[Tinman]

I know that this has probably been covered before but I couldn't find a recent thread, so thought it easier to dive in with a new one.

We have just booked our flights out to Christchurch for 8th January and my thoughts have now turned to travel insurance. What a nightmare :wah
The story is that my Mum is coming out with us when we leave in January and staying with us for, hopefully, 9 months, before coming back home. I thought it would be easy to sort out her travel insurance but no - not only because of her age - she's 80 - but also because no-one seems to want to insure her for more than 5 months (at a price!). Has anyone out there had any similar experiences with relatives visiting for extended periods? I've tried loads of companies including SAGA and Age Concern but no joy.
I thought that if I just got her a single trip policy to cover for up to a fortnight then we could get health insurance for her in NZ and then another single trip policy to come home, but that's no good either as the single trip policies have to start and end in the UK within the period they are taken out. :no I can't believe this is so difficult. There must be other wrinklies out there that spend more than 5 months with relatives.

Also, I then had panic attack about our own travel insurance bearing in mind what I've been told about the single trip restrictions. As we won't be coming back to the UK they aren't any good either. I did find one site www.go-walkabout.com, but wondered what other people have done when they've emmigrated?
Any help appreciated :uhoh

[Trigirl]

trailfinders do one-way travel insurance. may not help for your mum but might sort out yours. worth asking them about your mum too - they might be able to suggest something?

[diforsyth]

Not sure about lengthy OAP insurance but we used Go Walkabout for emigrating and although we never had to claim against it (which you hope you don't have to), the terms were very comprehensive and not too expensive either. Go Walkabout in addition to the travel also insure you for the first 17 days after you arrive giving sufficient time to sort out local insurance.

David.

[Park City Partner]

Can't help you with the travel insurance issue but when you get here (or even before) try contacting tim@inform.co.nz. He is an insurance agent we used to sort out health insurance for us. He was great. Very knowledgeable, takes time to go over options (of which there were several) great follow-up and no cost to you.

Good luck!

[Smiler]

Just a thought, would a company like saga have any info? :confused:

[Tinman]

Thanks everyone for the info. :)
I've been looking again and I think we will definitely go with Go-Walkabout as they seem very reasonable.
Did a bit more fishing for my Mums and have now found a one way policy for her which ends as soon as she lands in NZ but then I've also found an insurance company in NZ who will insure her for the full 9 months for about the equivalent of £278! All in all it will cost her about £400 which in comparison to the one UK insurance company I found, will save her about £250.
Must say that the NZ insurance sites seem much more OAP friendly than ours.

We'll definitely check out tim@inform.co.nz, thanks for the tip! :cheers