Annual Travel Insurance (liveaboard)

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I am looking for an annual travel insurance policy that allows multiple trips of up to 180 days each in the year. There are several firms that offer a max of 90 days and you can buy an annual 'one-trip' but unfortunately the latter expires as soon as you go home. While we liveaboard most of the time, in the Med, we go 'home' two or three times a year when we feel like it, or have a need to. It would be very restrictive to have to decide in advance when we were going back...but I suppose we might have to if there is no alternative.

Some yachties we have spoken to, and information I have found from various sources, suggest that one takes out a 90 day policy in the hope that they won't check ("keep quiet about it"), which is not acceptable to me.

Can anyone steer me towards a standard package or even a specialist broker who could quote me?

Many thanks.
 
I tried for one last year when we were off to the far east for three months. No luck at all despite a very helpful bank manager spending two hours with me trying to find a policy. In the end I had to pay for a single trip (475 quid).

The only other solution may be to plan for a number of 'rolling' policies e.g. 90 days with Natwest followed by another 90 days with Tesco followed by another 90 days with HSBC followed by another 90 days with Nationwide Anglia.

With a bit of luck these 'family' multi stop policies will be fairly cheap and I don't see why you can't book, and pay, for them in advance.

As a long shot, you could try Saga. I was surprised to find that they appear to be the only company who are prepared to provide car insurance, anywhere in the EC for a whole year as opposed to just 90 days. Worth a check on their web site?
 
If you live onboard in Almerimar; how is My Fimba; then why not get a Spanish policy and then you won't have the 90 day limit to worry about as you will I suppose only be in the UK for a few days at a time.

The 90 day ruling is difficult to avoid when you are rquired to show the ticket for your trip!!!


Phil
 
Phil - firstly, is Val your wife? Has she been ill? Sandy is asking after her, pls PM if that is you.

As for Spanish insurance, you are required to be a resident of Spain, afaik. We are UK residents but in any case don't want to do *anything* that might be used to make a case that we are living as residents.

David
 
Thanks. That confirms my research. The best I have found is at www.direct-travel.co.uk and they allow you to take our individual trips each up to one year in length. When I phoned them they said I could take them out as often as I liked. The real downside is that they expire when we return 'home' and we have to take a policy out for long enough that we don't end up going back just to revalidated the insurance. Though I can't see anything in the small print that stops you taking it out after the trip has commenced.

Trouble is that it is all a bit messy - when you are dealing with something as important as this where the payout could be as high as £10,000,000 you know that they would be crawling all over the minutiae if they could avoid paying out. No way would I take the sort of risks some yachties seem to be taking.
 
I think you overestimate the investigation - I had £10,000 worth of Gall bladder operation in Phuket on a 90 day insurance....................... Paid the hospital without a problem - and so they should - I had paid a premium!

Of course there is a risk with this sort of policy but in all my years away I never was able to solve the problem, in any other way, short of paying £4,500 premium per person per annum. I suspect there is no reasonable rate anywhere for 12 months private medical insurance in multiple foreign countries. I think BUPA private medicine policy for the UK - their top policy might let you have the freedom but you would certainly pay a substantial premium.

The other thing is to carry sufficient value on the credit card(s) to buy a first class plane fare back to the UK - and be ready to use it if medical trouble looms... That was the other side of my (serial) 90 day insurance.
Michael
 
I can do it with the people I mentioned earlier for around £380pa for the two of us, by doing it in two blocks (i.e. each time we come home) but it does have the downside that I need to predict how long we want to be away or pay extra - they will accept up to 364 days away.

The policies I have looked charge more for longer stays even though you have unlimited trips in a year. It might not seem logical, but there it is, and presumably it is based on actuarial statistics. If you go for longer than, say, 90 days on a policy that is limited to 90 days then you cannot complain if the insurer refuses to pay.

I don't really see what the discussion is about since to make a claim knowing that your policy terms have been infringed is deliberate fraud and is a criminal offence. Or am I missing the point you are making?
 
On second thoughts, I think maybe we have a misunderstanding; I am looking for travel insurace, not health insurance. I have full BUPA in the UK and should we be ill and fit enough to travel we would return home for BUPA or NHS care. In an emergency, we expect the travel insurance plus any reciprocal healthcare available to UK residents to cover us. Actually for odds and ends, I just pay the local doctor privately as we go. It has been fine here in Almerimar where we have had flu jabs and repeat prescriptions issued (yes, we don't load up with NHS stock, we try to play by the rules as far as practicable).
 
I am a little confused as well. I thought you wanted travel insurance (including medical) for countries outside of the EU. I was assuming that, as a British Resident on holiday in an EU country (ie for less than 183 days) you would use your new medical card (which replaced the E111) in the case of an emergency or, if necessary, return to UK if that suited you in a non-emergency situation.

If you are, as you say, not a resident in any other country other than the UK, I do not see that there is any risk in relying on reciprocal arrangements within EU countries.
 
The reciprocal care you get is the minimum statutory amount in that country. But travel insurance is not just medical; there is third party liability, accident, theft etc., as well as medical. Incidentally, most of the 'Europe' policies cover you for all the Med islands and much of North Africa, which is very much part of our cruising area but not in the EU. Anyway, don't assume that you will get a service as comprehensive as the NHS in all EU countries courtesy of your health card.
 
Have you looked to see what level of cover you get, and whether it only covers you for tickets that you bought with your card?
 
'Minimum statutory requirements'

My wife had a baby in Cartagena in April 2004 and the service was excellent. We checked scrupulously that we were covered under the (then) E111 and indeed, we were covered throughout the entire pregnancy. We also checked with the British Consulate in Barcelona. I wanted to go private but it was just not necessary. The only caveat to the whole thing is to hire a qualified Spanish interpreter (in our case a Swede). She proved to be worth her weight in gold.

A chap on E pontoon in Lagos was rushed to Portimao hospital last year having had a stroke. He was seriously impressed with the service and has vowed to continue to be ill in Portugal in the future.

A chap on D pontoon broke his arm mountain biking in the streets of Lagos. It was set properly and healed in six weeks. This accident happened the day after their nine year daughter had her pot removed after a similar incident.

A girl on F pontoon badly broke her ankle whilst on a walk organised by the Navigators Club in the marina. She, also has had good service despite some complex pinning and is now recovering in a rented apartment.

If that is 'minimum statutory amount' it seems acceptable to me!
 
I know that's often true, especially in well-developed and tourist areas, but can we be sure about public hospitals, particularly those in more remote areas? The usual advice given - even by our Department of Health - is that the services can be very basic in places. We are talking about a large number of countries, and places including the more remote islands. I reiterate that not all these places are in the EU so your health card will NOT be applicable.

Incidentally, it isn't necessarily easy to pay for services especially if you don't speak the local language. If you have insurance you have access to a 24/24 incident centre where you can get someone to sort things out in the local area. Over the years I have found that telephone help to locate a service can be as valuable as the insurance actually paying for the service.
 
Fair enough. In our case we do not go to more remote places. We were planning to winter in Marmaris but decided to stay under the EU cover for a little longer.

If you do find a solution to the original question (!) we would be interested to know.
 
We have Amex Platinum Charge Cards as opposed to Credit Cards and each cardholder is covered for multi trip travel insurance even if the card is not used to purchase tickets, in fact it is valid for us on our usual overseas cruises. However they do consider sailing offshore as opposed to dinghy sailing for example to be a hazardous sport, but this was overcome by an additional payment of about £65 pa. The fee for the Platinum Card is £200 pa and this can cover multiple users. Being a charge card it has to be cleared each month and this is conveniently done by Direct Debit. There is also a gift award scheme, points for pounds spent that can be used for all sorts including some airline flights, we just had a 'free' pair of expensive Antler roller cases and a couple of carry on cases out of ours.

We also have Barclays Platinum Visa and Natwest Mastercards which give travel cover but unless they have changed and I didn't notice, these DO have to be used to purchase the travel.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Antler roller cases are very handy on a boat and well worth the 200 quid!!

[/ QUOTE ]

/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif OK I know, but there are other gifts! I just cashed in several years of points for about £350's worth of Antler gear to replace our old stuff the airlines finally busted, for when we go the the USA this month. So now I have an extra £350 I didn't have to de-bank that I can spend on boat goodies! If SWMBO agrees of course....
 
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