First, some good news:
Time has a very peculiar property: the closer the date for a TWIKE adventure gets, the quicker the time seems to pass!
This entry is dedicated to my struggles to find suitable – any – insurance for the few days and 100s of kilometres I’ll be driving through Ukraine when sticking to this year’s goal of ‘tracing Hungary’s border’.
Just to make sure everyone reading this blog understands this correctly: I’m not seeking any risks, I don’t want to be anywhere near any active war zones. This region is Ukraine’s safest and the places I am going to visit have seen virtually no attacks since the beginning of the war.
The map below is an excerpt of Bellincat’s Ukraine map showing all Russian missile attack sites.
Two weeks ago, I started checking which of my insurances, would give me what kind of coverage in Ukraine…and the results were sobering – mostly the answer was really easy: No cover exists for trips to countries or regions which, at the time of booking or entry into the country, are subject to an official travel warning from the Swiss authorities (EDA), BAG, WHO etc.
So, except for third-party coverage which I checked here, all other insurances are basically void when traveling to Ukraine today. Even my health insurance explicitly excludes injuries resulting from war, terrorism, riots, sabotage, and similar events. Also, my comprehensive car cover obviously doesn’t cover damages due to war risks.
With this my work was cut out: get coverage for my TWIKE and for myself that include words like “passive war risk” “war risk extension” “war risk for non-combatants”.
Let’s start with the TWIKE itself. Anywhere else it enjoys maximum comprehensive coverage with additional value coverage since it’s already 26 years old.
It became evident pretty quickly, that there were no Swiss/International insurers that offer War Risk coverage for cars, however… In Ukraine, this is a pretty standard coverage package! So, there we go! Problem solved?
No. Any coverage I was able to find, was for vehicles with less than 10 years of age. 🙁
This would have been perfect. Not to worry. The chance of me having a problem that would need this kind of insurance is negligible.
I then decide to focus on travel insurance. My health insurer, as mentioned, does not offer any coverage for passive war risks and I was unable to find any Swiss offers with this coverage.
What’s more, according to their legal department there might be large grey coverage areas, such as the following scenario: A bridge has been damaged because of the war. I drive across it and it collapses. Were my injuries caused by a) a road accident? or B) consequences of war?
I wanted to close this gap fully.
Well, time to throw the net a little wider: I checked Battleface, Global Rescue, specialised in insureing NGOs etc., Lloyd’s of London (accessible through specialist brokers) and, I’m not kidding, took a glance at specialist kidnap & ransom / hostile environment insurers.
The last two provider types actually were willing to quote me but warned that they usually insure members of the press going to the front lines and that the coverage would be astronomical… which brought me back to the same solution I found for car insurances: Ukranian providers!
Wow, simple, online, payable by the day and covering all war risks! (including nasty stuff like radiation exposure due to an attack on a nuclear power plant)
Three clicks, and I’m done! Full coverage, transport to repatriation pick-up point plus full coverage hospital services included!
Now I feel much better. Insurance sorted.
Whilst I was at it, I found another service that might come in handy should I get into any kind of trouble in Ukraine: a personal assistant! It was at a very attractive price and I’ve certainly spent money less wisely.
The last item is my repatriation which is covered by REGA.
Rega isn’t an insurance and Rega’s patronage conditions do not contain a war exclusion.
When it comes to politically unstable countries, Rega is even more specific:
They continually assess whether it is safe to fly to the country or airport concerned. Repatriation cannot be guaranteed if operational circumstances prevent the mission.
Rega doesn’t necessarily fly directly into wherever the patient is. For international missions, according to their website they often: arrange a ground ambulance, coordinate a transfer to a suitable airport, then fly from there, or even use a scheduled airline with medical escort if appropriate. So even if they do not land at the nearest airport, given that I’m never more than 3 hours from Slovakia, Hungary, Poland and Romania, that does not necessarily mean they cannot repatriate.
With this sorted, I feel much better.
Last update for this entry is a change of departure time for my return train from Vienna back to Feldkirch. Nothing dramatic – I’ll be getting 50 mins more in Vienna. 😉
