Decent travel insurance that includes skiing?

[Hard-Drive]

I'm looking for recommendations for decent travel insurance policy that covers skiing. I'm looking for value and quality, not necessarily the cheapest price. I got my fingers burned a few years ago when my skis were stolen and I got booger all back after wear and tear and excess. I guess with the chance of UK snow and drone carnage too, a policy that pays out properly if travel goes all wrong would be good too.

I'm a 95% piste skier, with the occasional play in powder between pistes, but nothing too full on. It would be good if it covered other slightly adventurous activities that I might do abroad too, sailing, cycling, that kind of thing.

Any recommendations please people?

Thanks!

[moonigan]

I get travel insurance with Barclaycard as long as part of the trip is booked using it. It covers piste skiing. I also get cover from the HSBC with my bank account and this also covers it.

[moonigan]

I get travel insurance with Barclaycard as long as part of the trip is booked using it. It covers piste skiing. I also get cover from the HSBC with my bank account and this also covers it.

[designforlife]

Snowcard, ski club of great britain (this is an excellent policy), dogtag...to name a few.

If you are riding in France a carre neige is a very wise idea...usually about 20 euros for a week, you can pick one up in resort.

[smifffymoto]

Just be careful and read the small print.Some insurance will just get you off the hill and not anything else,others will cover hospital and medical fight home if needed.
Don’t just assume you are covered.

[chandrew]

It really depends on what you want covered. As mentioned above, many of the resorts offer insurance as an upgrade to the ski-pass price but I'm guessing that is mainly to get you off the slopes in the event of an accident. This can be expensive - I remember when I got picked up by the helicopter in Zermatt the cost was > CHF 100 per minute from the moment the helicopter took off to the end of the trip at Brig hospital.

In Switzerland everyone (including children) has to have 3rd party insurance by law. Therefore if you create an accident you could be liable for the other party's costs as it's expected you will have cover.

I just went through the process of helping find insurance with my father, who was coming over from the UK. We found that the gap in coverage was just to get him off the slopes and the cost of covering this was CHF5 a day with a ski pass.

[Marcellus]

We always by the insurance with lift passes as it will get you off the mountain with no questions asked/hassle which is exactly what you want need.

For care after that we use Insure and Go.

[Hard-Drive]

Thanks for the advice guys...I've got two trips to Austria this year (first time, it's usually France or Switzerland) but I'll certainly look into those suggestions.

[EddieSteadyGo]

I use the cover provided by opening an account with the Nationwide called their FlexPlus account.

The give worldwide family travel insurance including skiing, worldwide family mobile phone insurance, and breakdown cover in UK+Europe.

Cost is £13 / month.

Getting separate insurance for 4 mobiles on its own can often cost more than that, so I think it is good value.

They would like you to use their account as your main bank account, but they don't insist on it.

[//j17]

Check out LVs travel insurance. Winter cover includes off piste "within the ski area boundaries of a recognised ski resort and follow the ski patrol guidelines" - whatever the first bit of that actually means!

[craig1912]

Wouldn’t use Insure and Go- had no end of issues on a medical claim.
We use the Lloyds bank annual cover with winter extension. More than enough medical cover etc.
Only issue with skis as we found out last year is most insurers don’t cover them if left unattended (which we do most lunch times).

[moonigan]

craig1912 said:

Wouldn’t use Insure and Go- had no end of issues on a medical claim.
We use the Lloyds bank annual cover with winter extension. More than enough medical cover etc.
Only issue with skis as we found out last year is most insurers don’t cover them if left unattended (which we do most lunch times).

I use one of these after a theft a few years ago. Wire through the bindings on skis/boards. Harder to walk off with 3 sets of skis and two boards when they are all secured.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01N4667FL/ref=asc_df_...

[//j17]

The little locks won't stop someone stealing your skis, but they will stop someone taking them by accident and let you tell the police/insurance company that you had made an effort to secure them. You can also split your skis with a friends to help avoid them being taken by mistake.

Often the biggest issue is getting the local police to give you a crime number as they don't want the paperwork/bad reputation for their ski resort.

[Burrow01]

craig1912 said:

Wouldn’t use Insure and Go- had no end of issues on a medical claim.
We use the Lloyds bank annual cover with winter extension. More than enough medical cover etc.
Only issue with skis as we found out last year is most insurers don’t cover them if left unattended (which we do most lunch times).

Interesting, as I was going to recommend Insure and Go :-)

I had a bad crash on a mountain bike in Canada a few years ago, and they were excellent - want was your issue with them?

[moonigan]

//j17 said:

The little locks won't stop someone stealing your skis, but they will stop someone taking them by accident and let you tell the police/insurance company that you had made an effort to secure them. You can also split your skis with a friends to help avoid them being taken by mistake.

Often the biggest issue is getting the local police to give you a crime number as they don't want the paperwork/bad reputation for their ski resort.

They wont stop a determined thief but most are opportunistic and if it was me and I was scoping skis outside a bar I'd just ignore the ones with any kind of lock and take the low hanging fruit.

P

[Mr E]

moonigan said:

They wont stop a determined thief but most are opportunistic and if it was me and I was scoping skis outside a bar I'd just ignore the ones with any kind of lock and take the low hanging fruit.

P

The only reason I use one of those is so I can tell the insurance company I locked the kit up while I went for a puddle.

We use the travel insurance supplied by Halifax as part of the reward account. Been ok so far.

[craig1912]

Burrow01 said:

Interesting, as I was going to recommend Insure and Go :-)

I had a bad crash on a mountain bike in Canada a few years ago, and they were excellent - want was your issue with them?

Took 6 months to pay a hospital in New York.

If buying separately I’d use an insurer who uses CEGA for the overseas medical stuff as they have a good rep.

[henrycrun]

Trying to claim on Nationwide 'free' Insurance was like a being part of a Two Ronnies or Monty Python sketch. Fetch me a shrubbery ? At every step the document requirements changed. Refused to payout.
Can't recommend em.

[EddieSteadyGo]

henrycrun said:

Trying to claim on Nationwide 'free' Insurance was like a being part of a Two Ronnies or Monty Python sketch. Fetch me a shrubbery ? At every step the document requirements changed. Refused to payout.
Can't recommend em.

I have just completed an insurance claim with the Nationwide for an S8+ and Iphone Xs (yes, I was very unluckly!) which was all sorted ok (although I must say they can be a little officious with their paperwork requirements).

So I realise this relates to their phone cover and not their travel cover, but looking at the scope of the Nationwide skiing coverage, I thought it was pretty good.

[Hard-Drive]

Cheers guys...I went with Snowcard who I'd used years ago. It's definitely a case of "read the small print"...I also do quite a bit of yachting and Snowcard was the only policy that was sensibly worded for cross-channel or longer trips away from the coastline.
I quite liked the "sliders" so you can choose the most appropriate level of cover for skis etc. Now I just hope I don't get to find out how good they are at paying out!