 Poster: A snowHead
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Just hearx advert on radio for Lloyds Silver account. Which on surface guves annual European insurance inc winter sports cover. For £10 a month. This is cheaper than the Nationwide flexplus I currently have.
Has anybody studied the small print and compared yet? Thinking about switching to it. About to do a study when I get some time (must start work) but wondering if any snowehads already have looked?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@NickyJ, I have Lloyd's gold..not available now.. maximum 31 days winter sports and not possible to upgrade to more days. Otherwise its OK. Don't know about silver specifically but just a pointer
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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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| holidayloverxx wrote: |
| @NickyJ, I have Lloyd's gold..not available now.. maximum 31 days winter sports and not possible to upgrade to more days. Otherwise its OK. Don't know about silver specifically but just a pointer |
Oh I wish I was in a position that that would be restrictive 
Maybe once kids leave home.
Thanks for the pointer, it is appreciated
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Nationwide is Worldwide & also includes mobile phone insurance I think.
Worth checking the small print.
IF you travel that much, then maybe the Amex Platinum card is a better option.
Worldwide travel insurance
Airport lounge Access for 2x per card (so 4x if you give your spouse a supplementary card)
£150 UK dining credit
£150 overseas dining credit
2x £50 vouchers for Harvey Nicks
Various Amex offers throughout the year including small shops (spend £15 get £5 back)
Hotel benefits / status.
Plus you get to collect Amex points which can be converted to various schemes.
A 30,000 bonus when you spend the first £4k (so 34,000 points in total + potentially more via a referral link) - can be used at a lot of places - for example Amazon = £170
So the high fee can be justified!
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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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@Gored, must admit had been wondering about the Amex.... especially as we are hoping to go to Canada for first time ever over christmas and/or new year for 2024/25 as it is hubbies 50th Birthday. But being family of 4 not sure if it would actually work. Plus we would be want to use points toward peak days flights....
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@Gored, I think I'll look into that
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@NickyJ, don’t forget the nationwide one, as well as phone insurance that @Gored, mentioned, it also includes U.K. and Europe wide breakdown cover for all account holders.
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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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| holidayloverxx wrote: |
| @NickyJ, I have Lloyd's gold..not available now.. maximum 31 days winter sports and not possible to upgrade to more days. Otherwise its OK. Don't know about silver specifically but just a pointer |
I asked my insurer, Ski cover, how they knew how many days I'd been skiing, "We don't" was the answer. If I made a claim on my March ski trip, they had no system of checking whether I'd already been away. Obviously, if you claim every trip, that might get some awkward questions.
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@tangowaggon, I know, but on a 6 week trip I'm not prepared to take the risk or lie
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@Gored, so part of my research into Amex thought, just check I can pay remainder of our April holiday on it with Sunweb. Err No.
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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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nope - sunweb dont take amex 
One problem with Amex is that it is not widely accepted, so you also need a backup of some sort.
For me - my backup is Hilton Honours, but you can't get them cards anymore.
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| Gored wrote: |
nope - sunweb dont take amex
One problem with Amex is that it is not widely accepted, so you also need a backup of some sort.
For me - my backup is Hilton Honours, but you can't get them cards anymore. |
Yep, just topped up kids dinner money for school and also noticed Visa and Mastercard symbols as only cards accepted.
Means that the spending enough to actually trigger bonuses would be much more difficult than I had assumed, as a lot of my upcoming and regular spend dont accept them.
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You know it makes sense.
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| Quote: |
holidayloverxx wrote:
@NickyJ, I have Lloyd's gold..not available now.. maximum 31 days winter sports and not possible to upgrade to more days. Otherwise its OK. Don't know about silver specifically but just a pointer
I asked my insurer, Ski cover, how they knew how many days I'd been skiing, "We don't" was the answer. If I made a claim on my March ski trip, they had no system of checking whether I'd already been away. Obviously, if you claim every trip, that might get some awkward questions.
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I always thought clauses like 31 days maximum are for single trip duration. You have to return back to the UK, but could fly straight back to wherever for another 31days cover ?
I'll give a thumbs up to Nationwide FlexPlus, when you factor in the breakdown cover, phone insurance and other perks it seems to me to be quite cost effective.
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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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Me on phone to insurance company:
ME …We need annual cover
For four…
Including Off piste…
OK…..
ME: and mountain biking….
OK….cross country or DH?
ME: Both
Right….that will be an eye watering amount of money do you have any children which you can sell?
Finally we opted for SnowCard Extreme annual European cover…not bad
Although this year my daughter turned 18 and could not be included as a family member - needed to be insured separately. So she had same policy but wil no mountain biking in it.
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Poster: A snowHead
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| 0nlyEverBoard# wrote: |
| Quote: |
holidayloverxx wrote:
@NickyJ, I have Lloyd's gold..not available now.. maximum 31 days winter sports and not possible to upgrade to more days. Otherwise its OK. Don't know about silver specifically but just a pointer
I asked my insurer, Ski cover, how they knew how many days I'd been skiing, "We don't" was the answer. If I made a claim on my March ski trip, they had no system of checking whether I'd already been away. Obviously, if you claim every trip, that might get some awkward questions.
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I always thought clauses like 31 days maximum are for single trip duration. You have to return back to the UK, but could fly straight back to wherever for another 31days cover ?
I'll give a thumbs up to Nationwide FlexPlus, when you factor in the breakdown cover, phone insurance and other perks it seems to me to be quite cost effective. |
This is definitely maximum ski days in a year. ...i have the correspondence. It was cheaper to buy a separate snowcard policy for 6 weeks than to fly home anyway
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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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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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| 0nlyEverBoard# wrote: |
| Quote: |
holidayloverxx wrote:
@NickyJ, I have Lloyd's gold..not available now.. maximum 31 days winter sports and not possible to upgrade to more days. Otherwise its OK. Don't know about silver specifically but just a pointer
I asked my insurer, Ski cover, how they knew how many days I'd been skiing, "We don't" was the answer. If I made a claim on my March ski trip, they had no system of checking whether I'd already been away. Obviously, if you claim every trip, that might get some awkward questions.
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I always thought clauses like 31 days maximum are for single trip duration. You have to return back to the UK, but could fly straight back to wherever for another 31days cover ?
I'll give a thumbs up to Nationwide FlexPlus, when you factor in the breakdown cover, phone insurance and other perks it seems to me to be quite cost effective. |
Which is what we currently have. However this seems to offer similar (certainly covers our needs for the next year for £10 a month vs our current £13 a month I transfer every month to Nationwide from my existing Lloyds current account).
Reading policy details the Lloyds one covers end supplier failure which many policies don't. So one tick. Haven't done a side by side comparison yet.
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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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@NickyJ, did you pick Amex or something else? Just doing the rounds myself!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@kitenski, the best option seems to be take out membership of the Austrian Alpine Club which covers you for any issue in the mountains (assuming you are not off to the Greater Ranges in which case you have to pay extra). Then take out whichever annual travel insurance works. That way you are covered for the unusual stuff like getting choppered out of some remote valley and also the boring normal stuff (BA loosing your bags!). Get a health card (whatever the EHIC is called these days) too and you should have maximum cover at a reasonable cost (especially if you get "free" travel insurance with your bank account etc)
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@munich_irish, yep that's what I do. AAC for the hairy stuff and regular travel insurance for the ordinary medical etc. Guess it requires a certain amount of consciousness about who to make what claim with but if I'm not that sentient I hope I'm being taken care of anyway.
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@munich_irish, @Dave of the Marmottes, so I was looking into that. The aac rescues you from what I can see, but then doesn’t cover any medical costs? So a friend who did her acl had 10k of hospital costs from a private hospital in Lech. Assume neither aac or ghic would cover that? They’d want the person to go down to the local hospital I’d guess? Also assume regular travel insurance wouldn’t cover it either as they’d say I was doing an activity not covered ?.
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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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@kitenski, medically necessary treatment of Euro 10k under AAC AIUI. Which probably covers most accident/injury in Europe. As I see it the big potential for costs to build up are in things like heart attacks or strokes.
I think also you don't have to take private treatment as the be all and end all. For something like an ACL it would be perfectly reasonable to get a transfer to a GHIC covered hospital in the Inn valley or Feldkirch etc. Maybe need to negotiate on the transfer cost or fork out the cab fare oneself . Yes it's hassle but the cost of totally comprehensive insurance can be prohibitive anyway.
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@Dave of the Marmottes, cheers, quite interested in following this approach. In this particular case the consultant advised operating before the swelling would have meant unable to operate!
I'm now in the weeds  Is this the right doc for AAC?
https://www.alpenverein.at/portal_wAssets/docs/service/versicherung/AWS-Folder_A4_EN_2023_blaetter_final.pdf
Seems to cover:
Costs for rescue from off-road terrain domestically or abroad incl. costs for transport and transfer within one’s country of main place of residence
Repatriation and medical treatment costs abroad
European third party liability insurance
European criminal law legal protection
European damage compensation legal protection
Medical seems to be get you home or sort you out locally as preferred option?
Valid worldwide during the first eight weeks of any journey abroad, for leisure and occupational accidents as well as illness.
Repatriation service from abroad: unlimited coverage
Medically necessary therapeutic treatment abroad (incl. medically necessary transport to the hospital): up to EUR 10,000
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@kitenski,
Amex recently done a 60,000 points promo.
Maybe they will do another in a few months if you are not in a rush.
60,000 points is worth about £300 if you spend them poorly, but can be worth a lot more!
Add on the rest of giveaways with the amex then it became a very good deal.
Only snag is that you needed to spend £6k in 6 months to reach the promotion target.
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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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@Gored, do they cover touring, off piste without a guide etc in their bundled insurance?
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@kitenski, Think that's it. And I think it's common with all travel insurance that the preference is to get you home and treated under your own system rather than incur extended costs elsewhere, failing that in a EHIC/GHIC covered facility but "medically necessary" overrules. Remember AAC is primarily designed for Austrians in their own country and other alpine environments.
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You know it makes sense.
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@Dave of the Marmottes, do you know if their support line speaks English? Can't imagine anything worse than being midst an incident and being unable to converse with them!
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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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Its Europ Assistance isn't it. Pretty sure they'll have copious English speakers. This isn't a backdoor thing as AAC have a specific UK chapter.
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Poster: A snowHead
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| kitenski wrote: |
| @NickyJ, did you pick Amex or something else? Just doing the rounds myself! |
Found too little woups take Amex for my big purchases then.... having recently been dojng some big spends on a new kitchen I reallu should have looked into all this again. Too latw now!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| kitenski wrote: |
| @Gored, do they cover touring, off piste without a guide etc in their bundled insurance? |
No, I think when I looked Offpiste had to be with a guide & within offpiste boundaries
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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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I haven’t checked the most recent policy docs, but as of a year ago, Amex platinum covered ski touring without a guide. Off piste skiing states “with a qualified instructor” which is a bit bizarre as most guides aren’t actually qualified instructors. No resort boundary restriction. Moral of the story is… always keep a set of skins in your bag!
Importantly it also provides full Collision Damage Waiver on rental cars - goes way beyond the usual “excess cover” policies. This alone can pay for the card. I had a claim for a scraped wheel and the process was very slick and well managed.
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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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@snowdave, I don't understand that distinction between "ski touring" and "off-piste skiing". I'd be very wary of relying on it.
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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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@pam w, I’m happy to rely on it. If I’m on touring skis, in touring boots, with skins and avi kit, I’m touring. Seems a lot less ambiguous than whether a guide will count as an instructor.
Bear in mind this is a consumer financial services contract. To quote the CMA: “where the meaning of wording is ambiguous (so there is more than one possible meaning), there is a requirement that it should be given the meaning that is most favourable to the consumer.”
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@snowdave, interesting, but just checked an annual fee of £575 for platinum currently!!!!!
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@kitenski, yep, like all these "bundle" deals, it really only works if you get value from the car rental CDW (it can be difficult to get quotes without CDW, but if you can, they're typically 25% cheaper), the travel insurance, and the unlimited lounge passes (for 4 people).
The travel insurance covers under 25s living at home, which is more generous than some other family policies.
Plus you get a metal card which is great for opening amazon boxes
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@snowdave, question on the amex platinum - is rescue off the mountain covered i.e. helicopter? For some reason we can't get onto the full policy document, so if you have any details... 
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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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You have to watch out for both maximum trip length and maximum days in a year.
A limit of one trip and 15 days is common for multi-trip travel insurance with winter sports cover. The worst I have seen is one trip with 6 days winter sports.
It's annoying as you can't search or compare easily, because the key info is often buried deep in the policy wording.
Even SkiClub of GB insurance is relatively restricted.
The two I have used are MPI and BMC (the latter is overall cheaper with BMC membership). Not had a claim. Both offer unlimited trips. MPI offers options for trip length up to at least 31 days - maybe 60??? - as smallcost add ons. Both cover a wide range of mountain sports, off piste etc.
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FAQ
