1

With all insurance, the devil is in the details. A reasonably good source of reviewing travel insurance, and the companies that write such polices can be found here:

http://www.travelinsurancereview.net/

As a “rule of thumb” avoid those companies that only underwrite travel insurance policies as they are most likely to have those “hidden loopholes” that may end up with your claim being denied.

Look to those companies which have a broad range of coverage, such as William Russell in the UK…

http://www.william-russell.com/individualsandfamilies/global-health-insurance/travel/

“Demanding” documentation, such as a police report (of the accident) and a copy of the rental contract for the vehicle involved (if that’s the case), is not unusual, nor is it unreasonable. Any claims examiner in any insurance company in the world is going to demand some form of documentation that the claims presented are bonafide claims. That is a reasonable protection against paying for falsified claims…and you can be sure that all insurance companies get plenty of false claims every year.

2

Thanks for that, I will check out those links. But as you would know a lot of motorcycle rental is done on a very informal basis person to person with no paperwork at all. I suspect in those circumstances a person unlucky enough to have a spill would be well advised to get some form of Hire Agreement drawn up after the event. How would you go fronting up to a police station to get an accident report made out for an accident in which nothing/no one was damaged, save for yourself, and which the police did not attend? I'm not sure that the police would be particularly interested in helping out. Hope I never find myself in that situation.

3

No, I am not aware of motorcycles being rented here on a simple informal basis...word of mouth and without paper work unless it's between Balinese who know each other well, or who are family members. In fact I would strongly caution any foreign tourist to undertake any sort of rental like that as they could become a victim of a false claim of theft of the bike! Of course there is normally paperwork, as such paperwork is totally needed to prove to the police (if stopped for a traffic violation) that their is a legally binding agreement between the registered owner and the current operator.

Just use your common sense. If what happened to you (and nobody else) resulted in injuries requiring high medical costs, then yes, pursue a police report even after the fact. Presumably you would have timely medical records from the hospital or clinic where you were treated. Moreover, if hospitalized and unable yourself to physically go to a police station to report your accident...guess what? You can ask the hospital staff to summon the police for you! WOW! How about that???

Whatever you would do in OZ if involved in an accident, do the same thing here and you'll be guaranteed to have all bases covered with the insurance company. Don't trust the Balinese police? Fine, then you're on your own, but don't belly ache about the results or consequences.

4

Of course if you don't have a legitimate Motor Cycle Riders Licence, as most hirers in Asia don't, then your claim hasn't got a snowflakes chance in hell.

5

A few years ago I was considering travel insurance and since a motorcycle accident was the most likely thng I could think of (I rarely use them if I can help it but it seemed the most probable type of accident I would have) I looked at it carefully - it seemed that the driver of a motor cycle I was a passenger on would have to have a valid license in my home country (a very remote possibility that the driver would have a valid one at all) I decided against it. So I have never used travel insurance but I have a very substantial monentary buffer to allow for most accidents. A few (about 3) years ago I went on a trip to SEA and needed medical attention several times but the fees were so cheap that they cam no where near the excess I would have had to pay to be covered by insurance.

I have never had problems with things stolen or flights cancelled etc that would have been claimable or luggage lost

6

TopengEmas, in my experience in Bali I would say that many, many, motorcycle rentals take place between tourists and individuals who work in hotels, losmens, homestays or just spruik their bike on the street. Show the person where you're staying, maybe hand over a photocopy of your passport, get the STNK and you are away. Three times I've rented bikes this way - twice from places where I've been staying, once from guys in Ubud who managed a shop. They only had my word as to where I was staying. They never asked for any ID. I must have an honest face eh?Outside of Bali the vast majority of bikes are hired in this way. In Kuta Lombok last year a trusting local rented a new bike to a German couple and they stole it. She handn't asked for any identification. By the way, making the observation that police might not be particularly interested in the scenario I outlined above is not belly achng - it's just an obsevation! BTW travellers who are unlucky enough to have an accident whilst riding pillion on an ojek? Now that would be an interesting insurance claim to work through! I wouldn't wish it on anyone.

7

The salient point here is that most all reputable travel insurance companies will cover accidental injuries regardless of the cause. The link I gave in my earlier post provides a good list of travel insurance companies that have a good reputation or good rating.

Common sense should dictate the importance of carefully reviewing the policy exclusions, whatever they are.

By law in Indonesia, ANY accidents involving motor vehicles that result in personal injuries or loss of life are required to be reported to the police. Does that mean that any particular travel insurance company might deny submitted claims for medical care of injuries suffered in a road accident where the police were not called, or the accident was not reported? Maybe yes, maybe no depending on the insurance company, but why bother with that risk when all one needs to do is to comply with the law and notify or report the accident to the police?