Ancient ones

[barge1914]

Mon dieu, quel horreur! I’ll be 80 next year. How did that happen?

I feel like there’s many years of motorhoming and wandering around Europe left in me, but somethings bound to crop up….most likely travel and van insurance problems. They already want more than £1000 for our two trips to Spain, France and Austria this year. Almost double last year, and no more afflictions to add to the list…yet. Already some won’t offer cover and others are well over £1200.

It begs the question to what age have our even more ancient 4 wheel ancient mariners managed to carry on?

Have you managed to continue getting cover, and how much have they jacked it up?

Has anyone found cover that doesn’t include cancellation cover?…it’s annoying having to pay for this, as with a flexible Eurotunnel ticket and no bookings for accommodation there’s nothing to cover or claim anyway.

When did you finally have to give up on foreign trips and stay in our cold damp unwelcoming Isles?

And any problems getting UK cover for Moho?

 

[number14]

Has anyone found cover that doesn’t include cancellation cover?…it’s annoying having to pay for this, as with a flexible Eurotunnel ticket and no bookings for accommodation there’s nothing to cover or claim anyway.

We only make one trip over the water each year, last time France and this year Ireland. You are right about cancellation because it really loads the premium. What I do now is buy Flexi fares for the ferry but not buy insurance until a couple of days before we leave. The reduction in premium between taking out insurance, say, two or three months in advance and just two or three days in advance is astounding.

Just a thought, but would that trick work if you bought a single trip insurance each time but just before you need them?

(BTW Full disclosure. We are mere striplings at only 75 and 73 both with 'conditions'!)

 

[barge1914]

We only make one trip over the water each year, last time France and this year Ireland. You are right about cancellation because it really loads the premium. What I do now is buy Flexi fares for the ferry but not buy insurance until a couple of days before we leave. The reduction in premium between taking out insurance, say, two or three months in advance and just two or three days in advance is astounding.

Just a thought, but would that trick work if you bought a single trip insurance each time but just before you need them?

(BTW Full disclosure. We are mere striplings at only 75 and 73 both with 'conditions'!)

Youngsters eh? We’ll try waiting next time and see if it works out better

 

[TeamRienza]

Have a look at this recent thread, in particular post number 9 by me in respect of NFOP for insurance.

Insurance health costs

Hi. I haven’t posted in quite a while due to many problems. For those who remember our van was broken into and eventually written off. As this happened at the start of Covid we were paid out at pre Covid prices which were nothing compared to the hike in prices that arrived with the pandemic...

wildcamping.co.uk

Whilst it still has aspects of cover which are not generally required by motorhomes, it has the benefit of offering comprehensive insurance without having to declare conditions. A major feature is that once joined, you may renew without refusal at a decent price given age and health issues.

https://nfoptravelinsurance.org.uk/

You may just qualify before reaching the upper age limit for joining.

Davy

 

[korky]

I recently looked at a couple of companies that did medical cover only, so no cancellation cover or luggage/personal belongings cover. They were the most expensive of the lot by a long way.

 

[izwozral]

£2,300.00 for 3 months cover going to NZ. Or put another way, the price of a return ticket to NZ.
I am 70y.o. won't be getting any healthier, so heading towards being refused travel insurance.

 

[barge1914]

£2,300.00 for 3 months cover going to NZ. Or put another way, the price of a return ticket to NZ.
I am 70y.o. won't be getting any healthier, so heading towards being refused travel insurance.

That’s a lot! We did 2months in NZ 6 years ago when I was 72 on Nationwide Insurance, less than £500, it hasn’t half shot up.

 

[izwozral]

That’s a lot! We did 2months in NZ 6 years ago when I was 72 on Nationwide Insurance, less than £500, it hasn’t half shot up.

We are going to Canada for two months around October time, my guess is that it will be even more expensive.

 

[GeoffL]

£2,300.00 for 3 months cover going to NZ. Or put another way, the price of a return ticket to NZ.
I am 70y.o. won't be getting any healthier, so heading towards being refused travel insurance.

Ouch. Jan and I are now 72 and paid £730 for just under three months single-trip cover to Australia 2023/24 (early Dec to late Feb) with Good To Go Insurance (https://www.goodtogoinsurance.com/) -- and that's with both Jan and I having existing health conditions...
No guarantees as we haven't asked for a quote since, but it's worth at least asking for a quote?

 

[barge1914]

Blimey, you are all youngsters. How are the 80 pluses getting on?

 

[Winterskp]

Good friends, 83 and 82, conditions, were quoted £2000 by Nationwide/Aviva for one 90 day trip to Portugal this winter. They decided to rely on the GHIC cards, and friends will rally round if repatriation is needed.
We're currently in Portugal insured with Nationwide. I'm 80 next week . . . watch this space next year!

 

[Rumour]

At nearly 74 and 'er at 71, we have not had the problem with costs... Yet! We paid just under £200 last year for European travel, but limited to 30 days max per trip. Not a problem as I can't seem to get her to retire! But we are disgustingly fit for our ages I suppose. We both still run parkrun most weeks and have no ongoing health issues. I did have a stent fitted in 2005 and she had a kidney problem about 12 years ago, but neither affect us now. We do also have the EHIC equivalent. But I guess in a few years all this will change. I can't wait!

 

[RichardHelen262]

Good friends, 83 and 82, conditions, were quoted £2000 by Nationwide/Aviva for one 90 day trip to Portugal this winter. They decided to rely on the GHIC cards, and friends will rally round if repatriation is needed.
We're currently in Portugal insured with Nationwide. I'm 80 next week . . . watch this space next year!

They must have good friends, as repatriation can start at £30k upwards,
Which will make the 2k look cheap

 

[Winterskp]

They are realists. Like us, if they die out here, the family has been told to use the newish Crematorium in Albufeira, as has ours. If they're 'walking wounded' they expect to fly home and very good friends would bring back their van. Yes, there's another possibility that won't be covered by these arrangements, but they presumably think winter in the UK would be far more risky to their health.

We on the other hand will continue to be insured while ever we can get cover and can scrape together the premium!

 

[Trotter]

As a child of merely 76, becoming a Sunset Strip in May, with plenty of conditions, I’m prepared to depend on the GHIC.
I gave up a few years ago trying to find a company who would insure for health insurance. Those who didn’t refuse outright, wanted exorbitant rates.
The usual suspects will call me irresponsible, but perhaps that says more about them than me. I do not have a problem at home, why would travelling be any different.

 

[marchie]

As a child of merely 76, becoming a Sunset Strip in May, with plenty of conditions, I’m prepared to depend on the GHIC.
I gave up a few years ago trying to find a company who would insure for health insurance. Those who didn’t refuse outright, wanted exorbitant rates.
The usual suspects will call me irresponsible, but perhaps that says more about them than me. I do not have a problem at home, why would travelling be any different.

I never had a problem at home, but in January 2020 I caught what I thought was a cold in Spain. It didn't respond to an expensive jar of Vicks ointment, and my breathing became ever more erratic, until just after 6am when I could not breathe whilst lying down and my chest felt like it was being crushed. The Vicks was never going to work - it was a heart attack that needed an air ambulance and 3 Stents to fix. Quite an expensive Winter Cold ...

Steve

 

[mariesnowgoose]

We recently had a conversation with a girlie at Lloyds bank. If that sounds prejudistic, sorry but at our age everyone else in town is younger than us! So the girlie was probably 30.
I should say she was behind the counter, an employee of Lloyds, not some customer in the queue.
I asked if any of their accounts includes travel insurance and she said yes. They have an account, I think it is called Platinum which gives worldwide travel insurance as well as car breakdown, mobile phone and so on. She said there is no upper age limit and no health additional premium. However she could be wrong. They have three levels of accounts: I think they are silver, gold, platinum. The platinum is I think £35 a month which would be £420 / year and if it really does have all those benefits, with no health questions nor age limit it has to be a bargain - but it does sound a bit cheap and therefore I am suspicious that the girlie may not have been fully familiar with the Ts and Cs.
I think the Gold and Platinum accounts may only be available to existing customers, which we are. If you go on their www they only list the Silver account which is £11 a month but it does include European travel insurance.

Lloyds Bank - Internet Banking - Error

Oh and by the way, all these travel insurances say you must be travelling to pre-booked accommodation. So make sure you have booked your accommodation in your motorhome before you go. Or what do us motorhomers make of that?

Meh! Insurance.

Add it to the end of that well know saying about death and taxes

These days it seems that anything or anyone who wants to do something even vaguely outside of the 'one size fits all' bog standard 'lifestyle' offerings gets left out in the cold.

"Independent travel" doesn't feature so much on their money-making agendas. The days of "Lonely Planet" exploring are shrinking in scope. Or is that just my fevered, increasingly nihilistic imagination?!

 

[izwozral]

Meh! Insurance.

Add it to the end of that well know saying about death and taxes

These days it seems that anything or anyone who wants to do something even vaguely outside of the 'one size fits all' bog standard 'lifestyle' offerings gets left out in the cold.

"Independent travel" doesn't feature so much on their money-making agendas. The days of "Lonely Planet" exploring are shrinking in scope. Or is that just my fevered, increasingly nihilistic imagination?!

Nope, you are spot on with your observations Marie. We are being herded into an ever shrinking box once called freedom. Now you are not allowed freedom of thought, freedom of expression or freedom of choice unless it suits the gilded turds who reign over us.