Insurance for overseas bike 'race'

[Ross]

I have 'crisis' I'm hoping you might be able to help me with. I'm off to NZ in a couple of days to participate in the Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge. The CoverMore travel insurance recommended by Flight Centre doesn't actually cover me for injury or cover the hire bike for repair or replacement while I am participating in this event. It seems they classify it as a race, which is prohibited in their terms and conditions. They do cover bungy jumping and sky diving amongst other (IMO) far more dangerous sports. Do you know of another another suitable insurance option I can use?

I fly out Thursday so this is a matter of urgency.

[Derny Driver]

Your CA licence should cover you. Ring them and check.

[macca33]

Your CA licence should cover you. Ring them and check.

CA licence may cover personal injury - if you hold an International Racing Licence, not just the domestic version.

The bike/equipment will definitely require some specific insurance.

cheers

[tomness]

I am heading to the Pioneer in NZ and have just been organising my insurance. Velosure can give a policy that will cover your bike, including in a race, provided you are an amateur (not getting paid to ride).

They also do a travel insurance for you that covers you for racing, with the exception of the accidental death and permanent disability parts of the policy. I wanted to ensure i was covered for those items as well so I took out a policy with World Nomads which covered me for injury, death, disability etc while racing. The exception they had was for racing motorised vehicles. Plus you need to nominate what level adventure pack sport you are taking part in when you take out your policy. So for me it was a Level 2 adventure pack which covered me for XC mtb riding up to 2000m elevation.

[g-boaf]

I had this one recommended to me by someone who did a lot of riding and racing overseas:

https://www.noworriesinsurance.com.au/
https://www.noworriesinsurance.com.au/b ... cover-faqs

But you would have had to sign up a certain number of months ahead of the event. However I didn't end up using them. The overseas events I've done aren't technically races (even though at the front, they really are) so I just used the insurance from another provider.

[human909]

Since it is NZ do you really need Health Insurance? What are you hoping to cover that isn't already covered by your local insurance and reciprocal healthcare with New Zealand? (To answer my own question repatriation is probably one of the items not covered.)

As a rock climber who has climbed numerous times overseas, specialist health cover is certainly something I've needed for my travels. But for NZ most people I know, including myself, don't take out health coverage.

"They do cover bungy jumping and sky diving amongst other (IMO) far more dangerous sports."

I would expect both these activities are safer compared to organised cycling races. There is a reason why the latter often has paramedic support. Oh and sky diving, even if the risk of dying is higher. Dying is not a big expense for insurance companies.

[Ross]

I don't have a CA licence but used to and seeing a club mate crash and then seeing how little CA do cover you for I wouldn't recommend them to my worst enemy. They only kick in once your personal health insurance and Medicare are exhausted.

Contacted Velosure and they won't cover the hire bike because it's not my personal possession; my own bike, no worries, but not a hire bike. Asked about personal injury but they wouldn't answer so I presume no.

LTCC is deemed a race because it is a timed event with finish places recorded, according to CoverMore.

[Derny Driver]

I don't have a CA licence but used to and seeing a club mate crash and then seeing how little CA do cover you for I wouldn't recommend them to my worst enemy. They only kick in once your personal health insurance and Medicare are exhausted.

I have taken teams overseas and used the CA cover many many times. One year I had 6 out of 8 riders all spend time in hospital. One guy was a week in there. No problem at all.
One year a rider broke his pelvis in a crash in tahiti, spent 6 weeks in hospital, had to fly home in a wheelchair with a nurse accompany him, then was driven by ambulance from Sydney to the far north coast where he lived. $80,000 worth. All covered by CA. They've been great - I'm talking International race licences so I don't know if that makes a difference.

[Ross]

I don't have a CA licence but used to and seeing a club mate crash and then seeing how little CA do cover you for I wouldn't recommend them to my worst enemy. They only kick in once your personal health insurance and Medicare are exhausted.

I have taken teams overseas and used the CA cover many many times. One year I had 6 out of 8 riders all spend time in hospital. One guy was a week in there. No problem at all.
One year a rider broke his pelvis in a crash in tahiti, spent 6 weeks in hospital, had to fly home in a wheelchair with a nurse accompany him, then was driven by ambulance from Sydney to the far north coast where he lived. $80,000 worth. All covered by CA. They've been great - I'm talking International race licences so I don't know if that makes a difference.

Thanks DD for the info but I am only going off what I saw with my clubmate. Not worth paying $400 for a CA licence just to insure myself for 6 hours of riding. I do have a Vets licence that has a similar insurance component, maybe that will cover me, lets hope I don't find out.

[dalai47]

One year a rider broke his pelvis in a crash in tahiti, spent 6 weeks in hospital, had to fly home in a wheelchair with a nurse accompany him, then was driven by ambulance from Sydney to the far north coast where he lived. $80,000 worth. All covered by CA. They've been great - I'm talking International race licences so I don't know if that makes a difference.

Must be additional cover for International Licences.

Domestically it was only up to 85% reimbursement up to a max $5,000 for non Medicare expenses. Thankfully my collarbone was a relatively simple operation, as that alone had me out of pocket a few thousands! Mistakenly thought the Cycling Insurance would be adequate but isn't worth the paper it's written on, especially given the substantial size of the yearly membership. After discovering this the hard way, I went out and straight away signed up for Private Health Insurance!