At Snowcard, we understand that our customer’s needs are unique. To ensure we provide the best support, please do not hesitate to let us know if there is anything we can do to make your Snowcard travel insurance purchase as seamless as possible.
Activities
We offer cover for single trips of duration’s upto 90 days as well as annual multi trip policies covering several holidays a year. Our annual multi trip policy has a single trip limit of upto 31 days but this can be extended to either 45, 60 days per trip or 90 days.
Snowcard are not currently offering cover for ‘Single trip’ long stays exceeding 90 days.
For single trip and annual multi trip policies, we offer 5 options:
- Adventure basic - for non activity holidays and/or lower risk sports as detailed in the activities list
- Adventure plus - for many general sports and activities as detailed in the activities list
- Max adventure - for higher risk sports and activities as detailed in the activities list
- Extreme adventure - for higher level and/or more advanced sports and activities as detailed in the activities list
- Pro adventure - for more specialist risks, many of which must be agreed by Snowcard in advance of travel - please refer to the activities list for details
Each option covers progressively higher risk sports, including winter sports (for annual policies, the number of weeks skiing you do each season will affect which policy you should select). You should select the option covering your highest risk activity. If in doubt about whether a sport is covered you should email [email protected] and we will let you know if we can cover your sporting activity or not.
All policies include search and rescue cover as standard.
Choosing your policy
Most ordinary travel policies offer fixed cover limits that do not reflect the true value of your belongings or the cost of your holiday. Snowcard is the first specialist travel policy that allows you to tailor make your own insurance to accurately reflect your needs.
There are 3 key areas to a travel policy:
- Emergency medical, repatriation & liability insurance
- Baggage and personal belongings
- Cancellation and travel delay
medical and liability
This cover is standard in all Snowcard policies. It is the main reason for buying the policy and the limits are fixed, £10million for emergency medical and other expenses, £2million for personal liability. All policy holders have this cover, regardless of activity or policy type.
However, we allow you to select the amount of baggage cover, equipment cover, techno pack (ie. cameras and electrical belongings) and cancellation insurance you have. You can also change the standard £50 policy excess to either zero or a higher amount for a small premium reduction.
personal belongings
Many clients already have their personal belongings covered either on their home contents insurance or another travel policy. Our unique system allows you to choose a sum insured of between zero and £3000. Within this limit, there are sub limits for single items, money, and loss of passport. There is also extra cover for baggage delay and equipment hire.
sports equipment
Most travel policies will cover some equipment, usually at very low limits, within their baggage cover. With Snowcard, you have a separate section to cover your specialist sports equipment. Again, you choose your sum insured from zero to £5000. If you don’t have your own equipment, you don’t pay a premium for something you don’t need. However, many clients have equipment that is not covered either on their home of other travel insurances. Our unique system allows you to include equipment, even if you don’t select the baggage cover. If you are hiring equipment, we will cover hired equipment up to £500 and you should choose a sum insured of ‘£500’ under this option.
‘electronics’ (techno pack)
Any other travel policy you look at will offer cover for cameras and electronic gadgets within the baggage section of cover, usually with an overall limit of £250. Snowcard introduced a new section of cover called ‘Techno pack’ in 2009 to recognise the fact that we all own more electronic gadgets like iPods and mobile phones, cameras and laptops. We will cover photographic and electronic items upto £2000. Higher value items, like expensive laptops or professional level photographic equipment should be covered more fully by either a specialist insurance or your home insurance.
cancellation and delay
Independent travel is a big part of today’s modern travel market. Cancellation cover is important to some but not necessarily others. If you have spent £5000 on an expensive guided trekking holiday, you will have different needs to an independent trekker travelling on a low cost flight to Europe. By choosing your own cancellation sum insured you will be paying a premium that accurately reflects your holiday cost. If your holiday costs £250, there is no point in having a sum insured of £5000 as you can only ever claim back what you have paid. This section also includes travel delay, missed departure and curtailment if you have to cut your holiday short because of injury or illness.
policy excess
A policy excess is normal in any insurance policy. For travel, the usual amount you have to pay for each claim you make is £50. Policies with higher excess’s are generally cheaper but they don’t offer you the choice of whether to agree the excess or not. Not so with Snowcard, you can now select your own policy excess and take control of the amounts you are prepared to cover yourself. Excess’s help insurers keep premiums down and stop expensive to process but low value claims which the client can reasonably cover.