Looking for advice on insurance to cover a rented bike for Thailand trip

GL3NN

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Hi, I’m heading out to Thailand for a month touring on a Yamaha Tenerife I’ve rented from Big Bike Rental Bangkok.
I’ve got travel insurance sorted but I’m struggling to find any insurance that will cover the cost of the rental bike if s#!t meets fan.
Does anybody have any recommendations or links to who they have used for this type of cover?
Thanks in advance.

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Moved to the Motor section. See posts #7 and #10.

Richard
 
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doesn't the hire cost cover insurance?

If yes, is this limited to the bare minimum cover to be legal?

are you seeking to cover the policy excess i.e. collision damage waiver? If so, we have had recent threads on that and there does not seem to be such a thing now.

please be more specific about the risk you want to cover
 
The cost of the bike would be the least of the worries if you had a big hospital bill and / or repatriation....make sure you're covered adequately on travel insurance for riding a big bike....most appear to limit size to sub 125cc

A thread here...
 
Check your credit card services, my gold card covers rental vehicles, effectively replacing CDW, if you pay with the card obviously

check the small print - does it cover bikes? We have had a couple of recent threads about no option for CDW for bikes after the last remaining underwriter withdrew from the market

HSBC wording: "Vehicle means a land motor vehicle with four wheels that is designed for use on public roads and intended for use on a bound surface such as concrete and tarmac"
 
check the small print - does it cover bikes? We have had a couple of recent threads about no option for CDW for bikes after the last remaining underwriter withdrew from the market

HSBC wording: "Vehicle means a land motor vehicle with four wheels that is designed for use on public roads and intended for use on a bound surface such as concrete and tarmac"

Good point, I haven’t checked mine for a while, not rented anything recently (also my card is from a French bank)
 
but I’m struggling to find any insurance that will cover the cost of the rental bike if s#!t meets fan.

What is it you are wanting to insure?

Your financial loss, should you have to cancel (or short close) the hire of the vehicle due to your illness or injury?

Any damage you cause to the vehicle?

Something else?
 
Apparently there’s no such thing as fully comp insurance in Thailand and the company said that I need to arrange my own insurance to cover the bike if anything happens to it


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The cost of the bike would be the least of the worries if you had a big hospital bill and / or repatriation....make sure you're covered adequately on travel insurance for riding a big bike....most appear to limit size to sub 125cc

A thread here...

Got travel insurance though Tesco and they cover rider of bikes over 125cc as long as the rider has a license to ride a bike over 125cc back home


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I’ve got to put down a £2000 cash deposit which is returned when the bike is returned, but I’m looking for some kind of insurance to cover the full cost of the bike if it was to be written off for example.
Thanks for all the advice so far guys


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Apparently there’s no such thing as fully comp insurance in Thailand and the company said that I need to arrange my own insurance to cover the bike if anything happens to it


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Now we’ve narrowed it down to what it is you you want, I’ll move your request to the Motor section.

Richard
 
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If I understand you correctly, the £2000 cash deposit you have been asked to lodge is compulsory, as a re-requirement of you hiring the bike in the first place. Correct, yes or no?

What I think you are then asking for is a policy to pay the difference between £2000 and the full ‘value’ of the bike….. in Thailand. Correct, yes or no?

My advice? Just don’t write the thing off or, if easier, don’t go.
 
Yes to both questions
Call me Mr Cynical, but unlike most buddhist thai’s I have my doubts about reincarnation.
I possess a healthy dose of self preservation and have no intention of writing off a bike while I’m on it, but unfortunately due to circumstances that are out with my control there may be a situation that results in the bike being seriously damaged.
So in the event of something terrible happening to the bike, I would like to purchase some kind of insurance that would cover the cost of the bike as recommended by the rental company.
Does anyone have any recommendations for companies who supply this services?
Thanks in advance for any advice.
 
Devitt, arrange cover for UK dealers.


God only knows if they can arrange something bespoke for you, a non-dealership, hiring a motorcycle in Thailand. A call to them is free (or near enough) but don’t be offended if and when they start laughing.

I see that the same question comes up on Google (search motorcycle hire excess insurance, for example) with no solutions to hand. And that’s after you waded through all the numpties saying “My travel insurance, covers me for riding a bike abroad” by way of a response. Here’s a sample:




My honest thought is that, outside of a very specialist broker (if you can find one) you’ll not find someone in the UK to offer it. I’d look to an insurer in the Far East, say Singapore onwards who might be able to assist or try asking on the Horizons Unlimited forum, which has a much wider ‘global experience’ than UKGSer or try a local forum, like this:



https://aseannow.com/topic/1211354-insurance-when-renting-a-motorbike/ (Same as above but different thread)

Or contact these people perhaps:


PS Before you call or contact anyone, write down exactly what you want, as this thread started as very garbled.

PPS My true belief though, is that you are whistling in the wind.
 
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Hired a Harley in Pattaya in the early 2000`s, proper good looking bike it was, chop, low and wide bars, big fuck off engine.
No insurance, no GPS, no maps and no helmets...It was proper good.

Life was much more simple back then, no one really gave a fuck, it was freedom in every sense....I didn`t even bother with an international driving licence. Didn`t know such things existed.

Bliss.

Watch out for the monkeys and if you go bush, look out for elephant shit, it can have you off! Especially if it is baked in the sun. :D

Water buffalo are units and completely unaware of their own size and have no spatial awareness.

Try and see someone getting bitten by a Cobra....I was the only one who laughed, as apparently it can be quite lethal.:D

Snakes in the road on the early morning is wonderful, try not to run them over.

I fucking love Thailand, from top to bottom.
 
Pretty sure all you will get is 3rd party cover, I’ve rented 500+cc bikes 4 times in Thailand and twice in Sri Lanka and never had insurance that will cover replacement cost/repair of the bike, doesn’t seem to exist for rentals, in my experience you either pay a fairly large deposit, (around £800- 1000) usually on a card but not actually taken out of our account, or leave your passport, which I certainly don’t advise, I’ll go elsewhere if that is the only option, I have asked if I would have to pay more if I bent the bike but have never had a definitive answer, normally just a smile and a shrug of the shoulders!
Never had an issue with travel/accident insurance regarding what size bike you can ride plenty of companies are happy to provide cover as long as you have an A class licence in the UK.
Thai roads are generally pretty good, the standard of driving not so, they cut corners on bends and overtake anywhere, the best roads are in the mountains in the North around Chang Mai, it’s far busier and a bit uninspiring around Bangkok.
Helmets and kit in general is cheap & nasty, we have lightweight armoured summer jackets and gloves, denim work style trousers, basic open face helmets we take with us which are better than any we have been offered with the bikes and lightweight walking boots.
Al.
 
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Once again guys thanks to all those who responded
Some helpful leads
Cheers guys


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Take a risk. They have 2k of your money. Do not handover your passport for them to keep. If you total the bike and you are able to just catch a plane home.
 


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