Travel insurance for the older amongst us or maybe good for the younger ones, too….

A new player https://gigasure.com/
A brand of SiriusPoint, established for decades, listed on the NY Stock Exchange so hopefully reliable in a claim.
Decent levels of cover if you step up from the cheapest layer. Covers riding a bike of any cc if you have a licence. Also, covers those riding a 125cc bike on a CBT.

I bought through Topcashback Compare. Premium £59 with a promise of a £12 cashback for an annual policy.

Covers all my medical stuff, up to 45 days per trip in Europe plus Egypt and Turkey.

You get pdf documents by email plus you can have an app where you can start a claim. You can also put the certificate in your phone wallet which presents a QR code to share with a hospital etc.
 
Cheers Wessie, I’ll check them out for covering me on my ride to Switzerland in May.
:thumb2
 
Just wasted a half hour of my life confirming/rechecking the Allianz policy through Halifax Bank was valid for a euro m/c tour….
“Only if the tour is professionally organised” came the response but, …. but, seeing as it’s not strictly excluded as per the policy small print (still trying to work that one out…) I could still submit claim “for consideration”.

How odd. And what a strange way to go about business. :nenau
 
JoeBiff said:
Just wasted a half hour of my life confirming/rechecking the Allianz policy through Halifax Bank was valid for a euro m/c tour….
“Only if the tour is professionally organised” came the response but, …. but, seeing as it’s not strictly excluded as per the policy small print (still trying to work that one out…) I could still submit claim “for consideration”.

How odd. And what a strange way to go about business. :nenau
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seems odd, as the policy I am about to replace, from Voyager's Able2travel broker, underwritten by Allianz is quite clear about riding a motorcycle. Just the usual have a licence and wear a helmet requirements.
I can't see they policy document on the Hfax website, assuming you are using the Ultimate Reward Account. None of these bundled accounts work for me as they add too much for my health stuff. Nwide want £100 extra when a standalone policy is around £50.
 
wessie said:
seems odd, as the policy I am about to replace, from Voyager's Able2travel broker, underwritten by Allianz is quite clear about riding a motorcycle. Just the usual have a licence and wear a helmet requirements.
I can't see they policy document on the Hfax website, assuming you are using the Ultimate Reward Account. None of these bundled accounts work for me as they add too much for my health stuff. Nwide want £100 extra when a standalone policy is around £50.
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Yes, URCA Allianz policy.
No med restrictions/loadings, or age limitations; no pillion so solo rider. Easy self-planned route through Holland & Germany.
ISTR Allianz said the exact same thing a couple of years ago, regarding "pro organised tours" and in the end I bought insurance through AdrFlux for peanuts.

The last thing anyone needs is a battle royal for med costs if it turns to ratshit. (y)
 
JoeBiff said:
The last thing anyone needs is a battle royal for med costs if it turns to ratshit. (y)
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indeed. It's naughty the full policy booklet is not on the website for someone to read before opening an account. If an insurer does not give me that information *before* purchase they won't get a sale.
 
Neil W said:
We have a joint travel medical insurance policy, always been expensive due to the wifes LUPUS and associated medical issues , however, recently she has gone on the kidhey transplant list and been diagnosed that in the near future she will need to go onto dialysis.
Normal run of the mill travel insurance carries an exemption on any issues related to her medical conditions so hence the specialist policy, premiums have jumped from £400 last year to almost £800 thus year but it would be irresponsible to travel without it
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Wife had a short hospital stay after Christmas , allergic to an antibiotic given to her for a chest infection (caused an issue leading to a bleed on one of her kidneys ). Informed the travel insurance company (we have a yearly policy) . Not a huge increase in premium BUT they made her aware that if she had not told them of the hospital stay and we had gone on holiday and there had been any issues the policy would have been cancelled and they would not pay out
 
Kitsilano said:
I have found the whole travel insurance process to be an absolute nightmare if either of the following requirements are your needs:
- coverage for more than a 21- or 30-day period in any single journey
- total time away from U.K. expected to be more than 183 days in a calendar year.

The most that I can find is a 90-day coverage period, with no limit of away days annually (ie return to UK every 91st day and depart again).


I surely can't be alone in a pre-retirement/retirement situation where these needs are pretty reasonable?

Any recommended insurers? (BTW, it's generally only AFTER completing the same repetitive medical questions/answers, presumably dictated by the same overall underwriter, that the trip duration limitations are made known. Talk about wasting time..
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We tend to be away for months at a time, often out of Europe, and have used IMG medical insurance several times. No experience of having to make a claim, but they are very responsive to emails. Note, this is medical and evac insurance ONLY.


They do more conventional cover, but we don't think it's worth it.
 
Staysure = Wankers. After two days of twoing and throwing and tellephone convos with agents was told motorcycle cover over 125cc was not covered despite making it very clear from the off that i was after motorcycle cover for travel abroad on a 1200 cc motorbike (over 125cc).
 
Pale Rider said:
Staysure = Wankers. After two days of twoing and throwing and tellephone convos with agents was told motorcycle cover over 125cc was not covered despite making it very clear from the off that i was after motorcycle cover for travel abroad on a 1200 cc motorbike (over 125cc).
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their policy document is on the website at https://www.staysure.co.uk/policy-documents/travel-insurance/ and they changed the T&C last October. Companies change the underwriters of their policies often. It may have been the case that they covered bikes in the past but I have not looked at the historic policies.

P45 clearly states the 125cc limit in the Oct 2025 policy underwritten by Great Lakes. This underwriter is used by a number of companies so avoid those policies as they are likely to have the same limit.

As I have said a number of times, always check the actual policy document, even if you renew with the same company. This happened with the Post Office a while ago, when they switched from Axa to another underwriter and I recall a few being caught out when they auto-renewed.

Never trust what a call centre droid tells you in a sales call.
 
I’ve just returned from 2 months in Spain with the bike.
I’ve got Nationwide FlexPlus - they wanted £112 to upgrade to 65 days cover.
Instead I took out an annual LV policy, £64 including 90 days cover per trip. I also got £25 cash back by going via Top Cashback…..
 
I have been using Puffin with my missus.

It covers motorcycles as long as you are licensed to ride them in the UK and wear a helmet. My policy says up to 31 days per trip as I do a yearly.

I had to claim on Egypt belly in Jan and it wasn't hard. Call up, explain situation, they said it sounds legit. Gave them medical centre details. Got those two talking/emailing. Provided details, paid excess. Haven't heard anything since.


Lets wait until next years premium comes through now.....
 
Had a conversation with Nationwide Flexiplus people (aviva I think) they told me quite clearly that the return leg of a trip from UK Must be booked before yer set off..
To be honest I have never checked before reading these posts. I/ We usually just bugger off to europe and then book and come back when weeve had enough. We have never stayed over our alloted 31 or 45 days per trip. I cant see a reason for this clause being in the policy. Can anyone enlighten me or reccomed a policy that dosent have this book it all before yer leave UK ??.
Great subject post. Could have saved me a fortune if summat had gone tits up whillst away
Thank mr Wapping and other contributers
 
MickDB1 said:
I cant see a reason for this clause being in the policy. Can anyone enlighten me….
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Because a trip with a start date but no pre booked end date is, by its very nature, open ended.

Your post says as much:

I/ We usually just bugger off to europe and then book and come back when weeve had enough….
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You’ve had enough after how many days? One? 10? 25? 36? 54? 125? More? Fewer? Who knows? You certainly don’t as you stay away “Until you have had enough”.

:beerjug:
 
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How can an insurance panel work out the size of the risk to underwrite if they don’t know how long the trip is, and therefore their charge.

Obvs a two day trip is much less risky than a two week trip, than a three month trip etc.
 
wessie said:
Companies change the underwriters of their policies often
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That is why it is very dangerous to read a post (posted Lord knows when) and accept what it says as gospel, maybe weeks or months later. It also assumes that the bod that made the recommendation read their policy correctly and / or typed their post accurately.

A classic example is the former Post Office’s Travel policy, which used to be highly recommended on these pages. In truth it was very good. But, after several years, they changed the policy wording to exclude riding motorcycles with a cubic capacity greater than 1600 cc. Many here ride motorcycles with a cubic capacity well under that, so won’t have been bothered, even if they spotted the new limitation. At the time I had four or five bikes, all of which - bar one - were under 1600 cc. My 1600 GT’s cubic capacity was (on the face of it) 1600 so would pass the test… but its actual capacity is 1,649 cc ie. greater than 1600 by 49 cc.

Of course 49 cc is not going to make a fig of difference. It’s even debatable whether 1600 cc is so much worse than say, 1000 cc. But, when the chips are down and I’m going under the knife for life saving surgery abroad following crashing my bike, I don’t want to be debating the niceties of 49 cc or anything else with a call centre chimp.

Similarly, my HSBC Premier bank account provides free Travel insurance, providing I am under 70 years old. I have had the account for years. Has the cover (ie. the stuff I am insured for) remained the same over the years? No, it most certainly has not. I’d be pretty foolish to assume that it had. Or to rely on a mate saying “But I thought my policy says….”

:beerjug:
 
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Oldrat said:
Obvs a two day trip is much less risky than a two week trip, than a three month trip etc.
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Even that is not strictly true. Insurance claims have to be: ‘sudden and unforeseen’. This means that they are as likely to occur on day two as they are on day one or say, day 26 or 54.

Short period cover, whether that be for a vehicle or travel, is generally ‘more expensive’ (ie. cost per day) for shorter periods than longer. That is why, an annual ‘multi-trip’ policy is often better value than, say, buying four policies of seven days’ duration to cover a bod’s four separate weeks away, spread over a year.

There are other possible advantages of a ‘multi-trip’ policy over a single trip policy…. But that’s another matter entirely.

:beerjug:
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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