 Poster: A snowHead
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Good evening all.
Has anyone got any experiences of having made insurance claims?
After a bad experience with a cheap supplier last year (long story short - outsourced to a disorganised call centre, protracted decision making process, unable to tell me whether I was able to go home early until 4 days post injury and the feeling of being passed from pillar to post), is there an advantage to paying more?
I was looking specifically at the BASI approved snowsport insurance.
Thanks for your help.
Nick.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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oldnick, sorry about your bad experience. We use MPI brokers now, although when we had to claim we used Direct Travel. Although their emergency team in France were brilliant, their claims department dragged their feet a little.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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oldnick, Welcome to snowheads,
I know exactly where you are coming from on this one.
I had a claim that took 8 weeks from initial claim to settlement.
Someone on here recommended Dogtag and subsequently we have had two claims with them and both have been settled within 14 days.
Dogtags website has all the details and an excellent FAQ section.
With insurance you get what you pay for.
Unfortunately you only find out how good your insurance company is when you need to claim!
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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oldnick, I had excellent service from Snowcard. Treatment, including surgery and 5 night stay at a private clinic, signed off in 5 minutes and all settled directly with the clinic, repatriation sorted very efficiently for me and my niece. I think the cost is very reasonable
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Yep Dogtag covers me and the kids for most of the loony things we get up to, skiing and snowboarding on and off piste, offshore yacht racing for me, climbing for the kids. Not Polo which I very occasionally play but then I suppose there is a fair chance in that game of having half a ton of horse land on you doing 30mph and if that happens it is going to result in a pretty big claim!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Looked up Dogtag recently after a few years elsewhere. The stuff I do is still classed within their "Extreme" category. Trouble is, I'm not terribly adventurous, don't do steep or deep. Have gone with MPI Brokers.
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Sorry for the lack of response, have accidentally bought a mountain bike when I went to buy a brake cable and, what can I say, I am easily distracted! (although I suspect that here isn't the place to talk about that.)
Have had a look at the websites of all the suggested insurers and have just insured the two of us with Snowcard.
Here's hoping I don't need to find out if they are any good!!
Thanks again
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Hi Everyone. I am watching this thread with interest. We usually either buy a 'regular' single trip insurance or use the one our bank offers us as part of our accounts. Reading this thread I was prompted to have a look at the companies you mention (dogtag and snowcard) and they seem to be rather thorough with the services they offer. They also are around double the price of the other options. I was wondering if the difference in insurance premium is reflected in the service they offer. Has anyone had any dealings with 'regular' insurance companies for a claim? We had some piste closures and travel delays in the past and both the insurance via our bank and some 'regular' companies I found on the net paid up without any quibbles. Maybe the fact that the claims were relatively small (£50-£150) meant that it was more straightforward? Any experience with claiming for anything more substantial?
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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oldnick I know what you mean about bad experiences with a cheap supplier. I had a nightmare with them after my son broke his leg in Montgenevre Xmas 2012 (he was 14 then and had been skiing since he was 4, I've skied for over 25 years).
Since that time I've always paid for a 'proper' insurer because I've come to the opinion that this is one of those times when we really do need insurance to do it's job.
I've started using Ski Club of Great Britain (SCGB) insurance, mostly because the T&Cs don't quibble about off-piste (the reality of the definition of 'off-piste' can be quite shocking) and I'd heard here on snowheads in other threads that SCGB insurers deal well with claims (which seems to be the true measure).
I'm just about to renew, which is why I dropped in to check out current thinking. I like the look of dogtag and snowcard (thanks holidayloverxx boredsurfin and davkt for those tips). They seem to be good cover and I really appreciate the reports above about their claims handling. imho SCGB seems to be similar in cover and reports about good claims handling and its priced between them and the cheapos. Anyone else have a views on this?
One question - the ski equipment insurance has been pushed a lot by the rental companies in recent years. Has anyone had cause to claim on these? My feeling is that its a very low risk and its just a money maker for the rental companies. We always split our skis when we stop for lunch and we don't damage kit, so we might be best just sticking to the small amount of equipment cover on the wintersports policy and underwrite the rest ourselves. For the three of us, that is a £36 saving which I'd rather put those savings into a better winter sports policy (such as SCGB). Any thoughts on this?
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accel, I didnt take out insurance on a couple of pairs of higher skis and on both of them the brakes on the bindings snapped, now admittedly I hammered them and the conditions werent the best but my friend certainly didnt which led me to believe they were just rubbish brakes.
Anyway luckily the higher shop was very busy and we just dropped the skis off and got on the transfer bus but when I got home I had a very angry French man on the phone saying we had completely destroyed 2 pairs of skis and he demanded 1700 euro! If this had been in resort I could imagine it would have been a big problem as Id of thought the gendarms would have been called and we would have been held to ransom but as it was I just told him to come to my office and bring the dmaged skis and Id pay him personally in cash, surprisingly he didnt take up my offer.
As a side thought at the time I did consider trying to claim for them on my normal holiday insurance and getting this company to send me the apparently broken skis. I never really looked into it but Id of thought it covers you for some loss or damage but I may well be wrong
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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medlington Thanks for that one and its definitely worth bearing in mind.
Just thinking out loud here. Its been a while since I actually bought a new set of skis because I always rent now (carriage, service, newest technology etc... its all in the business case imho) so is it a fair assumption that 1700 Euros for two new sets of rental skis is about right?
Then, over what period would a complete set of skis be depreciated? One season? Two seasons?
And for a broken set of brakes, they suffer fair wear and tear by being accidentally dropped or by us coming out of our binding.
I'm not a ski technician (can one jump in here?) but I'm assuming that a ski tech can replace a set of brakes. If this is the case, is it really appropriate for a rental operator to say that the whole set of skis are written off?
Don't get me wrong, if someone is in business they are bound to care about their products and will want to take care of them. But that's different from a rental operator wanting to charge for a full set of skis because (arguably) the brakes failed due to fair wear and tear as a cumulative effect from earlier uses.
Ok. the lesson I'm getting out of this is that I need to inspect the skis we take out for rental. make sure they are properly serviced (hmmm) and try not to thrash them. If I'm not sure I should flag up to the rental operator any concerns. Maybe take some pictures using my phone (let the rental operator see me doing it?).
Is all this being too defensive?
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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medlington, Considering you can replace brakes in 10 minutes I suspect he was taking the oui oui.
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You know it makes sense.
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I have made one claim on ski insurance, with SCGB, and it was settled without problem.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Yesterday someone posted something about a policy on here, so I dug out the wording of what I think is a fairly typical policy. Page 18 has the ski stuff: https://www.secure-travelinsurance.co.uk/b2c/documents/RTUNT40110WS.pdf
Personally I self insure, so I lock my board if leaving it at a resort. That's partly because I can't replace my stuff easily, but also because I would not leave fifteen hundred quid's worth of cameras outside a cafe on the street, so why would I do that with my race board? Obviously if you want to be able to do that type of thing, you could use insurance, but you'll understand my reluctance to pool my risk with you.
Note however that this particular policy would not pay out in that case.
| Quote: |
For each insured-person this insurance will pay:
(a) up to a total of £400 policy for your own ski equipment and £250 for hired ski equipment to cover:
either (i) the cost of repair of items that are partially damaged whilst on your trip, up to the original purchase price of the item, less an allowance for age, wear and tear, or (ii) the original purchase price of the item, less an allowance for age, wear and tear, to cover items that are stolen, permanently lost or destroyed whilst on your trip.
....
For each insured-person this insurance will not cover:
(a) - the first amount (excess as shown on your summary of cover) of any loss charge or expense made on each claim under this section.
- more than £150 for any one article, pair or set of any kind, whether they are solely or jointly owned, for ski equipment.
- more than 60% of the original purchase price for skis over six months old and less than one year old.
- more than 50% of the original purchase price for skis over one year old and less than two years old.
- more than 40% of the original purchase price for skis over two years old and less than three years old.
- more than 25% of the original purchase price for skis over three years old and less than five years old.
- skis over five years old.
- any damage to ski equipment whilst in use.
- ski equipment left unattended away from your personal holiday or trip accommodation except ski equipment left between 6.00 am and 11.00 pm local time (during daytime) in the locked boot or covered luggage area of a motor vehicle where entry was gained by violent and forcible means.
- any claim where you are able unable to provide the damaged items on request or to prove the existence or prove ownership or responsibility of any items.
- any claim for loss or theft where you have not notified the Police, your carrier or tour operator’s representative and obtained a written report.
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Poster: A snowHead
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oh yes he was definitely taking the oui oui, thats why I laughed at the guy and told him to come to England to get his money, he was definitely trying to pull a fast one.
the skis were pretty much brand new when we highered them but as you say brakes can be fitted in 10 mins for about 10 Euro Id imagine.
its easy to say this now but if I was dragged to the police station by an angry French copper and forced to miss my transfer while we argued it out it then it could have been a serious issue.
As you say though accel the best thing you can do is take photos of all the kit when you rent it
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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philwig, So basically the company will never pay out on ski equipment. Which we all knew anyway.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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| johnE wrote: |
| philwig, So basically the company will never pay out on ski equipment. Which we all knew anyway. |
Correct. I couldn't tell if the audience was grown up enough for me to just state it, hence the "work it out" approach.
Rental...
If I rent snowboards in **** they don't make me sign small print contracts, and I know they'll just fix anything that goes wrong, so I don't photograph their gear.
If I rent them anywhere that they give me a contract to sign, well I could get my lawyers to review it, but it's easier to photograph the gear if it's in anything less than "as new" condition.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Could someone please comment on this? Sorry to insist, but the times that I need to make a decision approaches!
Thanks again!
| psyxologos wrote: |
| Hi Everyone. I am watching this thread with interest. We usually either buy a 'regular' single trip insurance or use the one our bank offers us as part of our accounts. Reading this thread I was prompted to have a look at the companies you mention (dogtag and snowcard) and they seem to be rather thorough with the services they offer. They also are around double the price of the other options. I was wondering if the difference in insurance premium is reflected in the service they offer. Has anyone had any dealings with 'regular' insurance companies for a claim? We had some piste closures and travel delays in the past and both the insurance via our bank and some 'regular' companies I found on the net paid up without any quibbles. Maybe the fact that the claims were relatively small (£50-£150) meant that it was more straightforward? Any experience with claiming for anything more substantial? |
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