travel insurance for residents of france not uk

[emma and chris]

Thankyou for everyone who has helped, we booked with citybond insurance, pretty good price and not a problem if not a uk resident, we tried trailfinders but they were 50% more expensive.

I am trying find some travel insurance for a trip, but as i live in france can not use a uk company, I have had a look at the french sites but have not found an easy one to use. does anyone know any companies i could use

thankyou

[NormanH]

If you pay by Mastercard doesn't that include insurance?

I have the impression that mine does, but have never tested it.

[Bernice]

Your French bank probably offers travel insurance - ask them about "assurances loisirs"

Bernice

[Pickles]

[quote user="NormanH"]If you pay by Mastercard doesn't that include insurance?

I have the impression that mine does, but have never tested it.[/quote]

Yes, indeed. A friend of ours who lives full-time in France was taken seriously ill whilst visiting relatives in Germany. The flight had been booked with a French Mastercard and the service that was offered and delivered was absolutely excellent, going far beyond what I would have expected. Following this, I checked the terms and conditions for our French Visa card and discovered that the cover is quite extensive. It also covers the insurance excess on car hires booked with the card.=

[Moriarty]

I'm certainly that Trailfinders offer travel insurance, both single and multitrip. We had insurance with them earlier this year ...

[AnOther]

Age is very often a major factor and we don't know what we are dealing with in that regard.

This company are worth a look;

http://www.flexicover.co.uk

[AnOther]

Having checked back is seems that Flexicover no longer offer policies to non UK residents but they certainly did in early 2010 when a friend insured with them.

However, this company www.citybond.co.uk do and interestingly their calculator is almost a copy of Flexicovers.

The wording is almost identical to what Flexicover used to say too, I have it on a email from the time..

Quote:

"This policy is only available to you if you are permanently resident in the United Kingdom, Channel

Islands or European Union and have not spent more than 6 months outside your home area in the

year prior to purchasing this policy, and you are registered with a medical practitioner in the United

Kingdom, Channel Islands or European Union."

[Sprogster]

With travel insurance there are an increasing number of complaints that any non disclosed medical condition can invalidate the policy, even if fairly trivial and not relevant to a particular claim.

Annual travel insurance automatically provided by credit cards is often subject to age limitation and exclusion of any problems that the insurers deem resulting from existing medical conditions, sometimes even historic ones, so read the small print carefully.

For example, if you take blood pressure medication, you will probably not be covered for heart problems or strokes and will need to find a customised policy.

[NormanH]

That's interesting Sprogster and something I didn't know.

Wouldn't those things be covered by the European card if the trip was in Europe?  I was thinking about things such as cancellations delays etc, rather than health care I must confess.

[Sprogster]

Norman,

I am not really qualified to comment on the European card, but believe you are correct. However, I don't think the European card covers medical evacuation/transfers, in the event you need medical assistance such as an ambulance with attending nurse or doctor in returning home, or to a hospital nearer home.

With travel insurance you must inform the insurers of any existing or previous medical conditions and medication that you have to take on a regular basis. The insurers will then decide whether or not to cover you under the standard policy, charge a higher premium, or impose exclusions. Even under an existing policy, you must disclose any new medical conditions that arise, as controversially failure to do so can invalidate the whole policy and this is an area that is currently being investigated in the UK by the regulators and financial ombudsman as potentially unfair practice, following a record number of complaints.

The whole area of travel insurance has become increasingly unsatifactory, as there is a race to the bottom going on with insurers competing against each other vigourously on price, whilst coming up with every trick in the book to avoid meeting any claims. That is why the whole area of travel in insurance is under investigation by the regulators and financial ombudsman at the moment.

[idun]

The CEAM/EHIC are just to cover basic health cover as per the country people are in, so for all the extras, ie things in hospital or getting home etc are not. I would always take extra medical insurance, if it was not included in my usual insurance...... maybe car insurance or home insurance.

[EmilyA]

We use Europesure and they seem fine. Have never had to claim though.

[AnOther]

A good tip when taking out health related insurance in UK, be it travel or perhaps PHI, is to get a copy of your medical records from your doctor and send them along with your application.

You can't get a much fuller disclosure than that and when setting the premium if they can't be bothered to read about that ingrowing toenail you had 5 years ago, which you didn't specifically mention on the application form because you'd forgotten all about it, then they can't very well use it as an excuse not to pay out for a genuine claim based on it.

It may cost £10 or so to get a copy of your records but look on it as an investment.

[Mr Ice-ni]

I have claimed just once on a travel insurance policy.

Over the 1999/2000 new year period Di and I rented a house in Lanzarote from a friend of mine - and took out a real cheapie policy with either Boots or the Post Office. One morning I was unable to climb out of bed due to severe back pain and spent the next 7 days in a local hospital. Our insurance co paid for 14 seats our scheduled  flights back to UK via Madrid as none of the charters would carry a stretcher bound cripple - 12 seats for me as i was up in the luggage rack + Di + a nurse flown out from UK to accompany me. Then a private ambulance to Ipswich (all the way from Heathrow there was a will we/won't me about going to my local hospital, Colchester) where I stayed for a further 10 days but that's another horror story. Naturally the ins co bleated about Di's taxi fare home in the wee small hours but paid up eventually.

I have no idea how much this jaunt cost the ins co but I suspect a tad more that the pittance paid in premium.

The moral of this tale? Don't scrimp on travel insurance just to save a few coppers or rely on your EHIC to get you home.

Joihn