hi people, from my hospital bed in xalapa, vera cruz, mexico a heads up. world nomads have just refused to pay any medical costs after a moto vs car in which i came off 3rd best, car - mini bruise, bike - few bruises, me, # fractured femur, dislocated shoulder and chronic indigestion from hospital food and lack of , their reason, my moto is too big, i.e. above 125cc. when i purchased this policy in aug-sep last year to continue with one bought the previous aug-sep they again said that size was only related to bike damage claims and not medical ones, it would appear that not only lawyers have the tongues of vipers. mexico is not that expensive compared with other places, i reckon this little incident is going to cost me between 7 - 10 thousand pounds, but if it had been 3 weeks later when i had planned to be in the usa, it would have meant selling the house so be warned, "all that glistens is not gold". if anyone is passing through over the next 3 weeks or so, smuggle me in a chilled one, cold turkey is no fun. ride safe.

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Mike
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Mike is riding the twisty road in the sky

I too am having to delve into murky insurance waters to try to fish out a policy that covers me for what I want to get up to.

I am leaving the UK for Oz for 2 years+ and need to get cover for at least the first year.

Problems encountered so far are similar to those experienced by other posters in this thread - restrictions on motorcycle size (under 125cc); restrictions on length of policy (longstay and backpacker cover extends to a max of 18months from what I have managed to find); dodgily worded policy documents:
An exclusion in Direct Insurance policy (and I saw it in another one this evening, but can't remember which one it was... but look out for it):

'Anything arising from owning or using any aircraft, mechanical or motorised vehicles'

I did call to find out exactly what that meant, and Claire and her Duty Manager were unable to say - neither of them knew.

I have had insurance with Insure & Go before, but the motorcycle extension only covered a period of up to 30 days - that said however, I never had to give them the dates for those 30 days. Hmmm. Anywho, they aren't applicable for my current needs.

World Nomad ticks all the right boxes and appears to have been put together by people who have travelled and understand what we are faced with, but their policy document has this interesting General Exclusion:

'You are not covered for anything caused directly or indirectly by the following, unless you have contacted us and we have confirmed in writing that you will be covered.
1. ...
...
19. motorbike touring or where a motorbike is the main mode of transport'

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Hi Maja,

Sorry to hear about your mishap and I wish you a speedy recovery.

Now you got me seriously worried, as I have just extended my WM policy for another year. But then, I'm an NZ resident and that may make all the diference. Must check that out, though.

All the best,
Peter.

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Cheers,
Peter.

Europe to NZ 2006-10

Hi Maja
Get well soon. Sorry to hear about you.

Peter I just tried to get insurance from WN and they wouldnt cover any country on the FCO list that cancils out Iran,Pakistan,India, so that rules out the countrys that we wanted insurance for LOL

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www.landroveradventure.co.uk
Land Rover Discovery 2, Yamaha Super Tenere

This is the email response that I got this morning from World Nomads:

Hello little Square One.

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I have been reading this thread in hopes of gaining some small insight

into buying motorcycle insurance and health care insurance myself, a legal

foreign resident of Spain.

I discovered that "BUPA", (GB) no joke that is the name of the company,

offers a transfer from an existing medical health care insurance to "BUPA"

at a discounted rate.

We bought into MEDICUS Health Care Insurance while riding SA for several years and then living in Buenos Aires,

Argentina. So I called "BUPA" and discovered that "BUPA" owns "SANITAS,"

a respected Spanish Health Care Insurance company and could indeed

transfer our South American policy into one of their own, for a very

reasonable monthly cost. This has something to do with "BUPA" underwriting

cost of insuring a "new"

client verses a client previously covered under an existing policy.

Anyway, here is the funny part. When I finally got around to the real

question... of whether "BUPA" covered medical costs if I were injured while

riding my BMW motorcycle, the very British, very curt, BUPA agent replied:

"Mr. G......., we here at BUPA do not care what you have been up to, we just

pay your medical bills." xfiltrate

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Motorcycle Parking Buenos Aires, Argentina
www.xfiltrate.com
Discover how to legally Buy, Tour and Sell a motorcycle in Argentina

Me and my girlfriend are looking for our trip from Lithuania to Malaysia (passing Iran and Pakistan) for a reasonable priced travel insurance.
It's not easy. Most companies that are mentioned here are only for UK citizens.

Anyway I found a link of travel insurances for Europeans:
Travel insurance for Europeans / EU residents | Globe Spots
- Columbus Direct: only insures motorbikes up to 125cc
- Multinational Underwriters: Cheap. As far as I can see there are no restrictions for motorbike travelers. They don't cover Iran.
- World Escapade: As far as I can see there are no restrictions for motorbike travelers. They don't cover Pakistan.
- World Nomads: No option to only cover medical. For me rather expensive (and don't want to insure luggage).
- Worldwide Insure: Not covered from claims resulting of motorcycling.

I'm thinking about taking the insurance of Multinational Underwriters and for the time in Iran (3 weeks) have a package as well at World Escapade or World Nomads. If someone has experience with Multinational Underwriters or World Escapade I would be glad to hear your oppinion.

Johan

I've just insured through the UK Post Office.
First of all I tried the company advertised by MAG. That would have been fine until I had to own up to having an accident within the last 3 years. They then said they couldn't provide cover for motorcycling. If they had given me the free motorcycle upgrade I think the maximum trip length would have been 1 month, which is all I want at the moment.
So I checked the Post Office web site. It doesn't mention motorcycling, but does say you can declare extreme sports such as skiiing and golfing (GOLFING????) so I had to ring up to ask about motorcycling. They assured me that travelling by motorcycle is covered within their standard policy and no mention of a cc limit. So I've got an annual world wide policy (excluding Americas) cover for both us with a single trip limit of 1 month for £108. It can be upgraded to cover the Americas and for trips of up to a year when we require it.
It looks like getting insurance gets progressively harder as you get older and especially when over 65. Also the older you get the more medical history you have to declare which gives them the chance to either charge more or add exclusions for pre-existing conditions. Unfortunately there's no point in being less than honest when applying for cover as giving them the slightest excuse to avoid paying out if you make a claim means you might as well have saved the cash and taken a chance in the first place.

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If you think you are too small to make a difference you have never spent the night with a mosquito.

I’ve been desperately trying to find an insurer that will allow you to extend your policy longer than 12 months and while you are already on your travels and after searching thru god knows how many, think I have struck gold!
Company is called Globelink and they provide all the standard covers at a good rate and also, you can extend your policy when you’re away (as long as it’s before the current one expires!)
Here is their website https://globelink.co.uk/

Do you know if UK Post Office insures also EU residents, not only UK residents?