ski insurance

A snowHead

hello

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I was told by an instructor not to bother with normal wintersports insurance for my hol but the one they sell at the lift office is a definite no quibble should if the need were to arise to be got down from the mountain. in other words buy holiday insurance as per a regular holiday but get the skiing covered with the lift office. I have an EU card but my partner is American so doesn't qualify for that benefit.

Just wondered what your views are on this.

Thanks for reading and any advice is welcome.

Very Happy

A snowHead

@youngeratheart, I assume you mean carre neige in France? all you need to know here:

http://www.carreneige.com/en/garanties.php

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Will the one sold at lift office repatriate you home after ski accident. My son broke his leg a few years back and we needed a few extra seats on the flight.

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@2waterford, see the link

"If once his hospital stay is over, the Carré Neige holder is not able to travel in normal conditions, their transport/repatriation shall take place (under medical supervision if necessary) using the most appropriate means, decided upon by Europ Assistance."

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Thanks @holidayloverxx, is this the current season? it says 09/10 season? it looks good but the medical fees bit seems a low figure given how expensive medical fees can be, guess 3000 Euros covers most broken bones but Ill look into it now I know the name of it. Thankyou

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@youngeratheart, yes, it says 09/10 but i don't think it has changed much. do a bit more googling for up to date info. €3000 would not have covered my treatment for my broken leg, but then again it was in a private clinic (austria). it depends what you break....

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yeah ive been on their own website now, still only found a pdf for their 2011 but more or less unchanged so now need to find out if regular hol insurance would cover the medical costs even if your evacuation and rescue was paid for by the carre neige, given the the injuries were on the piste, but if not perhaps its best just to take out regular wintersports hol insurance.

After all it is free

@pam w, You wouldn't in Briancon/Serre Chevalier. You attend the medical centre (cost around 30€), go to hospital in Briancon if necessary which is state-funded. Costs were negligible. Ambulance transfer cost more than the hospital bill. Moutiers is also a state hospital and Grenoble.

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@Hells Bells, trouble is, it's so random as to what happens in each region, seemingly.

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

With a lot of more minor injuries you might not go anywhere near a hospital - X rays, plasters, follow up etc all done in resort, with a fair amount of trundling round in a private ambulance. Though I found those were surprisingly good value. €65 for an expensive vehicle, 5 kms and two cheerful and skilled blokes who had to carry me through a lot of snow and down an awkward set of stairs. And they'd come from miles away.

Evacuation would have been expensive - long ambulance journeys both ends, and lots of relatively minor injuries need several seats.

Mind you, ordinary travel insurance can have lots of exclusion clauses too. Being up with bad congestion, inhaling steam and drinking tea, I looked up Dogtag's policy which - unless I've just read it wrong, which is entirely possible given the state of my head, excludes payments to a private hospital or clinic. The MPI brokers policy doesn't exclude private clinics but you have to consult the emergency service. And presumably @holidayloverxx's private clinic charges were paid by her insurers?

It's a minefied, isn't it?

snow reports

@pam w, yes it was. There is no exclusionwith snowcard. The clinic was amazed they agreed to pay. ..their experience of uk insurance was usually to send folk off to the public hospital as soon as possible. My surgeon said snowcard was the best uk insurance they had come across.

@youngeratheart, I would defo still buy a proper 'holiday' type insurance. Cost of getting you back to the UK if you need repatriation can massive.

You know it makes sense.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

@johnE, I think it's unclear. Carré Neige says that "when hospital treatment is complete" if a casualty can't travel by normal means, they will pay for repatriation, with medical assistance if necessary. So if you are in a really bad way, and need an ambulance all the way, or flying in a plane with special facilities, they'll pay. But if you break your leg badly towards the end of your holiday and are in hospital when your package flight leaves, I don't read that as meaning that CN will buy you a ticket home. You'd have to pay yourself. Travel by train, or plane, or in somebody else's car, is a "normal" means of transport, after all.

I wouldn't like to rely on it.

A snowHead

Another option is to get BMC insurance which covers all the normal holiday stuff, gets you off the mountain if injured and repatriation all in one policy. You do need to be a member of the BMC though, and I'm sure it's much more expensive than standard holiday insurance, but worth checking against annual policies plus the Carré Neige costs, especially if you do other sports like Climbing etc.

A snowHead

@pam w, Hmm, I read it as that is exactly what they will do

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

@holidayloverxx, I read it the same way. Lizzard was a bit of an expert on this having sold the insurance when she worked for the L2A lift company. Maybe some searching of her posts might give some clues.

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This is the link page for Carré Neige http://www.carreneige.com/en/the_guarantees_carre_neige_repatriation.php which does state it repatriates to Uk . However, not all French resorts use Carré Neige, some sell other policies with the lift pass. Serre Chevalier use Assur-Gliss, and it appears as if the cover is included, but they have a tailor-made policy, so would have to get their exact brochure to check.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

@holidayloverxx, the French version (which is authoritative in the case of disputes) says

Les informations recueillies auprès du médecin local et éventuellement du médecin traitant habituel permettent
à EUROP ASSISTANCE, après décision de ses médecins, dedéclencher et organiser - [i]en fonction des seules exigences
médicales - soit son retour à son domicile, soit son transport, le cas échéant sous surveillance médicale, vers un service hospitalier approprié proche de son domicile....[/i]

(my emphasis)

I don't read that as their paying for you to get home just because you missed the flight you'd paid for. They will transport children under 15 home (or to a relative) if the injured person is not able to look after them.

The French version also makes it more clear that Carré Neige is seen as complementary to the normal French arrangements

Lorsque vous avez engagé des frais médicaux, chirurgicaux,pharmaceutiques ou d’hospitalisation consécutifs à un
accident subi au cours de votre séjour, nous prenons en charge à titre complémentaire les frais précités restant
à votre charge après remboursement de votre Caisse d’Assurance Maladie, de votre régime de prévoyance, ou
de tout autre contrat prévoyant une prise en charge à titre complémentaire de ces frais, souscrit antérieurement au
présent contrat...Pour bénéficier de cette garantie, vous (ou vos ayants droit) devez effectuer toutes démarches nécessaires
au recouvrement de ces frais auprès des organismes concernés, et dans un second temps, nous transmettre les
documents suivants :
- décomptes originaux des organismes sociaux et/
ou de prévoyance, et autres organismes justifiant des
remboursements obtenus,
- certificat médical circonstancié,
- photocopies des notes de soins justifiant des dépenses
engagées.
A défaut, nous ne pourrions pas procéder à un remboursement.

That's a lot of paperwork! The rescue off the mountain is the trump card of Carré Neige - no questions asked, no need to pay anything. For the rest, I reckon it'd be a bit of a risk to just rely on Carré Neige, even for the costs of an accident on piste. Some of the losses covered under the usual "holiday insurance" policies wouldn't be covered at all. The maximum sums payable in some categories are also quite small.

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@pam w, I bow to your better understanding of french! My reading of it was not that you "missed the flight you paid for" but rather you were unable to take the flight (normal means) because of injury, so either you were still in hospital on the original departure day, or need for extra seats because 1 seat would be normal means. Insurance eh!

I don't bother with it at all

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

@holidayloverxx, I think what they're saying is that repatriation will be paid for only for medical reasons. Not financial ones.

In contrast, the small print of my MPI brokers policy explicitly says they will pay the necessary additional costs incurred as a result of an injury. Specifically they will pay:

additional bed and breakfast accommodation, and travel expenses to enable you to return to your home, if you are unable to travel as originally booked

I couldn't find any wording or implication of this kind in the Carré Neige documentation.

It would be a bit strange, I suppose, if I could buy for €30 - 40 in France cover which cost me several hundred quid in the UK!

After all it is free

@pam w, indeed

What we really need is a first hand experience of someone who has relied on it, and what happened when they claimed

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@Hells Bells, good idea, I see you've started the thread

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

Glad its not just me confused, I always bought Direct Travel insurance with the bolt on winter sports package. Reckon that's the best option, not neccessarily with that firm but @holidayloverxx, said Snowcard offered a good one so I'll check that out. I'll also read the new thread on this topic if I can find it.

Then the decision will be do I bother with Carre neige or just carry my documents with me??????????

Thank for all your input. much appreciated.

snow reports

I was insured with Whitehorse through my company. I bust an Ankle and Tore MCL on day 4 of trip to Banff. I was repatriated on normal day of departure but was upgraded automatically to Business class, due to med report saying I had to keep my leg extended; with BA who were the airline I had flown out with. No problems and they were very quick an efficient to get things sorted. I filed my Hospital bills and Surgeons report on my return and again very quick to reimburse me.
I dont work the that company anymore but will definitely be asking them If I can take out insurance with them again this season. They may not do it but if you don't ask you don't get.

You know it makes sense.

Its the "against advice" that gets me, no one will ever tell you an area is safe until no snow lies on the ground. So in the event of an accident the insurance company will request a report from the resort management - what will they say?????????? The company I spoke to would not even by pass this advice if you had employed the services of a high mountain guide.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

A snowHead

@johnE, mine is expensive because of needing long trips (up to 60 days) and unlimited winter sports. And maybe because I'm old. I think you need special version of the Carte neige for competitive winter sports. But the Carte Neige covers the whole season for very few euros. Hence my lack of surprise that it doesn't seem to give me the same cover as my MPI brokers policy.

A snowHead

This is from Natives, explaining more about Carte Neige cover. http://www.natives.co.uk/holiday/the-lowdown-on-carte-neige-insurance/3994

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

duplicate

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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

@Hells Bells, fantastic link, think that says it all.

Buy Carte neige and a standard wintersports insurance for the week we are going and cross fingers not skis! Toofy Grin

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@youngeratheart, if you have standard wintersports cover, why buy Carre Neige? At best, that's dual insurance so in the worst case and your UK insurer finds out (which, they may well do even if you don't tell them) you may endanger all your cover anyway and anyway you'll have two insurance companies both trying to avoid paying out.

Decent wintersports cover will be all you'll need.

Pisteurs will not leave you on the mountain waiting for your credit card to clear.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

After all it is free

@under a new name, I think many have (possibly unfounded?) worries that their UK policy will not be accepted at the point of rescue, and unless they can stump up the cash or plastic would be left abandoned. When my hubby was injured, the ambulance drivers told me 'patient comes first' and did not ask me for any upfront payment or insurance details. I did call the insurers en-route to Grenoble, and they spoke with the ambulance staff, and they dealt with the matter from then on. We handed over no cash at any time apart from the doctor's fee. They even sorted a taxi back to Serre Che for me as I had no means of obtaining cash, as hubby was in surgery when the taxi was booked and I didn't know his new pin number. I'd had to leave my own bank card with the two sons back in MOnetier to buy food. Everything was billed later and passed on to the insurers.

MPI Brokers are looking good for us right now...

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@johnE,

Help!!

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