Insurance Proof Question

A snowHead

OK, so third year of skiing, I really should have asked this before! We have winter sports cover via our Nationwide current account. What sort of proof of insurance should I be carrying in case we need help when skiing?

We're off to Tignes next week if destination makes a difference.

Many thanks

A snowHead

@numbfoot, My advice would be to take the Carre Neige insurance with the lift pass in addition to your travel insurance. That will get you lifted off the mountain without any proof of insurance needed. You don’t actually need it because you’d be covered by your own but you will have to pay up front for any rescue and claim it back. The Carre Neige is very cheap to add to the lift pass and takes away all the hassle.

The clinic in Tignes is a private clinic, so your EHIC card is no use and you’ll almost certainly have to pay and claim back any expenditure on your tavel insurance for treatment after the recovery off the mountain.

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

CN aside, presumably a photocopy/print out of the relevant legal bit of paper, policy wording, ts&cs, booklet or whatever which tells you that you have cover, and what it covers.
Policy number and insurer/underwriter; something linking your name to these.
Most importantly, the phone number to contact in emergency or need to claim.
If in doubt, phone Nationwide and ask them to provide a certificate or proof of cover.
When I had my injury (in Austria) and needed private treatment, they didn't ask to see any proof of insurance, just gave me the bill. Basic piste rescue was free there, of course. It was up to me to contact the insurer (before incurring more than their cost limit) to OK the medical treatments needed and then arrange the other associated getting home bits. As long as you are insured, and follow their required procedures as well as circumstances permit, you should ultimately be OK, I would have thought. But some countries will ask for different things at different times.

You need to Login to know who's really who.

Good advice above, good insurance is essential.

In my experience if you don't have the Carre Neige or equivalent linked to your lift pass you generally pay costs(some) up front and then contact insurance after for reimbursement. By all means you wont be left lying on the piste with a broken arm etc but the first thing the medical centre will ask for is your credit card. If its a hospital stay(private) then usually they will liaise with your insurer and sort the bill out before you(are allowed) leave. If its a state hospital in the EU you are looked after and the bill arrives once you are home(which you can then claim a % back via EHIC.

The most important thing tho is to make sure your cover is good enough, if the claim is big the insurer will invariably request your medical records, if the condition/injury is something you have had before or even asked the doctor about previously and not you have not disclosed this they won't pay. We had a horrible experience as a family where a 4 week stay in a South Africa hospital was rejected as a claim- if the incident had been in America the bill would have been in the 100k's and then you are getting into having to sell a house territory. (South African care very good value BTW!)

You live and you learn but don't scrimp on insurance peoples!

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

All i would advise is as others have. However we also have a bank policy thats excellent for the rest of the cover.
Make sure everyone named knows the policy number and the emergency contact numbers (god forbid your in hospital incapacitated and your wife/partner does not know the details)

We have used ours without issue,but like most insurances its pay first claim back later.

This may not be the case every time, and wasnt when my wife got chicken pox,and they paid out directly for an extra weeks holiday for us both.

Btw the insurance details tip really goes for all policies .

You'll need to Register first of course.

You dont need carre neige but some people dont mind paying for it to avoid paying for rescue up front. If taken to a private hospital for a stay it is my experience that the hospital/clinic will agree that before letting you stay. The insurance can ask that you are transferred to a public hospital if there is no compelling medical reason to stay private. My orthopaedic surgeon was very persuasive wink

I have made 2 claims..1 in austria and 1 in Italy. In both cases I gave a copy of my insurance and EHIC to the ambulance driver and hospital. Didnt have to pay a penny as insurance settled direct. 1 with snowcard and 1 with lloyds bank.

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

After all it is free

Our mainstream insurance was a 'pay-then-reclaim' policy. So we paid all the costs up-front and then got reimbursed. We did let them know ASAP, but bear in mind that with a skiing accident, your first concern is usually the injured person. You may be in hospital or the doctors for some time before you have an opportunity to contact the insurer.

So the advice about sharing policy details and contact numbers is very sound: that way, someone else can be delegated to calmly contact the insurer while the rest deal with the injured person, medics and logistics.

And of course, carry your EHIC around with you. As well as contact details and where you're staying. You may get separated from your group and then injured - don't assume you'll be in a state to provide details or that someone will necessarily be with you.

Finally, although I have insurance I also take out the skipass cover as well, just for ease of processing off the mountain.

I've been involved in two serious accidents and I can tell you the main focus isn't on the documentation, it's how the injured person is doing and how to get them to medical treatment ASAP. So for me, whatever streamlines the process is worth it, even if some of the cover overlaps.

Always carry the Insurance contact number, policy number and credit card with you. Take all your documentation.

The procedures for paying for assistance seem to vary from resort to resort let alone country to country.

I've had a helicopter rescue, followed by ambulance to hospital and treatment. The helicopter picked me up and delivered me back to the resort and the waiting ambulance, all they wanted was my id and kept my hire skis. The ambulance took me to hospital but wouldn't let me out without full id and credit card payment. The hospital accepted the EHIC. While this was going on the tour op rep liaised with my insurance company and the rescue and hospital and arranged for the insurance company to pay the helicopter rescue and the balance of the hospital bill direct. I had to complete a claim form on my return and recovered the ambulance charges.

More recently my wife's accident needed a blood wagon recovery to an ambulance to the local clinic, x-rays and diagnosis, followed by ambulance to the area hospital for a four day stay followed by air ambulance recovery to the UK and then private ambulance to our local hospital.
All that the pisteur recovery to the ambulance required was an email address to send me an invoice, didn't even keep her skis as security. Insurance company settled this direct a couple of weeks later.
Ambulance wanted credit card payment before letting us out of the ambulance.
Local clinic wanted payment (EHIC not accepted) before we transferred to the hospital.
Again the ambulance wanted payment before letting us out.
The area hospital took the EHIC but that still left 20% balance which the insurance company paid direct and the UK recovery was organised and paid for by the insurance company.
Through both instances at no time were we asked for payment or proof of ability to pay ahead of assistance.

These days I scan all my documents to Dropbox so that they are immediately accessible

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

As others have said you absolutely must have with you the policy number and the telephone number associated with the policy for emergency contact. Having a credit card with you at all times is good as is the cover associated with ski pass so you can get taken off the hill if necessary without having to "negotiate" who will pay! Hopefully this is all academic, have a lovely time in Tignes.

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

@numbfoot, We have a Nationwide policy too....there is no proof of insurance/policy number as such with that. I have the emergency phone number in my phone and always have my debit card with me so I have my account number to hand, I've also download the policy document and popped that in Dropbox in case I need to refer to it.

snow reports

Thanks all, if I was to go the Carre Neige route (as well as heeding everything else) where do I buy it? I've got my lift pass as part of the package so suspect it isn't included. Can it be added at a lift pass office?

@numbfoot, yes it can

You know it makes sense.

I've only had one claim and that was through Lloyds Bank with Axa. I rang them immediately and they paid for everything, contacting all local agencies for me, arranging an ambulance from Tignes to BSM, my flight home with 3 seats, my private ambulance home from Luton airport... the lot.

I have a Carre Niege with my season pass now and have a seperate policy, as my Lloyds policy doesn't cover off piste without a guide.

I carry my Carre Niege card, but the policy is also linked to your lift pass and you don't get a seperate card if the policy is for less than a season.

My main insurance is with SCGB and I carry this card too. Allegedly showing this will also have you rescued and transported FOC.

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

The alternative plan is to just ski in Switzerland.

I was with a friend who had a nasty accident on Sunday, a bad fall with broken nose and severe concussion (unconscious for a while and memory loss)

Blood wagon and helicopter were covered with a brief glance at her lift pass that said "assurance"
Hospital stay, including head MRI and Neuro Consultant, all covered by showing her EHIC.
I think there may be a residual 64chf to pay which is a triviality really.

The thought of (French) ambulances holding suffering patients, potentially in need of urgent (perhaps life saving) treatment hostage pending payment is both frightening and utterly disgusting in my view, and would never, ever happen in Switzerland.

A snowHead

My insurance give me a card which has the key information on it (emergency number, name, policy number), so that's always in the wallet I travel with. I also do similar to Timc and have a specific folder in my email for travel documents so that they're easily accessible.

So far haven't need a claim, and would like to keep it that way.

A snowHead

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Insurance Proof Question

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