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Aussies are an adventurous bunch and many of them enjoy mountain biking. However, it can be quite the dangerous pursuit. It is for this reason that many insurers won’t cover you for mountain biking.
Some insurers provide cover if you are riding on roads or in organised tour groups, but most will deny you cover as soon as you mention downhill or off-road mountain biking.
There are a few exceptions. Insurers such as NoWorries and World Nomads offer cover for mountain biking, provided you observe normal safety requirements such as wearing a helmet and not putting yourself in harm’s way.
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Insurers that do cover mountain biking often impose conditions on how the bikes should be used, including:
Degrees of cover also differ. World Nomads, for instance, will cover you for injuries you sustain while riding your mountain bike but provides no cover for the bike itself if it is lost, stolen or damaged.
A travel insurance policy is a legally binding contract entered into by you and your insurer. Any actions or omissions by you that affect the terms of that contract can render it null and void.
If you don’t tell your insurer about a possible risk that could influence whether you can be covered or how much you are charged for cover, you run the risk of having your policy cancelled.
Whether it’s a high-risk activity, such as mountain biking, or a pre-existing medical condition, you must inform your insurer. It’s called Duty of Disclosure, and it protects your insurer from taking on a greater level of risk than was initially agreed upon.
As most travel insurers won’t cover mountain biking, those that do are usually going to charge more for the additional risk they are taking on. But this can vary with insurers, as the following snapshot illustrates:
You have a Duty of Disclosure to inform your insurer of your intention to go mountain biking on your holiday. If you do not tell your insurer of your plans to go mountain biking, any claim you make related to mountain biking will not be honoured.
You should disclose your intention to go mountain biking at the time of taking out your policy so that your insurer can inform you of whether or not you are covered and adjust the cost of your premium accordingly.
If you injure yourself while mountain biking overseas, the first thing to do is to seek medical attention. If the injury is relatively minor, you may need to visit a medical practitioner, pay the fee and have your insurer reimburse you at a later date.
If the injury is serious and requires hospitalisation or evacuation, you will need to contact your insurer’s 24/7 Emergency Assistance service. This service will need to approve any hospital treatment you receive and possibly provide a guarantee of payment to the hospital on your behalf.
Compare travel insurance brands in the finder.com.au panel
Picture: Tony Harrison, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (image cropped)
Picture: Shutterstock
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