So here is how the different insurance companies and brokers have stacked up so far. Bennetts: very good once you find the number that works on a mobile phone they swing everything into action. Ageas: these are the underwriters for the insurance and they are exceptionally good very responsive when you phone get through to a person straightaway no need to press numbers and go to menu not shins. All recent call you when you need them to. Allianz Global Assist: these are the travel insurers. Right now my recommendation would be to avoid them at all costs as they have no consistent message and we just spoke to one person that said she was the only person answering the phone, she hardly spoke English and was very rude. I can't be sure but I think she also hung up on us. It's been 24hrs since we provided them with the police and medical reports. They still haven't decided if we are covered even though it states clearly we were not to blame. They really need to work on their communication skills.
Allianz GA are part of the main Germany based Allianz Group. They may not be too pleased with us Brits today! it could get expensive for them!
Really sorry to hear about your accident and you have my sympathy and empathy - last year I also got the badge, wrote off DVT, along with a free helicopter ride in Germany and a morphine OD thrown in for good measure - hey ho, life goes on. We could even play top trumps From that experience it told me the travel insurance folk work at a different pace. They flew me home but, for that to happen I needed to be accompanied. They put out a call (sent an email) to their nurses and wait for a reply (they got moving when I told them just how happy I was stuck in a German hospital). There seemed to be no appreciation of my actual circumstances. Then I found out the nurse would have to stay over one night - not that sort of nurse attention! - but she wasn't allowed to fly out and turn around the same day. So they needed someone who was free for 2 days - still with me. Also, I wasn't allowed to fly until the doctor had cleared me to fly and travel insurance had got that information (got German doc to call insurance) and then contacted the airline to see if they would accept me etc. etc. et-bloody-cetera! I found out that at each step the travel insurance would send an email and just wait for a reply - no chasing and didn't even know if the email had been picked up. They obviously thought I was having such a good time. On the other hand, bike insurance just got the details and sent some folks out to collect the bike - job done. All I can say is don't assume the travel insurance folk are really thinking of you - chase and chase again. In the meantime for you and your wife - some self raising, wholemeal, plain and gluten free ... it's the only way I can send you a bunch of flours.
Hi ColT, do you have a date yet for repatriation ? Are they flying you or is it a road trip. Will you be at home or uk hospital on return. Keep taking the tablets matey dont let em wear you down.
It will be a road trip to a uk hospital. Don't have a date yet but they hope it will be Thursday or Friday. My wife went to the recovery yard were they are keeping the bike. It's in their "completely trashed" section apparently. She took some more pics. The headstock completely sheered off. Interestingly enough, for my wife the hospital said that they only put a cast on for insurance as the fracture in her wrist is really small. They will remove the cast the day we leave. So she managed to faint during the crash, blot out any bad memories and got away pretty much Scot free, result!
I remember hitting the breaks and her going into me then landing face down in the road. Don't actually remember going over the car but it was all over in a traction of a second. Just had some great news that we will be collected first thing tomorrow morning and taken back to the UK by ambulance. Hope there is still a country to come back to. Thanks again for everyone's support. The staff here are fantastic. This morning one of the nurses brought in my customised luggage rack she had taken off the bike for me because she knew I spent a lot of time building it and I wouldn't see it again. Incredible!
Do you do what I'm doing now, which is replay it over and over in my head trying to think how I could've avoided it. I just remember standing up within a couple of seconds of landing on the ground thinking "this is really going to mess up the holiday ".
Many, many times. It's been 20 years since the first one, and I still get flashbacks. I had just enough time to decide _how badly_ I got hurt. Still have both my legs, so it was a good enough decision under the circumstances.
Yes I did at the time and it comes over me when I read these posts I still think what if I had done something different But..... We are alive and that's the main thing Lol I remember people talking to me and in my head I was checking that my legs were still there and my arms and hands the pain was awful but I can remember thinking yes check yes check as I knew each piece of me was stil there My last thought was oh F this is going to hurt and wishing I could stop rolling then getting myself off the road to the verge as I was aware the road was a busy one
Brilliant news, and a very nice gesture in getting your customised luggage rack back! Don't worry about the UK, and Brexit, we are all still here, no body is dead and we will fight on Have a safe journey back home guys
That all sounds like good news. Make sure your better half gets that "little break" checked out. No real need to worry but a chap in our club had done the little bone at the base of the thumb (scaphoid). It's the one that lots of folks break. It was still aching a couple of weeks later. Told him to go and get a check-up to make sure blood supply was OK - it wasn't so a small bone graft followed. It's a common break and normally isn't a problem but always worth a double check at the fracture clinic. Enjoy the ride home.
After taking the main cast off her wrist they've put a supporting cast on now which is one side and bandages. I'll get her to go to A&E in the UK. Thanks for the advice, always welcome
ColT, glad to read about Mrs ColT and glad to read your both upbeat about everything, hope your both back on the bike soon. GWS. p.s. Don't think mechanics is part of British nurses training
ColT, Good things happen to good people (not the crash), glad you're both ok and on the mend - hope they throw the book at the French driver - GWS
