Does Anyone Else Travel UK/EU Without Travel Insurance?

[HKF]

If you book a holiday abroad with a company, you have to prove that you have Travel Insurance.

I've never done that, so i wouldn't know.

 

[jumartoo]

I've just posted our experience on the "Knock on the door thread" when we helped someone who knocked on our door. I'm not writing it all again here, but ... the people involved were so relieved that they had insurance.

A month in a hotel, after airlift to hospital and a major brain operation, and repatriation of people and motorhome, wouldn't be cheap.

 

[HKF]

Lots of house insurance, banks accounts and other things cover some of those items nowadays, maybe also check those

Thanks, I will. I might have a bit more covered than I think

 

[HKF]

I've just posted our experience on the "Knock on the door thread" when we helped someone who knocked on our door. I'm not writing it all again here, but ... the people involved were so relieved that they had insurance.

A month in a hotel, after airlift to hospital and a major brain operation, and repatriation of people and motorhome, wouldn't be cheap.

I did read your thread. The only things I'd be missing there is the hotel and repatriation. Repatriation is the one thing I've never really thought about.

 

[jerryz]

I have pre -existing conditions which in effect make medical cover travel insurance and even accident cover useless as they can use it as a get excuse for almost any event according to my Insurance broker . ,, But I am covered by my Austrian EU medical cover and EHIC and in event of an accident not my fault would get cover on others insurance ,, In thailand I can get accident insurance on government system but private insurance its worthless if one has pre-existing conditions

I can get worldwide travel cover but only cover accidents again

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[Odd-no-more]

I'm covered for health and breakdown, just not other things like cancellations, loss of luggage/documents, repatriation etc.

When our luggage was delayed we claimed for replacement clothes, toiletries shoes etc. we had a hire car so could go shopping easily, I don't know if a taxi to the shopping centre would have been covered but the insurance paid for everything we needed until we received our own stuff after 4 days

 

[DandJ]

I too, live in France. (moved 18 mths ago from the UK) We have travel insurance, used to have it as a block policy thru work but have taken out a policy with a french firm here now we are retired.
Our main reasoning is that it is the sensible thing to do. My wifes Aunt had an (obviously) unexpected brain anuerism in Spain some years ago. She was in hospital for nearly 3 months. The insurance paid for her husbands digs for that period of time and all medical bills and issues and then for the repatriation flight home to the UK. (c£20k, years ago)
I've seen enough 'gofundme' begging accounts for folk who've gone and got injured (generally doing stupid stuff but not always) and had staggeringly expensive bills for medical expences and repatriation.
Granted, this was from Morocco but a guy I know had a motorcycle crash last February...he wrote this of the medivac after speaking to a chap at the insurance firm.
I casually asked him ...
Did he know how much my Medevac was...
His reply was, "I can't tell you exactly but it is above 65k"......

For a few quid a month, it's a no brainer for me.

 

[L' Hobo]

I've never had travel insurance when travelling to UK/EU destinations. Just wondering if anyone else does the same? My reasoning is;

• Insurance is normally not worth the paper it's written on
• Insurance companies will almost always try to get out of paying out on a claim
• If I'm in UK/EU, I can get medical treatment using my GHIC card
• If I'm fit enough to be discharged from hospital but not fit enough to travel, I can book into an apartment until I'm fit enough
• I've only ever had to cancel one pre-booked hotel (about £100) and that was my own fault for not booking one with free cancellation

Maybe I'm an exception but just wondering how much of an exception I might be

I was thinking about this a few weeks ago, in the early days of bumming around Europe, 60-70's did Travel insurance exist?

If I was not otherwise engaged, I would just throw a few things in the VeeDub and head off with no thought of insurance, booking ferry or sites, just go!

Depending on how much spare money and time I had, would depend where I headed for.
Little money and time, UK. Lot of money & time, across the water.

But life was different then, I was young, fit and capable.
If the vehicle went wrong, I could fix it.
If I ran out of cash, there was work.
Are, the good old days!

 

[Odd-no-more]

The first time I took a car to Europe I didn't even have insurance for the car abroad, I was stopped coming off the ferry and they sold me border insurance, I think it was third party only, I didn't have any other insurance but I was only 18. They didn't say anything about 3 of us in my MG Midget

 

[InvictaMoto]

As I used to travel extensively in Europe and Morocco on a motorcycle (and still do!) I have always had travel insurance with cover to repatriate me should I have a prang. Riding home with a broken leg or worse seemed a risk I wasn't prepared to take.

Having been in Florida in 2018 and seen a UK tourist taken away in an ambulance after a minor heart attack at the resort I was staying at for a few days and his wife telling me that they asked for insurance before they did much at the hospital and their suggested costs being close to $50000 for his care, it seems like a good idea.

Of course, is a rip-off/gamble when you don't use it. Maybe the £200 it cost me to cover my wife for an annual policy last year (ends 24 May 24) was wasted.....

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[Northernraider]

Are you never concerned that your dogs might cause an accident leaving you liable?
Presumably you have vehicle insurance? Is that only because it's a legal necessity?

Can't say I've ever given that a thought and wouldn't have thought travel insurance would cover it.

Don't have pet insurance either.

That's the reason vehicle insurance is so high because its a legal requirement. If it wasn't it would be cheaper. Never met a poor insurance company.

 

[Northernraider]

If you book a holiday abroad with a company, you have to prove that you have Travel Insurance.

Really?

I never have

 

[InvictaMoto]

That's the option we have talked about as an alternative to taking out insurance.

Seems like a good idea if you are dead. But maybe just crippled..... or undead?

 

[Northernraider]

I was thinking about this a few weeks ago, in the early days of bumming around Europe, 60-70's did Travel insurance exist?

If I was not otherwise engaged, I would just throw a few things in the VeeDub and head off with no thought of insurance, booking ferry or sites, just go!

Depending on how much spare money and time I had, would depend where I headed for.
Little money and time, UK. Lot of money & time, across the water.

But life was different then, I was young, fit and capable.
If the vehicle went wrong, I could fix it.
If I ran out of cash, there was work.
Are, the good old days!

That's the thing nowadays we are all programmed to think "what if" there's a lot of money being made from fear.

It's always a gamble of course and if I was older and had medical issues then I'd most likely not take the same chances.

If I end up in hospital facing a bill I can't afford I'll just ask them to put me down lol.

 

[HKF]

I have pre -existing conditions which in effect make medical cover travel insurance and even accident cover useless as they can use it as a get excuse for almost any event according to my Insurance broker . ,, But I am covered by my Austrian EU medical cover and EHIC and in event of an accident not my fault would get cover on others insurance ,, In thailand I can get accident insurance on government system but private insurance its worthless if one has pre-existing conditions

I can get worldwide travel cover but only cover accidents again

I do get travel insurance if I go outside the UK/EU.

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[ianp]

We do have breakdown with our French insurers and it's worked well in the past.

My GHIC card will cover me in the EU and the UK for health related stuff, although when I tried to use it at a UK hospital A&E they had no idea what it was. I got treated and given medication without charge. This was wrong because, as a non-UK resident, they should have taken my card details and charged the French system for my care. However, despite explaining this to them, no one knew what to do. I was actually shocked by that, as I shouldn't have been treated for free.

Don't think this is quite right as I think accident / emergency care is free to all comers......it only becomes chargeable when you are admitted to a ward / out patients for ongoing treatment or something like that. In addition I think that we have a mutual arrangement with several other countries in which this is also the case.

 

[HKF]

The first time I took a car to Europe I didn't even have insurance for the car abroad, I was stopped coming off the ferry and they sold me border insurance, I think it was third party only, I didn't have any other insurance but I was only 18. They didn't say anything about 3 of us in my MG Midget

Oh, now you're talking! I had a Midget and a BGT, both soft tops, burnt orange with chrome bumpers. I LOVED them!! Was in the Owner's Club, too. Think i still have some pics of them.....somewhere

 

[HKF]

As I used to travel extensively in Europe and Morocco on a motorcycle (and still do!) I have always had travel insurance with cover to repatriate me should I have a prang. Riding home with a broken leg or worse seemed a risk I wasn't prepared to take.

Having been in Florida in 2018 and seen a UK tourist taken away in an ambulance after a minor heart attack at the resort I was staying at for a few days and his wife telling me that they asked for insurance before they did much at the hospital and their suggested costs being close to $50000 for his care, it seems like a good idea.

Of course, is a rip-off/gamble when you don't use it. Maybe the £200 it cost me to cover my wife for an annual policy last year (ends 24 May 24) was wasted.....

I would never go outside of the UK/EU without insurance, especially after living in the US for 3 years. Insurance for us both was $2,300.00 PER MONTH. Fortunately, work paid for it. The costs over there are horrific.

 

[HKF]

Don't think this is quite right as I think accident / emergency care is free to all comers......it only becomes chargeable when you are admitted to a ward / out patients for ongoing treatment or something like that. In addition I think that we have a mutual arrangement with several other countries in which this is also the case.

Really? Wow! If that's the case, no wonder the NHS is done for!!

 

[L' Hobo]

That's the thing nowadays we are all programmed to think "what if" there's a lot of money being made from fear.

It's always a gamble of course and if I was older and had medical issues then I'd most likely not take the same chances.

If I end up in hospital facing a bill I can't afford I'll just ask them to put me down lol.

You would have to sell your body to science before they would put you down probably?

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[Northernraider]

Oh, now you're talking! I had a Midget and a BGT, both soft tops, burnt orange with chrome bumpers. I LOVED them!! Was in the Owner's Club, too. Think i still have some pics of them.....somewhere

An mgb gt wasn't a soft top it was a fastback . The mg midget was a soft top

 

[Northernraider]

You would have to sell your body to science before they would put you down probably?

I'd give them it for free. My only concern if I die is my dogs should they outlive me. If I'm dead I'm gone I don't care what they do with me afterwards.

 

[Nanniemate]

If that happened to me, my husband is instructed to have me cremated wherever I am, in the cheapest way possible.

It's not if you die. That's relatively cheap. It if you don't.

I've had to deal with repatriating both living and dead. And the cost of having next of kin staying or trading to be close.

Having used international rescue to fly a relative home after 6 months in a European hospital all I can say is glad they took out decent insurance

 

[Puddleduck]

Exactly. It made me wonder how much better off the NHS would be if they got their admin in order! I felt slightly ok with it, since I've paid all my life into the system and rarely taken much out, but I was left at a loss as to why no one had even heard of a GHIC card, let alone what to do with one. It made me wonder how much they lose every year, giving care away for free.

There was a trial in our local hospital where every patient had to enter their NINO before being treated in out-patients or as an in-patient. So many people didn't know their NINO (and yes, they had been told to bring it with them) the scheme was quickly abandoned.

If you book a holiday abroad with a company, you have to prove that you have Travel Insurance.

The cruise company we use won't take a booking unless you provide your travel insurance details. One poor passenger we were talking to was taken ill when the ship was at sea and the bill for just 4 days in the medical centre was in excess of £15,000. He was taken ashore at the earliest opportunity and his wife told us that everything was billed by the shore based medics, from a tissue so he could blow his nose upwards.

When it comes to repatriation you may not be able to use the usual commercial transport providers and medical transport is very expensive.

We are using Nationwide as many on here do and paid extra for pre-exisiting medical issues plus cruise cover.

 

[Odd-no-more]

Oh, now you're talking! I had a Midget and a BGT, both soft tops, burnt orange with chrome bumpers. I LOVED them!! Was in the Owner's Club, too. Think i still have some pics of them.....somewhere

I had two, the second one was new it was 1974 just before they ruined them with the plastic bumper, I only had that one for a year because I needed a bigger car and got a Ford Capri 2lt GT. I preferred the Midget.

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[ianp]

Really? Wow! If that's the case, no wonder the NHS is done for!!

well it's much better than leaving the tourists outside the door to die.......but going back to insurance, I've worked and travelled abroad extensively over the last thirty years or so and so generally had works insurance to cover me and thankfully never really had a need to claim on it except for a wisdom tooth in Singapore. So the only other time I've claimed on private travel insurance was after having snapped a bicep muscle at the elbow while skiing in Andorra. The insurers were Insureandgo and the claim was handled by Mapfri through a call centre in Ireland. Talk about using any and every excuse to get out of it ! They even insisted on not being able to process the claim unless I went back up the mountain at eight o'clock at night to get the details of the guy that had examined me at the mountain clinic even though we had been given a form with all the relevant info on. To cut a long story short they fucked me off and to this day will have no truck with any insurance that makes use of Mapfri..........

 

[Nirvanauk]

We wouldn’t dream of travelling out of the U.K. without health insurance.

 

[Howard B]

Always take insurance when travelling abroad. Had to claim a few times. Companies always paid out promptly.
Have no sympathy when i see these crowdfunding appeals because someone needs repatriating and doesnt have travel insurance.

 

[Spriddler]

An mgb gt wasn't a soft top it was a fastback . The mg midget was a soft top

I had a 1966 MGB GT soft top (Roadster), chrome bumpers, wire wheels. Black one centre of pic. My sons had hard tops.

 

[EuroTrotters]

no, but a lot do.

Often younger folk. Then when they are injured or need a body bag, start a gofundme page

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