries as well.

I'm happy if it excludes the actual part of the country with problems and/or the thing (car jackings for example) that the FCO warns about. But if I slip over whilst walking on flat ground then I'd like to be covered for that regardless of it it happens in Morocco (not on list) or Nigeria (on list).

And that's why Travel Nation were good as they offered that cover.

Still, my last two trips were without any insurance and I'm starting to remember why now!

so far so shit for me, money supermarket came up with just 2 quotes for me, each greedy f**ker wanting just under a grand, and bikers travel insurance (tgic) want the same, or 650 if i don't wanna do any snowboarding. Essential travel (axa) want 341 with an excess of 650 and personal liability isn't covered cos the bike makes it a grade 3???? :censored: and carole nash has just managed to take 30mins to confuse the hell outta me. Muchly hating all insurance people!!! now in dire need of a fag and a lay down.

I went with Navigator Travel Insurance. No Personal Liability either, but I don't mind that. As long as I'm insured for medical/hospital costs, that's fine with me.
You can take out vehicle insurance/3rd party liability insurance in most countries anyway, if you really want to (I did so in Iran, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia).
Everything else (i.e. long-term effects on your own body): life insurance? (Personally, I don't have one)

i would love to do that, but i think if i went without life insurance and the best cover i could find, my parents would come find me and kill me, or actually hide all paperwork so i couldn't leave, until i sorted out the kinda cover they want me to have. No choice really, unless i wanna be riding in my garden pretending it's the sahara....

From the Is My Holiday Destination Safe? - 1Stop Travel and Holiday Insurance website:

"Please note that our Policy does not cover customers who travel to a country against Foreign Office Advice."

So you currently aren't covered in the following as of today, 18 August 2009:

Countries the FCO advises against all travel to

* Somalia

Countries the FCO advises against all travel to parts of

* Afghanistan
* Albania
* Azerbaijan
* Burundi
* Cambodia
* Cameroon
* Chad
* Colombia
* Congo (Democratic Republic)
* Djibouti
* Ecuador
* Eritrea
* Ethiopia
* Georgia
* Haiti
* India
* Iran
* Iraq
* Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories
* Italy
* Lebanon
* Mali
* Niger
* Nigeria
* Pakistan
* Philippines
* Russian Federation
* Sri Lanka
* Sudan
* Thailand
* Uganda
* Venezuela
* Yemen

Countries the FCO advises against all but essential travel to

* Burundi
* Central African Republic
* Congo
* East Timor
* Guinea
* Mauritania
* Yemen

Countries the FCO advises against all but essential travel to parts of

* Afghanistan
* Algeria
* Angola
* Armenia
* Bangladesh
* Chad
* Comoros
* Congo (Democratic Republic)
* Ecuador
* Ethiopia
* India
* Iraq
* Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories
* Ivory Coast (Cote d'Ivoire)
* Kenya
* Kosovo
* Lebanon
* Liberia
* Libya
* Mauritania
* Nicaragua
* Niger
* Nigeria
* Pakistan
* Russian Federation
* Rwanda
* Sri Lanka
* Sudan
* Thailand
* Turkey
* Uganda
* Uzbekistan

So, no insurance in Italy! India! Turkey! Russia! Ecuador! Thailand! Venezuela! Mali!

could you do a list of places that are ok to travel to, then there's a little positivity and it won't make me cry to think that i'm now basically going nowhere unless i wanna sail between three countries and call it a rtw tour??

add: East Timor! Cambodia! - to the noticeable and significant ones (for me)!

I'm dissapointed .. :(

Good info though. Thanks for posting.



.

Luckily Navigator take a sensible approach:

"Hi, Your site mentions that you cannot provide cover if a country is mentioned on the FCO list. At the moment India, Mali and Thailand are on the list. So your policy wouldn't cover me in any of those countries? Or is it just the part of the country that is warned about by the FCO, or just the activity/danger?"

"Hi Darrin, It's just the specific parts that the FCO are warning about. They just want to ensure that you follow FO advice. Regards - R*****

So happy days (just stay up to date with the FCO list etc)

Link to Navigator Travel
travel insurance uk, backpacking, student travel, gap year holiday insurance

Thanks for sharing the fruits of your labours roamingyak :thumbup1:

I saw a link to Downunder Insurance - www.duinsurance.com - over on the Thorn Tree. No reports about whether people rate them or not, but after a couple of emails re: FCO advice they've confirmed:

"If it relates to areas part of then it is just in those parts of that country, and not the whole country"

Not the clearest explanation, but seems like they're willing to play ball.

They have a couple of different policies, prices around about the same range as Navigator.

Another possibility, also mentioned on the Thorn Tree, is ACE - http://www.aceinsure.com/backpacker/default.asp - I emailed them about the FCO advice and got this response:

"I can confirm that ACE excludes cover for any costs resulting from an insured person travelling to countries or regions to which the Foreign and Commonwealth Office advises against travelling. The current FCO advice for Africa can be seen at The FCO website Please select he link below to view this:

http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/travelling-and-living-overseas/travel-advice-by-country/sub-saharan-africa/

Obviously this advise does not apply to the whole of Africa, but to clearly listed regions and areas, where the advisory is against all travel or all but essential travel. In either case, ACE would not cover any costs incurred for travel to any area listed under it's website online.

I hope this clarifies the situation for you but should you require any further assistance please do not hesitate to contact me."

So looks like another option to consider. I should mention for the bikers that I'm in a 4x4 so haven't asked the question that seems to come up regularly about bike size to either of the two companies I've contacted.

Carole Nash
 

Apparently, Carole Nash now covers bikes with NO LIMIT on engine size.

I was on the phone to them last week about travel insurance for a 4x4 trip and I was told it made no difference what vehicle I was traveling with. Out of curiosity, I asked about bikes, specifically 'big' bikes, and was assured they would provide cover.

Could be another option....?

Just had a look at the CN site, no sign of a link to "long term" trip ? How many months are you travelling for ?

Not sure how many other people have been using WorldWideInsure, but discovered today that they wanted an *extra* 190ukp/person for "Overland" motorcycling on World trips.

After a scan of this forum I had a look at 1 Stop Travel and American Express.

I decided I liked the look of Amex and rang and discussed the ( 8-9 month) trip (it started as 6 but it keeps getting longer :-) ), they were happy to cover the motorbike use and did the trip for 466ukp in total (yes, 233ukp/person).

I'll report back if I have any issues once I have read the docs :-)