Wondering what to do !!!!! (1 Viewer)

[Stephen & Jeannie]

Going away for the Winter, until now I have not bothered with travel insurance !! BUT !! In November when we go away I will be a "respectably" married man with all that goes with it !!

So, what does everybody else do ????? We intend to be away for up to 6 months ! I have done a bit of googling on the subject and prices up to £1000 have been quoted !!

Durrrrr !!!

 

[Welsh girl]

Well be watching this with interest.
We used staysure last year but you need a return trip booked and we can't book a return as the schedules are not out yet.

 

[JJ]

Don't listen to me but I hold the view that all insurance is a con trick at worst or a straight gamble with the odds heavily weighted in favour of the insurance company at the very best.

I NEVER insure anything unless required to do so by law (with an exception the last time I hired a car... boy was I conned there).

However I fully understand people buying insurance because it brings them "peace of mind".

May I suggest if buying some insurance brings the two of you happiness then do so... I wouldn't.


JJ

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[movan]

Stephen, did I miss the photos?

Hope you get your insurance sorted but we need proof that you and Jeannie are married, please.

 

[Stephen & Jeannie]

Stephen, did I miss the photos?

Hope you get your insurance sorted but we need proof that you and Jeannie are married, please.

Then be at Stornoway Registry office on 15th September !!!!!

 

[chaser]

Well be watching this with interest.
We used staysure last year but you need a return trip booked and we can't book a return as the schedules are not out yet.

We have a annual thing with staysure, with minor health issues for about £120 don't know about 6 months at a time or age things but got to be worth a look

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[Puddleduck]

You could try an insurance broker - now and again they can find a policy tailored to you that is cheaper than anything you find on the net. If it isn't better via the broker then don't buy.

Otherwise what insurance do you actually need and why? It all depends on your attitude to risk of course. I would never claim for less than £1000 on car insurance for example so have a very high voluntary excess. It's quite surprising the difference in quotes you get when you say "it's an insurance job" or "I'm not claiming on the insurance". Fraud is rife but that's for another thread.

 

[chaser]

You could try an insurance broker - now and again they can find a policy tailored to you that is cheaper than anything you find on the net. If it isn't better via the broker then don't buy.

Otherwise what insurance do you actually need and why? It all depends on your attitude to risk of course. I would never claim for less than £1000 on car insurance for example so have a very high voluntary excess. It's quite surprising the difference in quotes you get when you say "it's an insurance job" or "I'm not claiming on the insurance". Fraud is rife but that's for another thread.

Quite, when we used to go on package holidays and such we just relied on the e111 or whatever it's called now, but since having the mh and going to France 6 or more times a year £120 doesn't seem to bad for piece of mind and also covers looseing stuff and that, saying that we have never claimed anything, so if the op is young and fit the e111 should suffice but it's not up to us to say what you need.

 

[BreweryDave]

We have Full Timers insurance on the van, so we are fully covered (like buildings and contents) 24/7/365 anywhere in Europe, with no maximum stay restrictions. That covers the van, breakdown, contents, etc.

I think however you may be referring to medical insurance. The E111 (now the EHC I believe) is a must. As for insurance cover - if you google 'long term travel insurance' there are lots of options and policies available - but again, check the small print! Many are backpackers policies, and don't offer cover over age 50, but there are policies out there. pre-existing conditions will of course bump it up! I've looked, and around a grand is average for 2 persons for 12 months. (We intend taking our fultiming abroad virtually permanently soon, maybe only returning for a couple of months each year)
If you think about it - thats only about a tenner per week per person - a bargain if anything untoward and unexpected happens on the medical front.

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[nomadic]

If you have pre 2014 ADAC cover on your M/H the plus contract includes a measure of medical and repatriation cover. They modified the policy with effect from 1/1/14 so I'm not sure what's been reduced/omitted.

EHC1 plus may well be worth a look, as well as saga, they seem to be pushing travel insurance just now.

 

[Stephen & Jeannie]

It is medical insurance that we are looking for, sorry for the confusion !!

 

[Geejay]

The biggest cost, should the worst happen is repatriation, which could cost tens of thousands, although a stay in hospital could also be expensive. EHIC gives you the same cover as residents in the host country which may or may not be as good as the UK. Also, how would you get your van back and your new wife?

The Caravan Club have a good offering, but expensive. Staysure's name comes up quite often, or try Blue Bear. There are quite a few threads on this on the forums for other ideas.

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[sedge]

Well I'm absolutely hacked off this year. This is me, the retired ex insurance underwriter who became a broker, who has always insisted on Travel insurance and didn't move ALL the current account to Santander last year, because the Lloyds account included 'nominally free' travel insurance automatically, including my pre-existing ailments.

The ailments haven't changed or got worse and are not things I'm going to die of suddenly or be hospitalised for at the drop of a hat. But apparently over the last 12 months they have all become so life threatening that I am required to pay an additional premium of £600 per annum to include em! So, with the £25 a MONTH it costs to have the privilege of this account with the insurance - in my mind I would now be paying £900 a year for the cover.

Well - no thank you very much. I'm only going to Europe so the EHIC will cover me for medical emergencies and where we are going is France which if anything has a better health service than us - I'll take my chances.

 

[old-mo]

All the many, many years of going abroad we have never bothered, even when we lived out there in 2002.. Only ever had to visit a Doctor once for Paul, and he picked up on some thing the doctor back in the UK should have found on his 6 monthly check up.. cost 45 euros...

As for falling down, or having an accident, as long as you have your EH11 or what ever it is, you are still entitled to the care that the local`s are entitled to...

Unlike a lot of country`s, if you get knocked down, the medics or ambulance staff don`t rifle through your pocket`s to see if you have n insurance card or what ever... they get you to hospital ASAP, which is all you will be concerned with..

But if we come out of the EU, then it will be a different kettle of fish..

 

[TerryL]

In Europe the EHIC card will get you EMERGENCY medical treatment and if that's all you want then fine. However as mentioned earlier there are all sorts of other considerations so we prefer reasonably comprehensive cover and we found Staysure to be very reasonable for longer term as well as outside Europe (Morocco).

Mind you, I'll be 65 at next renewal!

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[Geejay]

In Europe the EHIC card will get you EMERGENCY medical treatment

That's right, plus treatment for pre-existing chronic conditions if that becomes necessary to continue your stay. But you may have to pay and if you are really unlucky it could cost thousands.

But I don't buy the "it's never happened to me" nonsense. On that basis I should cancel my buildings and contents insurance because my house has never burned down and I've never been robbed. Or maybe I don't need breakdown insurance when abroad because I've never broken down or had an accident. If you want to take the chance, fine, but it is a risk and if you don't mind the risk of being bankrupted then fine, but don't complain if it happens to you.

 

[Cobweb]

Hi

We have had various travel insurance policies over the last 5 years or so for multiple trips each trip up to 4 months Worldwide or single trips up to 5 months and the cost has been between £400- £550 per annum . We have been insured by Insure &Go ,Columbus Travel as well as Saga . I have a couple of medical conditions but husband has none . I have had to claim once in Florida in Fort Lauderdale when I had a sudden severe headache and was rushed into A&E with suspected cranial bleed ! I had scans and all in all spent 4 hours there but nothing was found . The bill was $ 7000.00 ! After much correspondence and letters from my GP the company Insure & Go paid up . It was just as well that I had declared all medical conditions since they really investigated thoroughly . In Europe the Ehic card is a must and that was all I needed when I busted my knee skiing a few year back ....always carry it with you and enough cash to cover the cost of the ambulance . That time I did not bother to claim from the insurance since I claimed back for the NHS when I got back home .
I would not take a risk travelling without insurance since not having it could be very costly indeed.

 

[Abacist]

In my experience most internet travel insurances which include medical insurance will tend to refuse cover if you answer yes to questions relating to pre-existing or previous medical problems so if you don't declare something then you will be denied cover or have to reimburse any costs that they incur on your behalf. If visiting the USA these costs will probably lose you your house!

In this connection I can say that my daughter is a school teacher who led a trip to New York and one of the kids needed minor emergency treatment. A big thuggish security guard refused to let them leave before payment had been made by credit card and the school insurance company were useless and just said don't pay and leave it to us to sort out. Conditions were unsanitary in the A & E unit with other people's blood left from previous examinations, no privacy curtains for cubicles etc - horrendous experience for them and long live the NHS. We don't know how lucky we are!

I have used BUPA annual worldwide travel insurance in the past at a reasonable cost of about £100 each before I was 60 and it had a simple self declaration that you had to ask yourself which was were you fit to travel and didn't have anything wrong with you at the time. This was recommended to me by a private medical insurance specialist broker. Its not so cheap once you get over 60 and USA and Canada cover becomes very expensive or unavailable. Worth checking it out.

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[Stephen & Jeannie]

Just received my E 111 !!!!!