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The Great Motorcycle Travel Insurance Con |
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Written by Alun
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Tuesday, 30 March 2010 07:18 |
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 I've started to check out travel insurance which covers for all eventualities when riding a motorcycle overseas and off-road (and in particular, Morocco) and the findings have been interesting and no great surprise.
Over the 15 years I've been with Adventure Travel magazine and climbing and hiking in some of the remoter areas of the world I've come to expect that there's going to be some small print to catch you out. For example; many policies will state up front that they cover you for hiking in the wilderness and then the small print will contain a clause such as 'only on recognised trails'.
That term 'recognised trails' is such a grey area in remote mountain areas. For example is an unmarked mountain goat path used by the Bedouin in Algeria for hundreds of years a 'recognised trail' or not? I used to have fun querying the underwriters about such detail and would never get a straight answer. It pays to remember that the majority of the people who are trying to sell these insurances are unaware of the restrictions on their own policies and don't understand their significance when pointed out.
Similarly, most policies for mountaineering would have restrictions in the small print that were neither sensible or up front in their restrictions. For example some would have a 5000m hight restriction clause, which meant that you would be covered to climb a killer such as 'The North Face of the Eiger' which tops out a couple of metres short of 4000m but not be insured on the hike to Everest Base Camp, which is nothing more than a walk. Go figure.
Anyway, it looks like the same is true when it comes to travel and motorcycle adventures with small print restrictions rife. I'll update this blog when I've had a few questions answered by leading lights in the industry. But for now, the message is....read the small print and don't rely on the answers supplied by the person on the other end of the phone selling you the policy, quite often they don't know the difference themselves.
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 30 March 2010 07:48 )
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