the old insurance question

Oh, and looking at it the other way around, you can't get holiday cancellation insurance with Carre Neige unless you live in France. And it doesn't cover things like lost baggage or stolen skis.

But it does cover rescue, medical costs (apart from those covered by the EHIC), and repatriation to most countries in Europe.

I asked my own insurers, PJ Hayman, if I could claim from the Carre Neige rather than them if I needed to be rescued because my policy with PJ Hayman has an excess of £250 for search and rescue for snowsports. And they said that would be fine as long as I didn't try to claim from both of them!

Also, some people's insurers may not cover them for ski-ing off-piste, which the Carre Neige does.

This is what Tignesnet.com say:

http://www.tignesnet.com/ski-insurance/carr%C3%A9-/-carte-neige-insurance.html

So what are the advantages?

A Carré/Carte Neige is instantly recognised by the French rescue and medical services and so any rescue costs incurred are automatically covered (i.e. you do not need to pay up front and claim back later)
If you loose your lift pass during your stay, you can immediately take your Carré/Carte Neige to the lift pass office who will replace your pass immediately for you, no questions asked
Refunds for lift closures and lost lessons due to an accident are also possible
Carte Neige and Carré Neige may give limited cover for some of the transportation costs back home


http://www.carreneige.com/

My holiday insurance has been with Direct Travel for about 15 years.
No claims, so no idea how good/bad this side would be but I do have confidence from all my contact with them over the years.
Have to chat about medical stuff and odd holiday bits to see what they are happy to cover - staff on the phone seem to know their stuff.
Glacier skiing (for example) is not automatically covered - but I was told that skiing on a glacier on a marked piste was fine.
Off-piste is covered unless resort management say no. And when I asked about this the chap was clear that an avalanche warning of 3 didn't mean I wasn't covered.
My skiing now is pretty Vanilla :mrgreen:
Real, real off-piste rather than powder between runs is rare - last year was with an instructor - so I am happy with the cover I have.
If I was still going exploring and finding all those hidden and twiddly bits I would buy Carte Neige simply to avoid any surprises if there was an accident, cost is so little.
Similarly I do buy the in shop ski insurance (always hire skis), again cost minimal. This paid off last year when I took my skis back with rocker on one ski and not the other.
:oops:
No probs - just a how on earth did you manage that!!!
Holiday insurance covers hire skis but with an excess and a limit. This breakage would have cost me c £250!! Which is more than 10 ski trips paying insurance in shop.

Pisters look at your lift pass and if it's with Carte Neige they know straight away that you are covered (otherwise they might take your skis until you paid your bills). It is well worth a couple of euros a day to have Carte Neige!!

I dropped my Direct-Travel policy, when they moved from 17 days per trip to 17 days per year for ski cover on an Annual Policy. I know lots of refugees from the D-T skiers policy.

It's always worth checking your Policy small print at renewal time, all companies seem to fiddle with the T&C's.
It's essential to have Search & Rescue cover, and for that to include Helicopter evacuation. I have seen Policies for sale on Insurance middleman websites, that do not include search & rescue :shock:

Many of the policies on sale to skiers are not designed for skiers, but selling as an add-on to a beach holiday policy.

Thanks very much everyone for your answers. May I ask how much it costs to insure the skis hired from the shop? We've hired ours as part of the flights/Chalet package, so not sure if we'll get chance to buy insurance from the shop?

Also how much does it cost to replace hired skis if something happens to them? The Direct Travel excess is £65 and covers up to £400 hired skis which seems reasonable - but is the cost of replacing them likely to exceed this?

At the moment Direct Travel + Carte Neige seems like the best bet given that we can't do over 17 days anyway (not enough holiday!) I did look at Dogtag and other specialists but I found that their 'normal' travel insurance bits - like insuring your stuff whilst flying - were a bit patchy.

1 euros or 1.5 euros per day.

It depends on the quality of ski you hire as to the value of this.
Top of the range skis - definately worthwhile, whereas beginners or basic skis are probably well covered on your holiday insurance.

It's worth taking good care of your hire skis, as the ski shop will charge you for a brand new pair, even if the ones you lost were not new.

bandit wrote:It's worth taking good care of your hire skis, as the ski shop will charge you for a brand new pair, even if the ones you lost were not new.

Absolutely bandit