QLD
55 posts
Hi can anyone recommend a good travel insurance company/policy which covers adventure sports such as rock climbing, kiting, snow kiting, surfing etc? I'm having trouble finding one to cover them all!! Will be going to Asia, south America, Mexico and Canada over the next couple of years. Cheers :o)
WA
15105 posts
Sorry, I know you didn't ask about it, but from my own experience, look at what the policies really cover with regards to exclusions.
In my case, I thought my travel insurance covered missed flights and connections, but even though they have a section that is titled something like 'missed flights', they actually exclude almost all scenarios that I could think of. In my case, the plane was delayed by fog, and then delayed again because of mechanical problems. When I looked at the policy, it doesn't cover flights that are cancelled or rescheduled, which to my mind doesn't really leave much.
I think they even have exclusions for delays caused by wars, terrorism, or even mechanical failure on any transport form.
I did notice that a lot of insurance companies have south and central america as the highest premium areas.
QLD
55 posts
Yeah I've been looking, some companies seem to want to get out of everything! Reviews are very telling. I'm wondering if I should just get insured for climbing in Asia then get a seperate one for SA/ canada, rather than a worldwide multi trip - I have to come back home for a couple of months next year between trips anyway... Not sure how best to do it...
QLD
6525 posts
The only thing travel insurance is for is when you are choppered out, 6 days in intensive care, then a chartered flight home with a full medical team.
Anything else is just feel-good brlls!t that evaporates into nothing the moment something actually happens to you.
WA
1019 posts
I use CoverMore when I go overseas and I know they cover all sorts of fun stuff (glazier hiking, ice fishing, fencing, kite surfing etc.). My mate's just used them when they went snowboarding in NZ but I believe they were only covered on piste and the glazier hikes and stuff had to be guided tours.
I used to think travel insurance was a waste. I've spent $1000's over the years and never needed to make a claim but I tell you what, travel insurance is worth every cent when **** hits the fan. On one holiday I had to be medivac'd by chopper and taken to one of the worlds least effective 3rd world hospital emergency departments lol. Makes a $150-$250 policy seem insignificant.
I don't know if it was a one off or because i've used them a bit but last time they sent me a prepaid GlobalSim sim card for free which I thought was a thoughtful idea. Mind you it arrived after I got back but it looks like a better option than a prepaid Telstra sim car with international roaming.
Blueseas, your probably better off getting 2 policies? I went to Bintan / Singa's in April and PNG in June and it worked out cheaper getting 2 separate policies.
VIC
286 posts
My brother in law is currently on a 2 year stint in Canada, he is right into abseiling & climbing etc and regularly goes to Squamish. He couldn't find travel insurance that was suitable, but ended up finding out that he could join some European Rock Climbing association for the equivalent of about AUD $35 P/A which gave him world wide cover - even though he is an Aussie in Canada. Not sure which country it was sorry (maybe Austria or another Scandinavian country).
It could be worth sussing out a few sports organisations to join that offer personal accident insurance rather than looking at travel insurance and trying to cover every 'extreme sport' you can think of.
VIC
5125 posts
From Australia, Covermore and QBE have been ok.
No insurance that you can buy in Australia will cover you for rescue. They will cover you for evacuation. Evacuation means they will pay for the chopper to come and get you from the island village you're staying at. Rescue means they will cover you for the chopper to come to pluck you out of the sea or off a mountain or wherever.
You can get search and rescue insurance in the UK and other European countries. You have to be in that country to take up the insurance. I don't understand why that is the case in the internet age.
Even if you can get search and rescue insurance the coverage is usually limited to about $50k. That's enough to fire up a chopper and buy a round of coffees for the crew.
You will be glad you have insurance if you're stuck in some crappy town in the middle of nowhere with a broken pelvis and there's chopper or a truck on the way to take you out of there.
Even with insurance, if you're injured in somewhere remote then you must have people with you and local contacts to make the phone calls and harass the locals and keep you alive until you can be evacuated. The broken pelvis was in Pakistan last year. He would have died if he did not have mates who hassled hard to get him evacuated.
PS Last year in India one of the guys broke his arm. The local clinic put the arm in a full cast. During the night the arm swelled up causing constriction in the blood flow. That swelling causes the sheath of the arm muscles to constrict further reducing blood flow. If it's not fixed within 24 hours you lose the arm ... and the infection will kill you. Fortunately we had three surgeons with us and they fixed him up in minutes by cutting the cast off with a Leatherman saw.
