 Poster: A snowHead
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I'm shopping around for insurance - I've been with club direct for a while and always been happy with them, but their off piste now appears to exclude search and rescue costs, which seems a bit daft to me. You're covered for off piste skiing but not for costs if you need rescueing ! er how does that work then?
Here's my personal opinions and summary on what I've found so far :
BMC - rip off. annual family quote came to 645 quid (comprising 191 alpine cover, a riddiculous additional 66 for snowboarding, and an outrageous 387 for "family cover") ! way OTT. maybe ok for a specialist niche and you are doing hardcore backcounty out-of-bounds but otherwise .....
Direct Line - crap for me because despite their main pages stating they cover "off piste" when you read the policy this is limited to "with an instructor". It did have scheduled airline failure though, which I quite liked covering you for DIY trips if your airline goes bust.
Essential Travel - 98 quid. also crap as off-piste is only covered with a guide, and I thought their equipment covers were rather low.
Direct Travel - 104 quid. looked quite good to me, competitive and seems to be good coverage and includes off piste with or without a guide (i've seen the other thread about what consititutes skiing against local authority advice - i read it to include where the resort has specifically shut an area of mountain/pistes, or posted warnigng signs saying no off-piste today which I've seen done in vallandry last year). However seems to exclude stunts and accrobatics, so questionable if you would be covered going through the park and trying the jumps or rails ?
Ski Club Great Britain - 135 quid. again looked quite reasonable, but bizzarely doesn't cover some bog standard travel insurance stuff like missed departure or delayed departure, unless you get the executive cover which start becoming uncompeteive plus you have to then have membership on top.
Snowboardclub UK - looked to be good coverage, but the policy only covers off piste if "accompanied". vague as to by whom. Also at £176 I thought it was a little expensive for an annual travel policy.
Dogtag - around 120 ish for their mid level dog tag pro cover. also looked ok, off piste covered provided its not "against local authorities warning or advice". But also exclude ski "acrobatics/aerials" whcih i take to mean going over jumps/kickers in the parks is not covered.
Feel free to disagree, schlag off my opinion, or better still give me some other suggestions as to where to look, as I am sick of looking at insurance company websites and policies.
All I want is reasonable all round annual family travel coverage, and ski/snowbaord coverage with a decent equipment value (more than 300quid which is what some poxy policies cover) and coverage for on and off piste with or without a guide (including search and rescue), occasionally passing through the snowpark, not doing anything ludicrous or stupid, for a reasonable price - which i reckon to be around 130-140 quid.
Is that too mcuh to ask of the insurance industry ?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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try http://www.click4quote.com/ , give them a phone and see what they can offer , I got an annual policy for my son which covers ski race training and sanctioned races in Europe , with full helicopter rescue , repat etc etc cover. Max 31 days continuous , but no limit over the year , £52. May offer good off piste cover.
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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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Post office looks good as well, seems very similar to Dogtags in what they cover but quite a bit cheaper, only reason I didn't go with them is it didn't quite extend to covering offshore yacht racing which you can add on to the dogtags.
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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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We've had direct travel insurance - good reviews one year in the Telegraph - very competitive, seems good cover but haven't yet had to claim and that's always the test isn't it!!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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+1 Snowcard.
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Try Insure and Go
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We've been covered by Direct Travel Insurance who were excellent when I claimed for an injured knee a couple of years ago. I have recently wanted to make a claim for delayed departure - our flight was delayed by 24hrs (that's a whole other thread though  ), but we're only able to claim £30 per person (there's 3 in our family) and have a £100 excess so it's not even worth the paper it's written on.
I'll be looking for another insurer when the renewal comes round.
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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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Gazzza I have cover with Insure and Go. wWhen I looked into it last March, they covered off-piste without a guide for about £80 for a 'Gold' level annual multi-trip cover. My policy expires next month and I will be sticking with them unless the off-piste policy has changed. I will be keeping a close eye on this thread - let us know what you end up going with.
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Ouch. Snowcard want £424 for an annual worldwide family policy that covers off piste snowboarding, with 2 weeks winter sports coverage.
And to add insult to injury they rate off piste snowboarding a higher level 4 risk when skiing on and off piste is a lower level 3 risk ?
click4quote.com has very limited off piste cover:
** Must be within resort boundaries and with a paid professional guide. Excludes areas designated unsafe by resort management or where there is an avalanche warning of level 3 or above in place.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Insureandgo.com - just looked at their policy doc and it lists search and rescue costs as a general exclusion.
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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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post office main page talks about coverage for off piste if youre witha qualified instructor.... still at least they are clear on the front page and don;t reuire you to wade through the policy.
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| Gazzza wrote: |
| Excludes areas ... where there is an avalanche warning of level 3 or above in place. |
I have just had two weeks in Val d'Isere and, as best I recall, most days the yellow and black flag was flying. I skied off piste every day but someone with the policy you quote from would be stuck twiddling their ski sticks on the piste.
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You know it makes sense.
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Exactly.
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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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You can easily take care of the search and rescue costs (in France) by taking the Carré Neige or Carte Neige cover.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Yes it's true, I took the carre neige in courchevel the week before last, but as my curent policy is expiring and I thought I'd try and get a new annual policy that properly covered me.
Also Im off to Colorado in March so want coverage their too - I won't be out of the resort boundaries, but subject to conditions I don't plan to be on piste the whole time.
What about Fogg ? Has anyone experience of using them ? Just looked at their policy and it doesn't seem to exclude search and rescue, it covers off piste (without a guide) stating that it excludes closed or avalanche risk areas, and the equipment coverage seems better than the 300 limit some of the others have. Seems reasomable all round, at 105 for annual worldwide family cover.
They are also quite reasonable by explciity stating your kit is covered outside a bar, which is a refereshing change.
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