Does your travel insurance cover motorcycling?

[Mark Manley]

I am prompted to write this thread by my experience 3 years ago when making a 2 part trip to Africa. On a recommendation I used STA travel who were cheaper than Ensleigh who I had used in the past, when I went to renew the policy for the second part of the trip I was told "we do not offer cover for travel by motorcycle above 125cc and haven't done since 2000".

After checking I was told that I had asked for cover for travel by a large motorcycle, not an 800cc motorcycle and it was my fault failing to disclose and for not noticing the exclusion on page 18 of 54, apparently there is no duty on the operators part to clarify what I might mean by large motorcycle.

I then returned to Ensleigh who would offer cover, I told every detail of my trip to just to avoid any confusion, I read all of the exclusions and spotted "overlanding" After phoning and asked for clarification, eventually there were two managers arguing with each other over what level of cover I required and I told them in the end that I would have to have the higher, much more expensive level to ensure being covered, if they cannot agree what chance do we stand.

Out of interest I have just made a few phone enquiries and the following companies policies do not cover riding bikes above 125cc, Morethan, Aviva and STA, Tesco kept me waiting for 10 minutes so I hung up.
Ensleigh do still offer cover for travel on larger bikes.

The lesson seems to be make sure that you tell your insurance company everything about have you plan to travel.

It might be helpfull to other users if people could share their experiences with travel insurance companies in relation to motorcycle trips, have you made a claim? do you know any other company that offer cover?
Anybody still awake after all that can award themselves a cup of tea!

[Bushman_uk]

Well i'll have a coffee can't stand tea
The bain of everyones life ... insurance you can't be without it and when you need it clause 23 pops up and you don't get paid !
I am no expert but when ever you shop around 9 times out of 10 you get what you pay for, If the insurance is really cheap then you can be sure there's a reason.
I am lucky i have a good friend who is a broker and does know his stuff, his constant advice is note down everycall who when and what. When you specify certain things do not leave it to chance put it in writing, record your phone call, if you tell them you are on a 1200 going off road and the policy does not cover , then they have mis sold it and then there is reconpense
My travel insurance does cover me on motorcycles on and off road, and it has been used for a broken wrist in the Sierrra Nevadas in the USA.
I would say stating it's a large bike is good enough and worthy of a good stab providing you can back up the statement with a written letter, email or a phone recording
Now unfortunatley my friend is away for a month, so i won't say much more as bad information can be confusing and misleading. I shall try to remember this topic and come back to it with a bit of expert advice from the trade.

[Alun]

The last time we checked insurance cover in Adventure Travel magazine we found that just over 40% of readers who responded were potentially not covered for the activities they were intending to do. The biggest problem were; the policies were ambiguous and the staff selling them had little to no idea what they were offering and in some cases neither did the underwriters who wrote the policy.

We specifically queried policies that covered 'trekking' and when we dug deeper found that there were exclusion clauses all over the place. For example, the major terms would state 'covered for trekking' and the small print would say 'only on recognised routes'. When we asked 'what were recognised routes'? no insurance company could provide a concrete answer.

We asked if traditional Berber routes which had been followed for 100's of years in the Atlas mountains of Morocco were recognised routes and we were not able to gain a clear answer – some said yes others said no and some asked what are Berber routes.

I would suspect that most motorcycle policies are similar.

[Nomad]

I used AA Travel Insurance when I went to the States in 2005 and it covered me for an accident which resulted in me writing off 2 FLHCi HD's and the Lovely-Wendy, 3 broken ribs and a ruptured Spleen, all paid for by 1st the motorbike insurance I took our all risk, then when that run out which it did the AA Insuranc epicked up the rest. Even covered the Lovely Wendy sueing me for causing her damage, she was awared 25,000$ for a quick settlement...

http://www.whereistonynow.co.uk/honeymoon.htm

[scouse]

The only fully comprehensive Travel and Medical Insurance policy that I have found that covers all types of motorcycle related claims, including theft and damaged casued by theft including attached soft luggage is the Carole Nash policy.

It might be more expensive this year as I am now getting treatment for hypertension ... but even though we haven't made a claim we are covered for all the motorcycle activities we do and so is our bike kit and gear locked away in panniers and topboxes.