Don’t crash in Europe

The black art of moving from A to B on foreign soil
Cornishman
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Re: Don’t crash in Europe

Post by Cornishman »

berin wrote: Mon Jan 24, 2022 6:09 pm
Cornishman wrote:
OnHellas wrote: Sat Jan 15, 2022 5:40 pm From my understanding the EHIC never covered repatriation costs either.
It didn’t. However since Brexit the repatriation insurance has been a requirement.
I didn’t know that. So travel insurance with repatriation is now required for travel to Europe, as in compulsory? I don’t think it’s a requirement elsewhere, though I would always have it anyway.

I had massive bill in the US after a helicopter evacuation and a stay in a decompression chamber a few years ago, I’d have been properly stuffed without travel insurance on that one.

I thought the EHIC/GHIC cards just saved you a potential hospital bill in the EU, but not any rescue or other associated costs, but from what you’re saying an EHIC alone isn’t enough and insurance is compulsory. How do they check? At the borders?


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It was news months ago when it was introduced. I doubt it’s something that is likely to be checked anywhere; I can only remember having my driving licence checked once at a frontier (travelling from France to Switzerland south of Lake Geneva) and no one has ever checked my car insurance at a border crossing. However I still have a driving licence and insurance because they are required, just like the repatriation insurance. Also, take care, your EHIC or GHIC does not prevent you from having a hospital bill, it provides you with the same level of cover as a local. In France that is usually a maximum of 70% of the bill. Most French people have an assurance mutuelle to cover the shortfall. In the past couple of months a standard fee for using A+E départements in France has been introduced on top of the treatment costs.
berin
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Re: Don’t crash in Europe

Post by berin »

I just checked the travel/repatriation insurance thing for France.

As far as a I can see, travel insurance is required if you need to get a visa, which UK travellers don’t.

So it’s fine and legal to travel to France without either travel or repatriation insurance. As has been mentioned though it’s probably not a good idea.


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dave h
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Re: Don’t crash in Europe

Post by dave h »

So the political ill informed couple of first posts in this thread should be ignored,

good,

dave.
simonw
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Re: Don’t crash in Europe

Post by simonw »

Well, they're all relevant, not politically ill-informed, and arise from Britain's departure from the EU. But I think there's 3 issues here which appear to have become conflated. The first post relates to a change in the way in which damage or personal injury claims arising from an incident in Europe will be processed; the second is a bit of conjecture about whether travel inurance will cover any extra costs arising from the change in process and whether the cost of the insurance will therefore rise, along with a question as to whether the recently announced re-introduction of roaming charges by some mobile phone providers will affect the cost of using a phone as a sat nav device (it won't if the maps are stored locally, but might if they're not); and the penultimate post clarifies that travel insurance is only mandatory if you are required to have a visa.
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Re: Don’t crash in Europe

Post by berin »

simonw wrote:Well, they're all relevant, not politically ill-informed, and arise from Britain's departure from the EU. But I think there's 3 issues here which appear to have become conflated. The first post relates to a change in the way in which damage or personal injury claims arising from an incident in Europe will be processed; the second is a bit of conjecture about whether travel inurance will cover any extra costs arising from the change in process and whether the cost of the insurance will therefore rise, along with a question as to whether the recently announced re-introduction of roaming charges by some mobile phone providers will affect the cost of using a phone as a sat nav device (it won't if the maps are stored locally, but might if they're not); and the penultimate post clarifies that travel insurance is only mandatory if you are required to have a visa.
I’m not quite sure of the intent of this post, but you do conflate the EU and Europe, which are not the same thing. I have happily ridden my bike in European, non EU countries and also outside of Europe. Issues with insurance, repatriation, roaming costs etc can mostly be dealt with easily, but in some cases there’s still going to be a risk - who knows what border insurance buys, other than a bit of paper to show local police. I still went though.

But if a person is used to riding within the EU, with the perceived safety blanket that that provided, then I can see how the changes may upset and put people off travel.

But it’s all still quite doable. It’s always easy, for example, to buy a local SIM card for data.

It’s also not so hard to get proper travel insurance which includes a good level of medical cover and repatriation, and even emergency medical evacuation from remote places by Global Rescue or SOS international. Brexit hasn’t changed any of these things, though Covid has.

It’s also quite easy to get breakdown cover that covers all of Europe which will repatriate your bike, even for regions outside of the EU.

My recommendation would still be to go, and not be put off by the changes.


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simonw
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Re: Don’t crash in Europe

Post by simonw »

berin wrote: Sun Jan 30, 2022 12:50 pm I’m not quite sure of the intent of this post
To clarify the points referred to in posts 1 & 2 and the post two prior to my reply, and to politely and respectfully repudiate the suggestion they were politically ill-informed.
, but you do conflate the EU and Europe, which are not the same thing.
The issues addressed in the posts arise from our departure from the European Union.
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Re: Don’t crash in Europe

Post by berin »

simonw wrote:The first post relates to a change in the way in which damage or personal injury claims arising from an incident in Europe will be processed
It was this part.

But it any case, it’s all still possible, Covid travel restrictions aside.


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simonw
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Re: Don’t crash in Europe

Post by simonw »

Ah, yes, understood. Should have said EU.

Yes, all still possible, just not quite as easy as it was, that's all. On a sort of related note, I took out overseas recovery insurance when I had to drive to Germany a few months ago and noticed that in the small print it stated that they would only recover the car back to the UK if the value of the car warranted it. In other words, if it was an old banger worth £400, they wouldn't spend £1,500 recovering it back to the UK. I suspect the same clause might be in some/all of the motorcycle recovery policies too, so worth checking.
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Re: Don’t crash in Europe

Post by Scott_rider »

From my experience with Carol Nash european breakdown and repatriation insurance the decision to repatriate a vehicle depends entirely on the value of the vehicle compared to the cost of the repatriation and secondly to the probable cause and cost of the repair.

So for example, if you’ve got a bike worth £3k (which mine was) and the cost of the repair was approximately £300 (which mine was but they couldn’t get the part in Austria) and the cost of the repatriation including disbursements was £1150 (which it was) then they would get the bike home.

Conversely, if my bike had trashed it’s bottom end or mullered it’s frame (for example) and the repair was more than £1850 (£3000 value of the bike minus the £1150 repatriation costs) they wouldn’t have repatriated it, or me, and just made a settlement instead.

At the time, I had to get the repair estimated by an official Honda dealer in Austria (the insurance company paid to get the bike to that dealer for inspection) and also agree the value over the phone with the U.K. underwriter before anything was decided.

That whole process took 1.5 days whilst they put me up in a Hotel in Innsbruck.

I hope that makes sense and worth knowing in case anyone has a trip ending mechanical failure on a lower value bike whilst abroad.
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Re: Don’t crash in Europe

Post by Cornishman »

berin wrote: Sat Jan 29, 2022 4:09 pm I just checked the travel/repatriation insurance thing for France.

As far as a I can see, travel insurance is required if you need to get a visa, which UK travellers don’t.

So it’s fine and legal to travel to France without either travel or repatriation insurance. As has been mentioned though it’s probably not a good idea.


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This is taken directly from à gouv.fr services of the state page.

Accueil des ressortissants britanniques qui viendraient en France pour un séjour touristique
Article créé le 08/06/2021 Mis à jour le 08/06/2021

Depuis le 1er janvier 2021, les citoyens britanniques, sont désormais des ressortissants de pays tiers (ne relevant pas de l’espace Schengen ) et sont soumis au respect des conditions d’entrée dans l’espace Schengen prévues à l’article 6 du Code frontières Schengen.
Ne relevant pas de l’accord de retrait les citoyens britanniques doivent disposer de justificatifs relatifs à l’objet de leur séjour et à la possession de moyens de subsistance suffisants pour la durée du séjour envisagé.
Toutefois, ils sont dispensés de l’obligation de présenter un visa de court séjour, dès lors que leur séjour ne dépasse pas 90 jours.
Ils peuvent ainsi (en application du règlement UE 2018/1806, modifié par le règlement UE 2019/592) séjourner sans visa en France et dans les autres pays de l’espace Schengen pendant une durée maximale de 90 jours sur toute période de 180 jours.
S’agissant des justificatifs qu’ils doivent être en mesure de produire à l’entrée en France, 3 situations peuvent se présenter :
• Soit le ressortissant britannique est hébergé (famille ou amis ou autres) : une attestation d’accueil doit être demandée à la mairie par l’accueillant, qui doit acquitter la taxe correspondante (30 €). Le ressortissant britannique devra par ailleurs être en mesure de justifier qu’il dispose quotidiennement d’au moins 32,50 euros pendant son séjour en France ;
• Soit le ressortissant britannique séjourne dans un hôtel : une réservation d’hôtel devra pouvoir être présentée lors du passage de frontière, ainsi que la preuve qu’il dispose quotidiennement d’au moins 65 euros pour la période couverte par la réservation ;
• Soit le ressortissant britannique ne dispose ni d’une attestation d’accueil ni d’une réservation hôtelière : il devra pouvoir justifier lors du passage aux frontières qu’il dispose quotidiennement d’au moins 120 euros pour la période de séjour prévue.
Dans tous les cas, les ressortissants britanniques doivent posséder une attestation d’assurance couvrant les dépenses médicales et hospitalières pouvant être engagées durant le séjour, incluant les frais de rapatriement pour raison médicale.

There is a lot there about having evidence of where you’re staying and minimum amounts of money that you have to prove to have access to while visiting France. The last paragraph confirms what I said before, repatriation insurance is required even for visitors taking advantage of the visa waiver 90/180 day rule.
It’s very unlikely that anyone will be asked for these proofs when entering France but it will ruin your day if you’re asked and cannot produce them.
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