Cycling UK Forum

Some ten years ago,my wife and I had very good support through Citi Bond.

We were in the south of France on our solo bikes, my wife some how went into a ditch breaking her wrist and other injuries.
She was hospitalised for four days,arrangements were made for her to be taken to the airport by ambulance. I was taken with both bikes and all luggage to Marseilles airport (100 miles away) in a peolple carrier,the French ambulance staff put my wife in a wheel chair they also helped with bikes.
I guess we were very fortunate to get such wonderful service.

anniesboy wrote:I guess we were very fortunate to get such wonderful service.

I'm sure that's how it usually goes. We're more likely to hear about the hard cases here.

When you're injured enough to be admitted to hospital the medical authorities have people who are used to negotiating with insurers, who will ensure that all their costs, not only of treatment but also getting you and your belongings home, are covered. And I daresay it helps when there's an uninjured close relative present (who will also be eligible for repatriation under the terms of the insurance) to ensure nothing gets left behind.

The situation of the 'walking wounded' is different. Especially if treated as an out-patient, after leaving the hospital they become responsible for making their own further arrangements and will need to deal with the insurer themselves, to verify that each of the extra costs they incur in returning home earlier (or later) than intended are necessary and will be paid. If they're also alone, somewhat incapacitated and feeling vulnerable, it'll be hard to make those arrangements. But sometimes that's just the way it is.

What prompted me to return to this topic was looking to renew our house contents insurance with Direct Line and discovering that the included annual travel cover ("worth £180") excludes all forms of "Biking" - although it'll cover the riding of motorcycles up to 125cc! I phoned them and they were adamant: 'Biking' means ALL use of pedal cycles.

I am indignant that the comparatively safe activity of cycle-touring gets tarred with the same danger-sport brush as mountain-biking and speed-seeking roadies.

And I wonder how many people wrongly assume that their peaceful holiday country lane pootling is covered by the 'free' annual travel insurance they get with their bank account etc.

Lord forbid anyone taking out CTC travel insurance if heading anywhere remote like the interiour of Iceland.

Search and Rescue costs are excluded.

TBH I'm giving up on insure and go. Its no good making special exclusions for the kind of things that I need cover for. personal accident cover and third party liability isn't a huge ask given the other activities that are covered. There's also a pre-existing medical condition to cover. Citybond is out. Who else are people using this year?

The answer was... Moneysupermarket now have an online process for people with pre-existing conditions. It then gives a shortlist of policies. Many of them have quite modest trip lengths (30 days being common) on annual policies. You then have to read the policies and see which cover cycling. However the medical side seems to have distracted them from adding caveats affecting cycle touring so the cover side is quite good. Watch out for geographical definitions for Europe; their not consistent.

I'm not going to say which one I used because there were other specific factors in my choice.

Initially looking cover for pre existing conditions made the search much less painful than say looking for travel insurance then trying to find pre-existing and cycle cover.

Barrenfluffit wrote:The answer was... Moneysupermarket now have an online process for people with pre-existing conditions. It then gives a shortlist of policies. Many of them have quite modest trip lengths (30 days being common) on annual policies. You then have to read the policies and see which cover cycling. [...]

I'm ill and Moneysupermarket's lowest price last week (for an annual policy with other drawbacks) was over five times the price of the policy I took out from a UK broker of a German insurer, with online medical screening. Actually, I think Moneysupermarket's lowest price for a single-trip policy was higher than what I paid for annual, so I have little confidence in their search.

I believe that ill people are almost always better contacting charities concerned with your condition and seeing who they suggest asking. I agree that most medically-loaded policies seem not to bother with cycling caveats but trip length may be a concern.

Barrenfluffit wrote:TBH I'm giving up on insure and go. Its no good making special exclusions for the kind of things that I need cover for. personal accident cover and third party liability isn't a huge ask given the other activities that are covered. There's also a pre-existing medical condition to cover. Citybond is out. Who else are people using this year?

Has anyone else found travel / medical insurance for short trips abroad? I'll be in continental Europe for 7 days, prior to cycling back North through England (I'm purely concerned about medical insurance, in the event that one of those motorists get me while I'm in France).

Insure and Go state they cover cycle touring. Aside from the fact that every policy I checked in detail in respect to Insure and Go, specifically excluded cycle touring

I may just go. If the motorists kill me while I'm cycling it's not of a huge concern (Last time a consultant stated I'd "died" during the accident, I'd been oblivious ). I'm purely concerned about surviving and being handed a huge medical bill on my return from holiday

John Lewis insurance lists cycling as a means of transport in their covered activities. Prices run from about £13 for a week in Europe.

nmnm wrote:John Lewis insurance lists cycling as a means of transport in their covered activities. Prices run from about £13 for a week in Europe.

Thanks for that lead. Given the doubt as to whether CTC's Travel Insurance still covers helmet-free touring (invited by it's requirement that 'recommended' safety gear must be worn for any 'activity' and triggered by the recent change in wording of the UK Highway Code to say that helmets and hi-viz 'should' be worn), a lot of us will be interested in any insurance that does not tar our simple and relatively safe means of transport with the danger sport brush!

So I found John Lewis Travel Insurance and downloaded their full policy conditions. And it's all good. "Cycling As a means of transport" is simply and automatically covered without any sneaky conditions about special clothes and hats or restrictions as to how much of your holiday is spent in travelling in this way.

All the more risky kinds of cycling, such as BMX, Mountain-Biking, Triathlons, Racing... (that CTC/CUK covers without extra charge as a sop to it's more sporty members, but which must bump up our premiums and prompt the insurers to insert unhelpful phrases about safety equipment) are in the Hazardous Sports and Activities section where they belong, and where you need to make a phone call and pay an unspecified extra payment to get covered. Good decision John Lewis!

That looks good. However, basic details on their website are scarce without getting a quote, which I didn't bother with.

I was bit confused as on their site they as say Annual Multi trip only available to under 65s in one section in FAQs, but then under 75s in another 2 sections. Also I can't see if the 60 day Annual is reduced as you get older (InsureandGo reduce to 30 days after 65).

Did yo get a quote, how much was it (roughly)?

I've just renewed with Insurandgo - good cover, cycle touring explicitly included and good price (annual worldwide no medical £75 ish).

simonhill wrote:That looks good. However, basic details on their website are scarce without getting a quote, which I didn't bother with.

I was bit confused as on their site they as say Annual Multi trip only available to under 65s in one section in FAQs, but then under 75s in another 2 sections. Also I can't see if the 60 day Annual is reduced as you get older (InsureandGo reduce to 30 days after 65).

Did yo get a quote, how much was it (roughly)?

I've just renewed with Insurandgo - good cover, cycle touring explicitly included and good price (annual worldwide no medical £75 ish).

I did get a quote, but it wasn't as cheap as the original recommendation led me to expect, starting at £108 for Basic cover for a couple (age 61 & 64) to Europe. A level of cover similar to our last year's 'Premium' Cyclecover policy would be 'Plus' and cost £144, whereas we paid £125. (admittedly aged one year younger and with a 10% prompt renewal discount and minus one year's insurance inflation, so maybe £144 is not so shabby). Or we could have paid £202 for JohnLewis 'Premium', which as you might expect looks to be a bit more premium than Cyclecover Premium. I decided I was more of a Sainsburys than a Waitrose customer and didn't go for it in the end.

JohnLewis' permitted trip length under the annual policy is indeed hard to find and only becomes obvious during the quotation process. There it appears that the maximum is 35 days by default but can be extended to 45 or 60 days for an additional premium. But not if you're over 65, then you can extend only as far as 50 days I think it said, or if over 75 it's 31 days max with no remission for good behaviour! But I am neither over 65 nor have any plans to be away for more than a fortnight, so wasn't really paying attention.

In the end I did the due dilligence also on the ETA Travel Insurance policy document and found it also good to go touring helmet-free, with no snakes hidding in the small-print's long grass! The cover isn't great for posessions and stuff, and goodness knows what happens to your bike if you get injured, but losing a bike won't break us financially like a life-saving operation might, and the medical stuff looks adequate so I happily paid the £78 premium.

These are the guys I always recommend and they use a cycle tourist to illustrate their booklet. https://www.sportscoverdirect.com

Also an EHIC card for Europe and some further afield destinations.

Thanks for the detailed reply Chris (CJ).

It seems that the John Lewis cover just ramps up in price and down in cover (agewise) as you get more into it. I'll knock them off my list.

As I said I'm still using Insureandgo who do have an over 65 restriction on their 90 day max trip annual policy..........but, if you take out insurance when 65, it's OK. This means I can get cover till 66½ (I renew at 65½). Second but is that you can then apply for the (next) policy to start in up to 8 months time. This means I will buy just before birthday in July to start in following January, giving me insurance up till I'm 67½. (NB checked this with 2 different agents.)

If I'm still cycling in far flung lands after that, Mrs HJ's sportscoverdirect looks interesting ( up to 70).

My bike is covered on my household - 60 days worldwide, but don't know how they would react if it was left behind at scene of an accident.

Most travel insurances don't cover 3rd party when cycling, but my CycleUK 3rd party should do this. Although not sure if it would satisfy a machete welding local if I had run over his chicken.

I'm in the process of compiling a comparison table of the main features of the several insurances recommended here, which I'm extracting from a detailed study of their terms and conditions. Excluding cycling from Personal Injury and Liability cover does indeed seem a common tactic (Insure and Go add insult to injury by excluding only cycle-touring from these benefits!) but it is not universal.

On the strength of my researches so far, I've cancelled the ETA policy I'd just taken out, because SportsCover Direct is clearly a better product at an equally keen price. Probably because activity is a central theme of this insurance, there don't seem to be any naughty exclusions from cover for the activities covered. Loss of your equipment (i.e. your bike) is separately covered from your other belongings (although the sum insured is paltry unless you go for Gold) and if you need to be repatriated, they don't leave it behind. So AFAICT it does everything that Cyclecover does, but without the helmet and other quibbles.

But if anyone has any other suggestions for helmet-free cycle-touring insurance, tell me and I'll add it to my comparison table. I find it rather interesting, by the way, to see which other countries insurers include with geographical Europe: countries which lie on the other side of the Mediterranean, Black Sea, Caucasus and Urals. Most insurers throw in Morocco and Tunisia - but not all - whilst some include such outlandish lands as Armenia and Azerbaijan!