A few years ago, I visited a friend in New Zealand. I bought a used Honda VTR for a short tour to the South Island. On the return, I crashed it and I had a memorable ride with St Johns ambulance. After some hours and staples in a hospital emergency ward, I asked where and how I would make payment for the ambulance and treatment. The doctor said I had registered my bike when I bought it, therefore I was included in the ACC. I paid nothing! It is called Accident Compensation Corporation. I am told some other countries might have this program--the UK, Canada, maybe Australia. Register a bike and some fraction of the rego fee enrolls you in ACC. Fantastic. I am planning on a bike tour in Europe this fall--Ireland, France, Spain and Portugal. Does anyone have information about an ACC type program there? I did not find any specific advice on expat sites.

I have not heard of that elsewhere, if you have an accident in the UK you will be looked after by the NHS and as a foreigner in theory your travel insurance will be billed for the treatment although I am not sure this always happens, the only guaranteed answer is good travel insurance which covers you for every country you plan to visit.

Credit card and a good travel insurance with repatriation included ........most Eu countries will offer emergency treatment to a greater or lesser extent........but they will often bill you as will the NHS ad you're a foreign national . If you can't speak the local lingo then many countries will expect you to pay for the interpreter as well

You also have a chance of getting billed by the Fire Brigade in the UK or Ireland if they were called out to direct traffic or other tasks. The expectation that insurance is a bottomless bucket of cash means they don't hold back. £1000 for putting cones out on a motorway would be typical.

Get insurance.

Andy

That's cheaper than the £1500 my neighbour was charged for replacing three fence panels in her garden. Not the posts, just the panels

The NHS in the UK is not really geared up to charge patients for their treatment and frequently doesn't have much of a clue as to what their services are worth. A few years ago a US friend was taken ill while staying with us and went to hospital in a blue light ambulance, then spent 14 days in and out of intensive care (although mostly out to be honest), plus a few more days observation before discharge + drugs etc. The bill? - slightly over £5000. In US medical terms that's pocket change. It cost over £1000 to rebook their flights back.

ACC is a brilliant system, however there are plenty of recent immigrants to NZ that don't realise how good it is and would like to change it to a system like the UK where everything is paid for directly, primarily because of the way that claims for property damage are dealt with.

Here in Oz, a vehicle does not legally have to have any insurance to cover damage by its driver to his/her own vehicle or to another vehicle. However, all vehicles must have a current insurance policy to cover injuries and the resulting treatment (if any) to anyone involved in an accident i.e. passengers, pedestrians and drivers. if an accident occurs, details must be exchanged or an infringement notice can be issued by the police, if at least the car's registration number is taken down. On occasions, the party responsible for the accident may have no vehicle insurance or personal funds to cover damage to your vehicle. In that case you will have to determine if your vehicle is worth the cost of fixing, as it will be your funds being used!
Ambulance costs may be accrued if they attend. Many aussie residents belong to a health fund where ambulance assistance is covered by the health fund they are paying into (Yes, I know the pedants out there will say that Winston Churchill said never to finish a sentence with a preposition but he's not writing this!!). If you are involved in an accident and you need to supply the details of the other party involved to claim on insurance, you need the registered owner's name and address and if possible, the other vehicle's details. These details can usually be sought from the state bodies concerned with motor vehicle registration. Car details are free but owner's details come with a fee (at least in the state I live in).
Hope that helps potential visitors.

There is no such system that one is automatically enrolled in when registering a vehicle in either Canada or the USA.

In all the Canadian provinces, the only mandatory insurance coverage that a motorist is obliged to have is third party liability. In all provinces, it is possible to purchase additional insurance coverage for damage to your vehicle arising from an accident ("collision"), damage to your vehicle arising from non-collision causes ("comprehensive"), theft, and medical coverage for the vehicle operator ("accident benefits"). But these are all optional coverages.

These additional coverages (beyond the legal minimum of 3rd party liability) are not available to persons who are insuring a vehicle that is registered outside of Canada, for example, a person from Europe who ships their moto here to ride it around in Canada whilst on vacation.

Residents of some provinces will have coverage for medical services required as a result of a motor vehicle accident provided through their provincial health insurance scheme, but the coverage is limited to in-hospital services and visits to physicians. Coverage for additional medical services that might be needed as a result of a motor vehicle accident, such as ambulance, rehabilitation, home care, assistive devices, death & burial, etc. needs to be purchased from the vehicle insurance provider - this is the "accident benefits" coverage mentioned in the previous paragraph.

Non-residents who are visiting Canada as bona fide tourists need to obtain their own medical insurance coverage before arriving in Canada. This is entirely separate from vehicle insurance policies. Such policies are provided by private insurance companies, possibly companies that are not present in Canada, and one will need to very carefully examine the policy to determine what is and is not covered.

Michael