Travel Insurance to cover Motorbike riding
 

HiI have been looking at a number of travel insurance (medical / baggage etc) providers and the majority either don't cover motorbike riders or only cover those with 200cc bikes. Does anyone know of a good (not dodgy) provider who covers Australians with more than a 200cc bike? - Thanks

I uses this company: Direct Travel Insurance | Cheap Holiday Insurance from £2.60 to cover medical stuff on my bike trips (usually on a 400cc or 750cc bike)

Their exclusion says MC has to be less than 125cc, but it adds "unless the rider has a licence to ride a bigger bike" (which I have). Don't know if Australians can be covered on it. I'm a UK citizen with a UK address.

HTH
Chris

Hi Adastra,

World Nomads cover Australians for riding larger bikes (and other daft activities along the way). If you lived in the UK they wouldn't (different underwriters). I thought $835 wasn't bad for 13 months cover.

Chrispy

Thanks guys
I'll check out both of these suggestions.
Cheers!
Helen

Check out these guys, we use them for our trips. They don't have any restriction on motorcycle size, providing you have a full licence of course. :biggrin3:

Travel Insurance :: Aussietravelcover for Worldwide Travel Insurance

Regards

I used them as an NZ resident and had good experiences. Travel Insurance from $1.60 per day World Nomads Australia

I used MBF Travel Insurance when I did my big ride. Never had to claim, but they cover you for any size motorcycle - and they're definitely not a dodgy mob.

For your information:

All quotes are for 5 months in the Middle East for a single bike rider with 650 engine bike

Cover depends on the level of benefits so the price varies as well!

Aussietravelcover: $373 - Budget Cover Unlimited medical and evacuation, $5million personal liability:
Will not pay unless you have a current Australian or International drivers licence Check out the fine print at: http://www.aussietravelcover.com.au/...s/brochure.pdf


WorldNomads: $298 ($100 Excess) $5Million cover, $10k cancellation costs, $500k medical evacuation, $3.5k loss of travel docs and personal affects, $2.5Million personal liability
Will not pay claim if you ride a motor cycle (except as a pillion passenger) without a licence that is valid in the relevant country (this could be a big loop hole for them!!);
Check the fine print at : World Nomads - Policy Wording: Certain Underwriters at Lloyd's (AUS) 30112009

MBF: $725 ($100 excess) Gold Cover Unlimited medical and evacuation, $2.5million personal liability, $10k personal possessions, $25k accidental death
Will not pay unless you have a current Australian or International drivers licence Check out the fine print at: https://www.mbf.com.au/MBF/Travel%20...ms/PDS_103.pdf

I'm looking into exactly this now, and World Nomads DOES NOT cover liability if you are riding a motorbike. It does cover your medical costs, but not the damage you do to other people and things.

My girlfriend received this explanation from them in an email, plus double check Section 7, "Not covered", 1, b, i in the terms and conditions linked above.

Last time we used CGU. They looked very good if departing from and returning to Aus. Details are floating around here.

Ben

That's a standard clause. Your licence is valid in most countries for x months.

Whether or not biking is covered by WN depends on your country of residence. UK residents, for example, haven't been covered for some time. Oz, NZ and Thai residents are. As Adastra says: always check the fine print.

Hi Ben

Yes, it is only medical I'm after, I'm assuming a green card will do the liability bit...but may be wrong (or unable to get it!!). I'll look into CGU as well though.

Cheers
Adastra

Mondial, WorldCare
 

As Australians, we used and can highly recommend Worldcare underwritten by Allianz and supported by Mondial assistance.

Travel Insurance Australia | Travel Insurance Quote | Worldcare

Excellent service and we have used them twice with no hassle. They are the pros that set the benchmark for all other insurers IMO. They also have a competitive price, which is good news.

Like with any insurer, read the fine print. They cover you riding any motorcycle as long as your are licence to ride that motorcycle in the country you are riding. I double checked this before taking the insurance.

World Nomads for Americans
 

I just read the fine print for Americans using the World Nomads insurance. I always get it because it covers high-altitude mountain climbing, spelunking, and other adventure sports generally not included in insurance. My upcoming trip will be my first one on motorcycle, though, so I read the details.

The information seems a little conflicting, but the gist of it is that Section 2 outlines what is covered by the insurance, and Section 3 details what is not covered, unless it is mentioned as covered in Section 2. So, Section 3 says motorcycles are not covered, but Section 2 says that motorbiking is completely covered. No limits on size of bike, licensing, anything.

Before I buy this insurance this time, I'm going to call them up and really get the details clarified. If I learn anything new, I'll post it.

Travel Insurance Direct
 

We have used Travel Insurance from $38 - Travel Insurance Direct Australia for the last couple of years. We took out the Worldwide Essentials Policy. They cover motorcycling and have paid out twice to us. Once for stolen helmets, they were cabled to the bike with a bike cover over the top. They also paid all our medical bills for an accident we had last November in Argentina. Mondial would ring us up every few days from Australia to check how we were going and if there was anything else they could do for us.

Hope this helps.

Carol & Ken Duval

My family purchased travel insurance policies from 1Cover travel insurance company. They are also one of Australia's largest travel insurance specialist. Policies can only range at a starting price of $36 and you will be covered in minutes.

aussie to be insured
 

my first year travelling i insured with medibank which is underwritten by mondial ,had one claim and was no problems.they will only cover you for two years run back to back.i sent an email whilst in morocco for a renewal and as it was expired(by two days) was initially denied re insurance on the phone.they told me to re apply on the web.this proved more problematic re phone numbers etc.
i have now just this week re insured with HC travel which is run by bikers for bikers.you need an english address though.much the same lark i got from progressive in usa.
HC travel seems to ok if you want to parasail , balloon or ride baboons over the himalayas.worth a looky lookybeer

anz bank offer free travel insurance on their credit card if at least $250 is charged to the card for airfare.i confirmed with the insurer that as long as you hold the correct bike licence in australia for the bike you will be using overseas your covered.

OK, so you fly yourself to Timbuktu, where you have shipped your bike, hop on and go. How long does the policy last, then?

Another reason why overlanding on a 125 is the future! My years travel insurance cost 30 odd quid for a multi-trip policy, 90 days max. single trip and motorcycle riding up to 125 is covered with a racing exclusion.

Travel insurance
 

Not sure if this is useful to anyone... but am getting ready for 5 months riding from Uganda down to SA and back up via Namibia - back to Uganda.
So far I have found most travel insurance co's don't do anything over 125cc and won't cover more than 31 days.
So, here's some companies I have been getting quotes with:
MRL Insurance - Travel Insurance, Home Insurance, Life Insurance and more
They say £298.37 with my forces discount of 10%

Advantage Travel
Gold Cover: Affiliate: Scheme Select
They say £360.00 with 20% forces discount.

ihi Bupa*-*Buy health and travel insurance online (IHI - Bupa) - looks like the Rolls Royce of travel insurance... but they quote about £600 +.... bet they are good though!

Travel Insurance - Annual Travel Insurance from £3.53pcm | Endsleigh
They quote £280.98 and seems to cover everything...

I have no idea if these will cover Aussies etc, but good luck!
Cheers
Col

This seemed the most Australian-centric post relating to overseas motorcycle travel insurance, albeit nearly 3yr old.

Seemed to have worked myself into a corner. As an Australian having resided in the UK for 12mth, I surrendered my AUS licence for a UK one in accordance with DVLA (UK motoring and licencing authority) requirements. This was also necessary to obtain the third party, fire and theft bike insurance I needed for long-duration EU coverage.

However this is now working against me with regards to applying for AUS travel insurance that covers motorcycle use. Most of the policies require me to apply back in AUS, or be back in AUS within 12mth and most crucially of all, be in possession of an AUS drivers licence. This has made me ineligible for coverage with all the insurers I've looked at so far, but I'm hoping that World Nomad will reply with good news based on their policy wording.

Has anyone had and resolved this issue before? Other solutions I can think of could be to apply for a replacement AUS licence (is it against the regulations to be in possession of two licences from different countries?), or apply for UK travel insurance (but this wouldnt cover repatriation to AUS, which is highly desireable).

Any feedback appreciated
- Kenny

Travel Insurance
 

Your information is timely as we will be heading to the UK in summer 2015. Will need to do some research on how to get around this problem. I have some ideas but am concerned about the legality. World Nomads are our travel insurers but have always maintained our Australian licence. We renew on the road every 12 months and never use the offer of extending but take out a new policy as you get a better discount. Google for discount coupon codes. Are you returning to Australia eventually? There appears no way around the issue other than to have two licences from two different countries which will make the law enforcement folk a bit annoyed when you produced your "other" licence when applying their revenue raising efforts. What about embassies or say the Automobile Clubs... RACQ... RACV? Can they assist..... You will need to use them to get your Carnet de Passage.. PM us if you need any more info but don't know if we can do too much. Cheers... K & C

Good news on my end. After a couple of aborted attempts at email contact with a seemingly automated 'representative' at World Nomads GB, I managed to get in contact with a human rep at World Nomads AUS; forget the website contact proforma, use infoAUS@worldnomads.com. After that had to to-and-fro a little about proving why I had to surrender my AUS licence, and I made my case that UK licences are recognised in AUS just like AUS licences are recognised in UK, ergo complies with World Nomad policy wording. Got the green light:

Our product specialist has advised that as your UK licence is valid in Australia, you can be covered under the Australian resident policy for the operation of the same classes of motor vehicles while overseas.

In order for cover while riding a motorcycle to be valid, you must wear a helmet wherever it would be required in Australia, regardless of the local laws.

Just be sure to choose the right level of cover for what you want to do. Level 1 adventure sports and activities cover will be the one to choose if you are riding on road or as a pillion passenger with a licensed rider. If you plan to ride ‘off-road’ (and by this we mean on a trail bike going cross country or on dirt tracks, etc) then you will need to choose Level 3 cover in order to be covered should anything go wrong.

What’s covered:

If you have an accident and are injured, you’ll be covered for medical evacuation and medical expenses. If you end up in hospital or if you’re treated as an out-patient, you’ll be covered provided you were taking all the usual safety precautions when driving/riding a motorbike e.g. obeying the local road rules, wearing a helmet and not taking any needless risk.

What you need to know:

You must comply with local laws and legislation when it comes to driving or riding a motorbike or moped overseas; if you don’t, you won’t be covered if something happens.

Be aware: if you own your car or motorbike or even if you’ve borrowed or rented one, we can’t cover the vehicle at all if it’s stolen or damaged, nor can we cover your personal liability while you’re driving/riding it.

If you leave any of your belongings with your motorbike unattended, there’s no cover for this either.


So yay for me and full steam ahead! Naturally, I recommend that everyone query World Nomads (or any insurer for that matter) about your specific circumstances, coverage and caveats.

Ken and Carol, thankyou for the heads up about the discount code, you just saved me $60AUD! Will you be living in the UK for more than 12mth? If not you don't need to surrender your AUS licence. FYI exchanging licences cost £50 (though all-up cost me £68, with the extra cost of a Royal Mail money order and postage), one passport photo and registered post/return of a primary ID (I sent my passport). Carnets I'll have to look at toward end of this year, as with the necessary bike CTP/'green cards' to get back to AUS.

On the point of CTP, for reference, I'll be taking 'ebike insurance' CTP, fire and theft this trip coming up because they seem to be the only provider that provide 365day EU coverage, rather than the 30 or 60 day trip limits most others caveat. Happy to hear about other options, but that's the best I can come up, albeit with a few online cautions about poor customer service (could be all faff), plus they're actually well priced.

Happy trails,
Kenny

Motorcycle touring insurance plus medical while already overseas
 

Any UK resident who requires motorcycle touring insurance that includes medical while already overseas can be found here. Let me know if you can find better as I'm still on the hunt...

Long Stay Travel Insurance Overseas, Travel Insurance Already travelling

Cheers
Lisa and Jason
twowheelednomad.com