BCA Expedition Insurance, How's it working?

darren

Member
We have a club trip to the PSM later this year. Obviously we are mandating all attendees have suitable insurance cover.

The organisers have at least two friends who have had to claim using Snowcard for rescue expenses and repatriation after incidents in Europe. The service has always been excellent. In fact it's been so good that some have stated that any additional cost over alternative insurance providers is incidental. They say the last thing they want to worry about whilst being helicoptered off a mountain is how good their insurance is.

Has anyone claimed, been repatriated etc by BCA insurance? If so how did it go? where there any unexpected excursions? or inclusions for that matter.

It would be nice if respondents assumed I was of average intelligence and am capable of reading terms and conditions, comparing cover and costs etc.
 

royfellows

Well-known member
The BCA insurance is a Public Liability insurance not a personal accident, and to date there has not been any claims.  It is also integral with BCA membership.

Your questions answered here:

https://british-caving.org.uk/wiki3/doku.php?id=legal_insurance:pl_insurance
 

darren

Member
Hi Roy, I should have been more specific.

As I was asking a question about a club trip abroad and specifically referenced Snowcard Insurance, I thought people would assume I was asking about the BCA insurance that is similar to Snowcard.

https://ukcaving.com/board/index.php?topic=25148.0

Sorry about that.

I have asked Moderators to change thread title to include "expedition". I don't like the use of the word as it's a club trip to well explored cave, a bog standard club trip really.

[gmod]sorted[/gmod]
 

andrewmcleod

Well-known member
As a new policy I don't believe there will have been any claims yet (and hopefully claims will be very infrequent). The BCA expedition insurance was organised with the broker specifically because there was a concern that some current insurance wouldn't pay out in the event of an expedition rescue (and also that search and rescue limits are often low). The BCA insurance is usually cheaper and has a (slightly) higher S&R limit than Snowcats. As you say, however, many (but not all) people have had no problems claiming off Snowcard insurance.
 

badger

Active member
another reason I believe the BCA went into arranging travel insurance is that many cavers over 65 were unable to get insurance,
also the BCA travel insurance will cover might cover some pre existing medical conditions, again I believe, that some adventurous activity travel insurance precluded any existing conditions. I know of 2 people where the insurance would not cover this. 
However like any insurance it is always best to get more than 1 quote and check they cove your personal needs including any medical issues.
And whilst Snowcard has a proven record of paying out, which is good, all it does is put premiums up, since I first used snowcard 16 years ago it is now over 4 times more expensive than it used to be, and that is not all down to inflation.
And utimately BCA travel insurance has not been around long enough to find out just how good it is, all we know it was arranged with cavers sitting around with the insurance company and telling them what the wanted.
 

darren

Member
Thanks Badger.

As stated in the OP I have at least 1 and probably 2 people who have been involved in helecopter rescues from European Mountains and subsequent repatriation.

I have to assume they were/are both of at least average intelligence, capable of reading small print, comparing policy's and subsequently choosing and arranging a suitable insurance policy. To be honest they better be good cavers as well as I'm an average caver and am relying on 1 of them to stop me killing myself.

When insurance is discussed the succesful rescues and repatriation by Snowcard are invariably mentioned. I am simply looking for similar examples of BCA Expedition insurance being used in similar situations to balance the discussion.

 

badger

Active member
think Darren you need to re read my statement,  But to re iterate, BCA travel insurance is only 10 months old, so very difficult to compare to snowcard  that has been around for a very long time, and by all accounts according to ben paid out.  and now getting very expensive, and at least 2 people have had issues due to existing everyday medical conditions, I also know off 2 people but time that by any over 65 who cant get insurance. One of the persons who sat round the table sorting out the travel insurance travels caving all over the world a lot, I am sure he would not have wasted his time if he thought it would not pay out. He is a very educated person.
do the comparison and then go with who you think is right for you,
we all know snowcard has a good reputation,
I know who I will be going with this summer. but that maybe cause I believe it is the right one for me.
 

darren

Member
Badger, I thought I could upset people, but you'r quite good at it as well.

Remember my OP that contained the sentence

darren said:
It would be nice if respondents assumed I was of average intelligence and am capable of reading terms and conditions, comparing cover and costs etc.

It was added to try to stop your sort of post. Can't you see that?  If people can't understand why I added it and what it meant it is understandable why they have trouble with reading insurance policys.

Every time insurance is mentioned, there is a very strong sales push for BCA Insurance. I've had double glazing sales people stood in my living room who are less pushy. Problem is, when  sales people are this pushy I don't trust them. I'm now at this stage .  If BCA Insurance is so good, why does it have to be sold so hard?
 

JoshW

Well-known member
darren said:
Badger, I thought I could upset people, but you'r quite good at it as well.

Remember my OP that contained the sentence

darren said:
It would be nice if respondents assumed I was of average intelligence and am capable of reading terms and conditions, comparing cover and costs etc.

It was added to try to stop your sort of post. Can't you see that?  If people can't understand why I added it and what it meant it is understandable why they have trouble with reading insurance policys.

Every time insurance is mentioned, there is a very strong sales push for BCA Insurance. I've had double glazing sales people stood in my living room who are less pushy. Problem is, when  sales people are this pushy I don't trust them. I'm now at this stage .  If BCA Insurance is so good, why does it have to be sold so hard?

Yikes, wrong side of the bed today chap?

Your question has been answered. One claim, one payment. 100% record so far. You can ignore the rest of the thread now if you think it?s patronising. The bca aren?t going to lose sleep because you choose snowcard over their brokered insurance... :confused:
 

mikem

Well-known member
darren said:
If BCA Insurance is so good, why does it have to be sold so hard?
Because it's a new product, for a very limited market, that won't pay for itself if not enough people invest in it.

We are very small beer compared to their Property, Casualty, Marine and Aviation underwriting services at Lloyds.
 

darren

Member
mikem said:
darren said:
If BCA Insurance is so good, why does it have to be sold so hard?
Because it's a new product, for a very limited market, that won't pay for itself if not enough people invest in it.

To be honest, I agree that is probably the reason.

If so why can't we be told? All this high pressure sales stuff is just putting me off.

Institutions like BCA have to tread a fine line when recommending/selling financial products.  Filling gaps in the market is one thing competing with other providers is harder. Who doesn't remember the scandal over Age Uk selling financial products a couple of years ago. If you don't remember I'm sure you can google it.
 

BCA Chair

Member
Hi Darren

I am sorry but I have to reject against your accusations that the BCA are being pushy about our insurance.

Firstly, the BCA do NOT sell insurance. The public liability insurance we provide as a benefit of membership. The caver travel/expedition insurance is provided and sold by an insurance company. The BCA's involvement in this is that we have worked with that insurer to make sure the product is appropriate for cavers and covers the necessary eventualities (something most off-the-shelf products do not).

The BCA have chosen to make cavers aware of the availability of this policy through our website, newsletter and social media, because unless we tell people it exists what was the point in working to arrange this?

The BCA has at no point said that the policy we have helped to arranged is better for you, or anyone else, that what else is available on the market (e.g. Snowcard). In fact we have been pretty clear that cavers should assess the policies to see what works best for them.

I am proud that the BCA has put in the work to make such a policy available to cavers, in a marketplace where policies that fit the needs of cavers can be hard to find, and having a choice is extremely welcomed by many cavers.

Your suggestion that the BCA has been more pushy than a double glazing salesman in your living room is an enormous exaggeration, not to mention a little flippant.

Matt Ewles
BCA Secretary

 

MarkS

Moderator
[mod]I'm sure many people have found this an informative and interesting topic. Let's all try and keep any personal comments out of it.[/mod]
 

darren

Member
That you Matt for your clear statement on the BCA's position regarding Experdition Insurance cover. It is very reassuring.

Our club is going to France this year and we are obviously mandating rescue/repatriation cover for people attending. When insurance is discussed we have several instances of successful use of Snowcard where users have been exceptionally happy with the outcome. The inference being go with Snowcard we know it works. (Yes we know its not best for everybody).

I've said "what about BCA Expedition Insurance, its supposed to be very good". "Hmm" some of  people said I'm sticking with Snowcard, we know it works. I've heard BCA do some sort of Group Expedition insurance shall I find out about it? Yes they said that would be interesting.

As part of finding out I started this thread asking if anyone had used BCA expedition Insurance for rescue /repatriation.

I thought I made it clear I was really only interested in this aspect of the insurance. I could then hopefully  use any examples of successful rescues/repatriation to SUPPORT BCA Expedition Insurance as a good alternative to Snowcard.

Sorry if I've over reacted but I don't like hard sells, especially when I'm doing my best to show BCA Expedition Insurance in a favourable light.  :hug:


Just out of interest Badger it is a Wessex Cave Club trip and you have WCC by your avatar. are you coming?
 

paul

Moderator
FWIW, when I was on a caving trip to France last year I compared my usual Travel Insurance provider to date, which was Snowcard for many years, with the new offering via BCA membership.

After comparing cover and benefits provided by both, I went with the BCA option as it was a lot cheaper. I presume an insurance company can be trusted to deal with any justified claim, so was not concerned that there had not been any caving-related claims to back-up my choice at that time.
 

mikem

Well-known member
It's underwritten by a Lloyds of London company that are used to paying out millions for marine insurance (hurricanes / typhoons / burning super yachts - that sort of thing).

Snowcard is underwritten by a Belgian Insurance company which was previously part of Fortis.
 

Mark Wright

Active member
We have just got back from a trip to Mulu where we nearly all used the BCA recommended Expedition Insurance policy.

With there being no organised rescue organisations in Mulu the Snowcard policy worked out a fair bit more expensive for a 1 off trip.

Chunky should be able to confirm that he had the annual Snowcard policy which may have made it less expensive than the BCA policy for him.

For me the expedition insurance is only for rescue and repatriation as my standard travel and medical insurance policy that I have for work is what I would make a claim on if I, e.g. lost my baggage or had anything stolen. Many household policies can also cover this and are usually significantly less expensive that the BCA or Snowcard policies.

We can?t really afford to lose a good rescue and repatriation policy and to help make sure we don?t I would rather not burden the BCA policy with claims for lost or stolen equipment.

I wonder how much the BCA policy might be if it only covered rescue and repatriation?

Mark
 

chunky

Well-known member
Mark Wright said:
We have just got back from a trip to Mulu where we nearly all used the BCA recommended Expedition Insurance policy.

With there being no organised rescue organisations in Mulu the Snowcard policy worked out a fair bit more expensive for a 1 off trip.

Chunky should be able to confirm that he had the annual Snowcard policy which may have made it less expensive than the BCA policy for him.

For me the expedition insurance is only for rescue and repatriation as my standard travel and medical insurance policy that I have for work is what I would make a claim on if I, e.g. lost my baggage or had anything stolen. Many household policies can also cover this and are usually significantly less expensive that the BCA or Snowcard policies.

We can?t really afford to lose a good rescue and repatriation policy and to help make sure we don?t I would rather not burden the BCA policy with claims for lost or stolen equipment.

I wonder how much the BCA policy might be if it only covered rescue and repatriation?

Mark

I actually had the annual multi trip policy via the BCA recommended expedition insurance rather than the single trip as I am planning on more than one project this year.
It was significantly cheaper than the snowcard / dogtag options and the real bonus for me was that after phoning them to check it included cover for my cave diving expedition in Croatia at no extra cost as long as the max depth of the sump was no more than 40m.
 
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