Ski holiday insurance

Ski holiday insurance is an essential and necessary expense of the family ski holiday. You'll hope that you’ll never need to make a claim on your policy, but you’d be foolish to be without proper cover.

When you look at the amount you’re going to spend on your overall holiday, the amount to adequately insure your family is such a small proportion. It really isn’t worth the risk not to purchase a suitable policy.

What’s typically included?
All the policies we’ve taken out have combined personal travel and winter sports insurance together.

If you’re a UK resident, you can insure your family for a week’s skiing in Europe for roughly £60. As with all insurance policies, it is worth shopping around to make sure that you find the right policy for you, at the price you’re happy with.

You’ll often find these single trip policies being promoted by tour operators and travel agents, but we’ve found policies that suit us better from specialist companies. These are often marketed as winter sports insurance policies.

By the way, if you’re travelling to a European Economic Area country or Switzerland from the UK, remember to apply for a European Health Insurance Card for each member of the family. These are by no means substitutes for personal travel cover and do not provide specific skiing cover, but they are do complement your policy by allowing you to access basic national healthcare.

What features should I look for?
Since the main purpose of ski holiday insurance is to provide you with peace of mind, there are several things that you should look for from a policy. Be prepared to read the small print to make sure that you’re happy with the level of cover provided. Most companies will have a summary of cover so that you can see at a glance what is and isn’t included, and what benefit limits apply.

Basically you’ll want a policy that will provide cover for emergency medical expenses, personal liability and personal accident costs. We all like to think that we’ll never need any of these benefits, but just imagine the cost of medical bills abroad if you were not insured.

What about my belongings?
You’ll also want a policy that covers your family’s ski equipment in case of damage or theft. There are usually financial limits on the amounts that will be provided, so check to see if the policy is adequate before you buy.

Expect to find the more general features of a conventional travel policy included - such as personal possessions, departure delay and legal expenses.

What if the snow cover is so poor that I can't ski?
If you're ever unfortunate enough to be in that position - and in over twenty years, it's never happened to us - ski holiday insurance usually includes piste closure and ski equipment hire. These seem to be pretty much standard on each policy we see.

What if I'm planning several trips a year?
The best thing to do would be to take out an annual family ski holiday insurance policy. We’ve found it far more cost-effective to buy an annual policy, rather than separate single trip cover for each week over the year.

I'm based in the UK, but am thinking of the USA or Canada this year instead of Europe
Then you'll need worldwide cover, which is likely to cost you nearer £100 for a week. That’s still money well spent to protect your family.

So now you’ve got your policy sorted, you’re ready to slope off in the knowledge that your family is properly protected.

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