Alps holiday insura...
 

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[Closed] Alps holiday insurance

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Besides Dogtag, who else have people used for their Alps mtbing hols?


 
Posted : 05/04/2011 8:34 am
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snowcard?


 
Posted : 05/04/2011 8:35 am
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Virgin European last time.


 
Posted : 05/04/2011 8:39 am
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Boots.


 
Posted : 05/04/2011 8:40 am
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looking at the same just now and

Mountain biking (not including downhill racing and extreme ground conditions) standard

Mountain biking (including downhill racing and extreme ground conditions) inform us

- WTF is extreme ground conditions ..... fort william ? or is glentress extreme conditions ...... should be reworded i suspect to "road cycling" (which also prohibited on this policy no ifs no buts)or MTB as i suspect anything other than bridleway is extreme

Ill phone them anyway - fwiw its a back country/XC week with trail addiction


 
Posted : 05/04/2011 8:57 am
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Snowcard are definitely worth going with. When a mate spangled himself on the Swiss DH course a few years ago they were really helpful, both with advice and with sorting things out, payments, etc.

Of the above two options (in Trail Rat's post), I would go for the latter. Extreme ground conditions probably refers to riding DH tracks and the more bonkers singletrack - better to be safe than sorry, in my opinion.


 
Posted : 05/04/2011 9:07 am
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likewise .... but im just amaized that they differentiate......trying to remember who we insured with for our tour of nz - cycle touring was harder than mtbing to get a decent quote for !


 
Posted : 05/04/2011 9:19 am
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Try Dogtag


 
Posted : 05/04/2011 11:53 am
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Snowcard were brilliant for me when I decided my pelvis would look better in 3 pieces in les gets.

They did all the usual stuff, plus put me in touch with an English speaking doctor and nurse on the phone to help me with any medical questions I couldn't understand the answers from my French doctor.

Dave


 
Posted : 05/04/2011 11:57 am
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ditto dogtag and you also get a free.....dogtag which is cooler than the normal insurance policy doc. also comes with a useful travel doc holder.


 
Posted : 05/04/2011 11:57 am
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A bit repetitive but I would recommend getting Snowcard.

But have you looked into their annual multi-trip cover. I have it and paid £120 (ish - can't remember exactly, but did it as cover for myself and my girlfriend, so it works out a wee bit cheaper than paying separately).

You nominate your main activity (for me DH mountain biking) and you are then covered for in the UK as well. I fell of at Glentress one evening... free physio...


 
Posted : 05/04/2011 12:03 pm
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The BMC for me, I've had to claim 3 times so far, and they've paid out each time without quibbling.


 
Posted : 05/04/2011 12:10 pm
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Snowcard.


 
Posted : 05/04/2011 12:39 pm
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dog tag isnt that expensive actually ....

question - i have top level M&S contents cover - cover my bikes in transit ?


 
Posted : 05/04/2011 12:41 pm
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I have used snowcard the last couple of years.

I confirmed (email) with them which level of cover i needed as there was a thread on here about it.

My opinion is that XC is level 2 DH is level 3. they would have a hard time arguing that you were riding DH if you were doing anything other than a DH track / on a DH bike.

I described my holiday & bike and they confirmed appropriate cover level.


 
Posted : 05/04/2011 12:45 pm
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cover my bikes in transit ?

Should do if you have away from home cover


 
Posted : 05/04/2011 12:45 pm
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never assume with insurance co`s mind ......

probably give them a call and confirm - although i know a few decents locally that could give similar damage to a bagage handler 😉


 
Posted : 05/04/2011 12:47 pm
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I've always used snowcard


 
Posted : 05/04/2011 1:22 pm
 jhw
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Snowcard told me in August last year that any chairlift assisted riding counted as downhill.


 
Posted : 05/04/2011 2:21 pm
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any chairlift assisted riding counted as downhill.

what an utterly impossible thing to quantify... how long before a crash would you have had to use a chairlift.

what if you went up a lift, then rode down to below the bottom station, then crashed.

what if you got a chairlift up, then rode further up and then rode down - would you only count as downhilling when you passed the lift station?

Dave


 
Posted : 05/04/2011 2:26 pm
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Dogtag have big excesses on their sports activities.


 
Posted : 05/04/2011 3:01 pm
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when you look at it though - means youll only claim if choppered off the hill .... 350 is a drop in ocean compared to 10k +

if you have an EHIC or is it E411?? then you get treatment free anyhoo ...


 
Posted : 05/04/2011 3:15 pm
 sok
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M&S although Not had to use it so untested.

You're covered for mtb-ing but not for racing.
It's cost me £40 for the year (for a couple) so much cheaper than Snowcard.


 
Posted : 05/04/2011 3:39 pm
 jhw
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what an utterly impossible thing to quantify

I see your point, but my approach was, "if I get a single chairlift on this trip, it's viewed by them as a DH trip, so get the DH coverage". It's easy to get tied into knots about the precise meaning of this type of contractual term but in practice it's quite straightforward. You don't want the insurers to have any leeway whatsoever when it comes to your claim. Not for the sake of saving abt £4!

The logic of the term is probably that if you're getting chairlifts, you're doing 10 descents a day, whereas if you're climbing the hills yourself, you're probably only doing 1 Alpine descent a day. So it's fair enough that getting chairlifts ups the premium.


 
Posted : 05/04/2011 4:11 pm
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Good point on not giving them any means to wriggle out of it.

I can't remember what snowcard level I had, I suspect it was 3 to cover off piste snowboarding and alpine mountaineering, as well as biking (I have annual cover with my wife). They didn't ask me anything about how I had got injured, just what I needed them to do to help sort me out.

Dave


 
Posted : 05/04/2011 4:19 pm
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Snow card told me the same last year, chairlift means DH and not ordinary XC. So I paid about £50 quid for a weeks cover. Had I needed it at least I knew it would be sorted and not finding out that I was not covered when I was busted up.


 
Posted : 05/04/2011 4:50 pm
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if you have an EHIC or is it E411?? then you get treatment free anyhoo ...

No you don't, this is an oft-repeated error.

If you have an EHIC, you get the same amount of "free" treatment as a citizen of the country you're visiting.

If that country has no free health-care and requires their citizens to have insurance, then you get sweet FA.

If that country only partially covers the cost of treatment and requires their citizens to have "top-up" insurance then you will only get the partial costs. This is the case in France, where the state typically covers 70% of medical costs. 30% of the cost of, say, on operation on a broken leg can be a lot of cash.


 
Posted : 05/04/2011 4:56 pm
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Stevomcd +1

I was charged €50 top up after a couple of days in hospital (no operations)

One of first things they asked when I arrived in hospital was for ID and EHIC. Given that I had come straight from the hill on a stretcher/ambulance, I was glad I had them! I now ALWAYS carry these with me when abroad in EU.

Dave


 
Posted : 05/04/2011 5:09 pm
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Snowcard were brilliant when a friend broke bones biking. Well worth every bit of the premium. We've got annual cover as well.


 
Posted : 05/04/2011 8:20 pm
 jhw
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If you have insurance does that mean you don't need to show EHIC card and ID at the hospital; just the insurance card?


 
Posted : 06/04/2011 3:13 pm
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you still need to show EHIC card, they aren't interested in your insurance. You show EHIC card to qualify for equivalent care, then you need to pay any charges on top of that - your insurance will reimburse you.

If you don't have EHIC, you need to have a credit card to cover ALL costs.

Dave


 
Posted : 06/04/2011 3:19 pm

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