British woman, 22, who 'could lose leg' after Thailand motorbike crash in race against time to raise £100,000

[shaurene]

It is well known that visitors from UK and Europe that book insurance for their holidays are not covered for sport accidents and ridinng motor cycles/scooters are classed in this catagory.

it is stated in the conditions on the documeny but it is about 2-3 pags n very small writting and their travel agents in UK just push them to get insurance from them, commission etc.

This lady was in another cycle accident short time back, she was driving, this time she was a passenger.

the insurance companies will refuse to cover them if they can find the slightest excuse.

 

[sandrabbit]

2 minutes ago, PaoloR said:

In my opinion there should also be an outright ban on renting large capacity bikes unless they are accompanied on a group tour by a qualified person. It is incredible that someone with no experience and no license can come to this country and rent a 200 kph big bike and put themselves and other road users in danger without any apparent government intervention.

I seem to remember two 21yr old Welsh lads hiring an R1 in Pattaya when they'd never ridden a high performance bike and killing themselves, my last bike in the UK was a Honda VTR1000 SP1 and I get nervous riding a scooter here now and stopped cycling because it's too dangerous.

[simoh1490]

For anyone interested who might be reading this thread, getting a Thai drivers license on a tourist visa is not that difficult and may solve lots of problems: http://libertytotravel.com/get-thai-motorbike-drivers-license-tourist-visa-without-license-home-country/

[robblok]

Strange that they penalize people who are passengers too, i can get that if you penalize the driver and exclude him from insurance.. but passengers is strange. Again.. we have to believe what they are writing.. its not like that the persons involved would make things up to look better.. maybe not really having a insurance at all. 

[simoh1490]

3 minutes ago, robblok said:

Strange that they penalize people who are passengers too, i can get that if you penalize the driver and exclude him from insurance.. but passengers is strange. Again.. we have to believe what they are writing.. its not like that the persons involved would make things up to look better.. maybe not really having a insurance at all. 

I think it's simply an acknowledgement that motorbikes/motorcycles here are so dangerous that they wont have anything to do with them, probably right too.

 

 

Edited May 23, 2017 by simoh1490

[asiaexpat]

100000 BP is almost 4.5 million Baht. That is enough to pay for several organ transplants let alone leg surgery. What is the excess for, family vacation? Sounds a bit dodgy.

[thaiguzzi]

Insurance companies = thieves in suits.

Big bent bankers, unscrupulous lawyers. All the same. Criminals.

Hope the lady gets it sorted and gets better.

[simoh1490]

3 minutes ago, asiaexpat said:

100000 BP is almost 4.5 million Baht. That is enough to pay for several organ transplants let alone leg surgery. What is the excess for, family vacation? Sounds a bit dodgy.

A good chunk of that will be for medivac to get her back home.

[tonray]

No matter how safe a rider you believe you are..never get on a bike anywhere whilst on vacation in a foreign environment. Too many unknowns. Long term resident a different story as you have the opportunity to observe and see the way things are before you take the risk. 

[chrissables]

4 hours ago, PaoloR said:

Renting a m/c costs  250 THB a day in Ao Nang. At this price none of the rental companies pay for comprehensive insurance on their bikes, relying on the mandatory 3rd party government insurance.

Pororbor (3rd party) insurance on a motorbike covers you for very little; max 30k if it is your fault, 50k if it is not your fault and the other party is insured.

This is invalid if you do not have a Thai m/c licence or a valid m/c licence and IDP from overseas.

Since no rental company here in this town ever asks to see your license and since few visitors either have a m/c license or an IDP you can assume that the majority of renters riding in this country are uninsured.

The easiest way to eliminate this problem is to make all rental companies take out group comprehensive insurance to cover the m/c's they rent out. This will significantly increase the cost of rental and deplete the income of the renters who cover most of the sidewalks in this town. However, when I used to rent out m/c's I could not find a company willing to write comprehensive insurance on a rental m/c. and gave up renting.

 

In my opinion there should also be an outright ban on renting large capacity bikes unless they are accompanied on a group tour by a qualified person. It is incredible that someone with no experience and no license can come to this country and rent a 200 kph big bike and put themselves and other road users in danger without any apparent government intervention.

Why would having a tour guide prevent an accident?

 

If one holds the correct licence, it seems most bizarre why you would want them stopped or corralled.  Especially as the majority of big bike riders here are far better riders than the scooter riders.

Edited May 23, 2017 by metisdead
Please do not modify someone else's post in your quoted reply, either with font or color changes.

[canthai55]

3 hours ago, ezzra said:

All travel insurances has this exclusion, among many others, that you're

not covered for accidents while you're a rider/passenger on a non public

transportation mode, and as such, no claims will be accepted....

Not True

[robblok]

42 minutes ago, simoh1490 said:

I think it's simply an acknowledgement that motorbikes/motorcycles here are so dangerous that they wont have anything to do with them, probably right too.

 

 

Could be.. not sure.. I do know that i have a Thai m/c license and I am covered by my health insurance. I ride a bike quite often and in my 10 years here have had one accident and never any bodily harm. A lot depends on how you drive yourself. I got a big bike and a scooter, even on my big bike i get overtaken by scooters (to show how crazy some people drive). If you see how some of those drivers here drive you understand why so many get killed. 

[PaoloR]

21 minutes ago, chrissables said:

Why would having a tour guide prevent an accident?

 

If one holds the correct licence, it seems most bizarre why you would want them stopped or corralled.  Especially as the majority of big bike riders here are far better riders than the scooter riders.

Perhaps you misunderstood? The principal object is to stop inexperienced riders renting big bikes and killing themselves and, more importantly other people. The vast majority of big bike owners here have the correct licence and full insurance (myself included).

The only people who will suffer are those few people with the correct licence who wish to rent a big bike to tour, in which case they will have to be accompanied - as they have to be in Myanmar.

I am proposing that a very small minority, i.e. those with experience and the correct licence, be excluded from renting big bikes here without safeguards, a small price to pay if innocent lives are saved.

[simoh1490]

8 minutes ago, Canceraid said:

This is the fault of the thai Immigration Authorities for being lax with the type of foreigners coming into Thailand. Impose new stricter criteria ie need for proof of various relevant  insurance policies,results  medical checkups, proof of finances, return tickets, proof of pre-payment for accomodations in Thailand, etc etc. before the are allowed entry into Thailand. People can say wahtever they want, all still a lot of people want to come to Thailand . Ya ya...heard the old stories...we will go elsewhere....Indonesia, Vietnam , Cambodia, Myanmar, India....etc etc.....but all still end up here as they crave for the "thai shit " still! lol!

"This is the fault of the thai Immigration Authorities",.....there's no nanny state here sunny jim, folks that visit gotta take care them selves, be adult and responsible.

[chrissables]

3 hours ago, PaoloR said:

Perhaps you misunderstood? The principal object is to stop inexperienced riders renting big bikes and killing themselves and, more importantly other people. The vast majority of big bike owners here have the correct licence and full insurance (myself included).

The only people who will suffer are those few people with the correct licence who wish to rent a big bike to tour, in which case they will have to be accompanied - as they have to be in Myanmar.

I am proposing that a very small minority, i.e. those with experience and the correct licence, be excluded from renting big bikes here without safeguards, a small price to pay if innocent lives are saved.

Misunderstood, maybe. 

 

But then you quote: I am proposing that a very small minority, i.e. those with experience and the correct licence, be excluded from renting big bikes here without safeguards, a small price to pay if innocent lives are saved.

 

If you were licenced and were refused to be allowed to hire a bike, how would you feel?

 

Burma, China, i am sure are not doing it as a safety measure, not at the prices they force you to pay for the guides. $300 per day i have been told in Burma.

 

Whilst at the same time you fly in and rent a bike and go where you want within reason.

 

I fail to see how restricting a licenced rider will help in any way. And the "if it saves one life" argument holds no sway with me at all. Give me power and i can save thousands of live, ban smoking, drinking, all so called "dangerous sports" Being overweight and sugary soft drinks! Job done, off on a bike ride :) 

 

 

Edited May 23, 2017 by metisdead
Please do not modify someone else's post in your quoted reply, either with font or color changes.

[impulse]

2 hours ago, colinneil said:

Makes me bloody angry when people come here, get involved in accidents, then start moaning about Thai hospitals. 

Most hospitals here provide a service equally as good as most British hospitals.

 

That may be true.  But their legal responsibility (before being paid) stops at saving your life.  If you want to save the leg, they want to be guaranteed payment up front.   In the UK, I suspect they'd save the leg and then deal with the payment issues.  

 

I know this because I waited over a weekend for my insurance company to approve my triple bypass in a BKK hospital.  One artery 100% blocked and another 95% blocked and they wouldn't do the bypass until payment was guaranteed (and I didn't have $70,000 cash laying around or a credit card with that kind of limit on it).  Monday afternoon, when the insurance company came back to work, they wheeled me in.

[PaoloR]

Chrissables : "If you were licenced and were refused to be allowed to hire a bike, how would you feel?"

 

I am licenced and own 3 big bikes and yet cannot rent a big bike in certain European countries on my Thai licence - even with an IDP - I feel fine, just rent a smaller bike or a car.

 

When you see, as I do often, the idiots in Phuket driving rented litre bikes with no helmet and no shirt on and endangering themselves and innocent people then something has to be done to stop them. If a very small number of people are inconvenienced then tough. You live here, then buy one, on holiday here, then rent a smaller one.

[CNXBKKMAN]

 Travel Insurance policies that will cover you for riding motorcycles in Thailand must be in the minority. How many visitors study the policies, download the PDF, read the fine print, ask the right questions? Probably very few! So basically I would guess nearly all tourist motorcycle riders have no insurance and are up shit creek if they have a serious accident. 

      Maybe it's time for the Thai government to regulate the motorbike hire guys. Compulsory medical road accident tax of 150 baht per day hire? Or a one off yearly charge based on the number of bikes being hired out?  Build up a fund that can be claimed on in the event of serious accident. 50,000 excess? Motorcycle hire is very cheap here. If 200 baht a day becomes 400 baht a day it wouldn't be the end of the world. 

        The government has to have the will to fix problems or improve things but I don't think it has any so I suspect nothing much will happen. Road safety is not taken seriously in Thailand by the government , police or most of the population.

[free123]

4 hours ago, simoh1490 said:

It's a direct quote from the link above, The Yorkshire Post...http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/yorkshire-woman-22-who-could-lose-leg-after-thailand-motorbike-crash-in-race-against-time-to-raise-100-000-1-8555577

 

Sorry, what were you saying about engaging something or other!

I think hospitals in Thailand are as good or as bad as hospitals anywhere else in the world...the British NHS is pretty run down so Thailand for sure is the better choice...

[chrissables]

31 minutes ago, PaoloR said:

Chrissables : "If you were licenced and were refused to be allowed to hire a bike, how would you feel?"

 

I am licenced and own 3 big bikes and yet cannot rent a big bike in certain European countries on my Thai licence - even with an IDP - I feel fine, just rent a smaller bike or a car.

 

When you see, as I do often, the idiots in Phuket driving rented litre bikes with no helmet and no shirt on and endangering themselves and innocent people then something has to be done to stop them. If a very small number of people are inconvenienced then tough. You live here, then buy one, on holiday here, then rent a smaller one.

What happens in Europe is of no concern.

 

If you hold a legal, valid licence here you should be able to rent what you want. I am sure sure wearing just a shirt or no helmet does not endanger anyone else. 

 

If they are endangering others of course the police should deal with it.

 

Following your thinking, a ban on hiring would be a slippery slope by the know all's who would ban all bikes over 150cc.

 

If it's legal, let it be, jump on the illegal.

Edited May 23, 2017 by chrissables

[hansnl]

4 hours ago, simoh1490 said:

OK, but I don't understand why the boyfriends license or lack of should invalidate her medical insurance. I wonder if he had a provisional, she had a full and she thought it was OK for him to drive because he was accompanied by a fully qualified driver, applying UK law in Thailand is interesting. Whatever, I hope she gets better soon but I don't hold out much hope for the hospital bill, it will have to be paid.

You don't understand why the insurance company will not pay?

Well, anything possible will be used by those companies to refuse a claim.

Banks and Insurance companies are, it is said, legalised criminal institutions.

[biggles45]

So much mis-information in this thread, is it any wonder the young woman was confused and thought she was covered. I have ridden for 16 years in Thailand and I have a Thai licence and never ride a bike more than 125cc. This complies with my insurance requirements but if I was a pillion the driver must be licenced. 

 

Companies have many different EXCLUSIONS and they dont ALL ban riding bikes, just using them in sporting events. Some dont insure at all, and some have limits on size and licencing requirements. Some even want you to have a local country licence as well as a home country licence. I read here that this young woman had a previous claim that was paid so it is perhaps understandable that she thought she was covered. Only reading the exclusions would have told her otherwise. 

[F4UCorsair]

Crowd funding started out well, but unfortunately people have taken a personal 'why bother accepting any responsibility for myself and my actions' attitude.  I'll just have suckers fund me if everything turns to $ hit.

 

I'm over it.

 

I hope she recovers.

[Classic Ray]

Law in Thailand same as UK. If driver has no or suspended  licence, insurance will be invalid, although insurance companies in Thailand sometimes cover cheap claims even for unlicensed drivers. Passengers in neither country require licenses. 

[F4UCorsair]

Just now, hansnl said:

You don't understand why the insurance company will not pay?

Well, anything possible will be used by those companies to refuse a claim.

Banks and Insurance companies are, it is said, legalised criminal institutions.

Nonsense claim.

 

Insurance companies are businesses and businesses must make money.  They set terms and conditions.  Comply and they pay....don't comply and they don't pay.

Put your own spin on T's & C's, and you cloud the issue.

 

[colinneil]

I have read all the nonsense posts about insurance companies refusing to pay out on claims, all the pathetic comments about them being crooks refusing to pay.

Well in my lifetime i have had 3 insurance claims, 1 home insurance in the UK, PAID OUT NO PROBLEM.

1 travel insurance illness in Thailand 1997, paid in full no problem.

1 last year here in Thailand, home insuraqnce, paid in full no problems.

So my take on it is, if you have cover and your claim is genuine, never a problem getting paid out.

[simoh1490]

2 minutes ago, colinneil said:

I have read all the nonsense posts about insurance companies refusing to pay out on claims, all the pathetic comments about them being crooks refusing to pay.

Well in my lifetime i have had 3 insurance claims, 1 home insurance in the UK, PAID OUT NO PROBLEM.

1 travel insurance illness in Thailand 1997, paid in full no problem.

1 last year here in Thailand, home insuraqnce, paid in full no problems.

So my take on it is, if you have cover and your claim is genuine, never a problem getting paid out.

Agreed. But I might add to your list, "you'll get paid as long as you claim for something for which you are actually insured".

[USPatriot]

Sounds like her holiday insurance company is the one playing games.

[USPatriot]

I maybe wrong but no insurance co. would cover you here?  just don't do it or accept the risk
 
hope she recovers just bad luck

She had holiday insurance.

[steven100]

4 minutes ago, USPatriot said:

She had holiday insurance.

so she'll be fine  ...