Stuart’s GoldWing Blog

It’s the time of year when many of us are booking touring holidays and other trips abroad although maybe, because of the weakness of the Pound against the Euro, not quite so many as last year. As readers of this Blog may be aware, I will be off to Germany for a week in mid June with a group of Wingers.  having a trip like that all booked up gives you something to really look forward to.

However, ensuring you have adequate insurance cover for a trip to Europe is very important.  You have to be a bit of an anorak to enjoy reading about insurance, so I won’t pretend this will be the most interesting or enjoyable Article on the Blog, but there are somethings you should probably know.  So here are a few tips to help you check that your cover is adequate.

I approached two of the major suppliers of insurance to the UK GoldWing market for up to date information and their helpful responses forms the basis of this Article.  Thanks therefore to Gary of Aire Valley and Andy of Carol Nash’s PR Agency for answering my questions so patiently.  Inevitably there were questions I didn’t think of asking at the time and I may have misunderstood, so this Article will be edited as necessary to incorporate any corrections.  Likewise if any if  other broker or insurer has something to contribute they will be most welcome to contact me and I will take account of anything they would like to contribute.

Hopefully therefore what’s in this Article is reasonably authoritative and up to date but it’s always necessary to bear in mind that individual insurance policies can vary significantly.  The only way to be sure what your policy covers (and just as importantly what it does not cover) is to check your policy documents carefully and check with your own broker or insurance company.  This Article will, if nothing else, help you to ask the right questions.

The key questions for adequate European touring cover are:

1. Will your normal motorcycle riding insurance be valid for Europe and will it still provide comprehensive cover?
2. Are you covered to ride other bikes if necessary, for example if another rider is injured?
3. Does your breakdown cover work for Europe and does it cover accidental damage as well as mechanical breakdown?
4. Are you covered if you get injured or ill and so cannot ride your (ride-able) bike home?
5. Are you covered for medical costs in case of illness or injury to you and/or your pillion passenger are there any restrictions or exclusions because of the type of riding you will be doing?
6. What insurance documents and telephone numbers do you need to have with you in Europe?

Standard motorcycle insurance for GoldWings

When you shop around for insurance for a GoldWing you need to make sure your comparing apples with apples and pears with pears.  There are differences you need to take into account; it is never as  simple as choosing the cheapest.

So let’s start with a bit of background information about the scope of insurance cover.  It’s imortant to understand that all policies cover what they say they will cover, nothing more and hopefully nothing less.  There is therefore no such thing as truly comprehensive insurance, they all have exclusions and knowing what these exclusions can turn out to be very important.

To get adequate overall cover for a trip to Europe most Wingers will have a combination of three policies.  Firstly there’s normal, so-called comprehensive (or sometimes just third party) motorcycle insurance cover for the operation of the bike on the road – basically in case it collides with anything and gets damaged and/or damages something else.  Secondly breakdown cover, to get the bike to a repairer or back to UK if it cannot be ridden, after either a mechanical breakdown or an accident.  And thirdly travel insurance, which provides (most importantly) medical expenses cover and usually lots of other travel-related stuff too, but it’s medical cover which really matters, whic is why policies usually provide cover for several millions of poundsworth.

If only it were as simple as ticking three standard boxes, but of course it isn’t.  Although these three broad categories of cover are commonly sold a separate policies under these labels, there is considerable overlap and there are also important gaps in cover which can arise.  For example some normal motorcyle policies include perfectly adequate breakdown cover for a European bike tour, some breakdown cover policies don’t cover recovery of a bike to UK if it’s still rideable, even though you can’t ride it home because you’ve bust your ankle.

Lots of GoldWing owners insure their bikes through Aire Valley, which has offered a run a special scheme for GoldWings for many years.  They offer a specially developed “Goldspan” policy for GoldWings; it’s a standard policy which is underwritten at Lloyds, so only one broker and one underwriter is involved, which is helpful if claims arise.  The insurer wouldn’t want to get known among Wingers for being mean about claims, because Wingers talk to each other and might all vote with their feet.  So there is a reasonable expectation of fair dealings and I’ve never heard anyone suggest that a claim under a Goldspan policy has been hard work.

By the way Aire Valley’s Goldspan Policy used to be a GWOCGB-only scheme but that restriction was lifted some years ago, so it’s been available to all Wingers for some time.  GWOCGB have no role in managing or arbitrating the policy (thankfully) so it’s no longer really their scheme in any practical way at all, even though it is still badged as such on Aire Valley’s website and documentation.  So don’t let being sensible enough not to join GWOCGB put you off this excellent GoldWing policy.

This policy covers a GoldWing’s accessories in the event of accidental damage as well as the bike as originally manufactured, which is of course important to many Wingers, who spend a lot on their accessories. It also covers towing a trailer behind a Wing, which most motorcycle policies won’t.  As with all motor insurance you do have to declare any modifications to the bike which affect its performance or handling, so any special tuning or suspension modifications or enhancements.  Otherwise however the Goldspan policy has the advantage of being just about as “comprehensive” as a Winger could hope for – but it doesn’t include breakdown cover, which costs about £60 per year extra.  (This is done to make it cheaper for the majority of Wingers, who don’t leave UK.)

Carol Nash is one of the very biggest motorcycle insurance brokers and lots of Wingers use them, indeed I did myself until their maximum limit on the value of a bike proved too low for the new GL1800 I had bought, so I switched to Aire Valley.  I had been very happy with Carol Nash and heard good reports about how helpful they had been with an alternator failure on a GL1500 in the South of France.  They also include European (and UK) breakdown cover “free” with all their motorcycle policies, which Aire Valley don’t.  It isn’t free of course, nothing ever is, but it’s a very cheap way of getting adequate breakdown cover for a European tour because it is bundled with all their motorcycle policies.  But Carol Nash arranges insurance for bikes using a substantial number of insurance companies, so there isn’t one standard policy and one insurer, but maybe Carol Nash’s huge share of the motorcycle insurance market gives them enough clout to ensure fairness in settling claims anyway.  But because there are a number of different policies, the scope of the cover will vary.  For example the duration of European cover which is included can vary from as little as 30 to as many as 365 days per year.

It’s probably broadly true that Wingers who own expensive trikes and/or tow trailers, fit lots shiny bits and never leave UK are likely to do better with Aire Valley while those who don’t tow a trailer and tour extensively in Europe are more likely to be suited with Carol Nash.  But even if that has been true in the past things may be about to change.

Carol Nash is launching a GoldWing Club scheme

This is because Carol Nash is planning to launch a Club scheme which will suit Wingers within the next few months and there is also something of a question mark hanging over the Goldspan scheme.

Carol Nash’s new scheme is said to allow them to cater for GoldWings much better than they were able to in the past and, for example they have done something about the upper valuation limit.  It’s not clear yet how it will be structured and especially how it will link with clubs.   I have suggested avoiding making it an exclusive club scheme (as Goldspan was originally) in the interests of freedom of choice – and no lest in the case of GoldWings because there isn”t one dominant club any more.  They have expressed interest in launching their scheme for GoldWings via our new the Federation website, which also happens to be approaching readiness for launch.

End of the Goldspan Scheme looming?

I mentioned in another Article recently that the big claim following the accident at GWOCGB’s Treffen last year is reported to have brought the future of the Goldspan policy into question, so there may be some radical developments on the GoldWing insurance scene this coming Summer.

The Goldspan Policy is specially underwritten for GoldWings at Lloyds rather than by an insurance company.  Lloyds takes on insurance risks on a more individual basis that insurance companies, hence their willingness to entertain a club-type scheme like Goldspan.  They take the trouble assess insurance risks indvidually rather than (in this context) sticking to the bigger overall picture of the motorcycle market.   This doesn’t make Lloyds any less secure (in terms of being able to afford to pay out claims) but it does mean that if, because of the exceptionally expensive accident last year, the idea of GoldWings being a relatively safe insurance bet has started to look much less attractive, they might decide to close it down.  Apparently it’s a serious possibility, and that from the horse’s mouth. At any event the Goldspan Policy is currently still alive and working normally, renwals and new policies are being issued and of course there is no risk that exisiting policies will not be honoured in all respects,  Aire Valley have done a cracking job supporting Wingers with the Goldspan Policy over many years so no doubt we all hope it will have a secure future.

In the meantime lots of us are covered by Aire Valley and Carol Nash, so let’s stop worrying about the future for now and concentrate on whether our insurance cover for this year’s European trip is OK.

1  Is your Bike Insurance is valid for European riding?

The minimm level of cover which insurers have to provide by law as part of every UK motorcycle policy these days includes riding anywhere in the EU but this compulsory European cover is pretty basic and most Wingers would consider it inadequate.

This legal minimum, which may be all you will get unless you ask for something better, won’t necessarily provide the same level of cover as your policy would provide for an accident in UK.  In other words a “comprehensive” policy is potentially even less comprehensive in reality that it would be at home.

When you see references to a specific duration of free cover for European travel (90 days per year is common) it refers to a limitation of the full cover of the policy, as it would apply in UK and this full cover is often conditional on notifying the insurer of the foriegn trip before you set off.  Unless you establish that you will have full cover abroad, the best you can hope for is the legal minimum.

The legal requirement is to provide just the minimum cover required by the law of the Country you’re riding in.  This varies from Country to Country within Europe but it will often be the equivalent of UK’s basic “road traffic act” cover, which is third party liability only, not even fire and theft.  And in some Countries maybe not even cover for third party property damages.  So if you run someone over and injure them, your insurance company has to pay the costs and compensation for their injuries, but they will not necessarily pay for the third party’s vehicle and other property damage – which the injured parties might therefore come after you personally to pay for.

So you cannot assume that the comprehensive policy you have in UK will apply in full abroad.  It may be extendable to Europe and this might not cost you any extra, but your insurer may well require that you notify them of the dates and Countries of your trip in advance, otherwise you sacrifice your full cover in favour of the legal minimum.

So it’s potentially very important that you telephone your insurer before you go, tell them when and where you are going and ask them to confirm that your normal comprehensive cover will apply.  You should also ask if there are any other special requirements or restrictions which will apply while you’re abroad.  If you don’t know the telephone numbers you would  need to ring from abroad to tell them about a problem, then find out what they are.

With the Aire Valley Goldspan Policy you are required to tell them in advance, so don’t forget to do it and you are allowed up to 90 days cover in Europe each year without extra charge.

Carol Nash told me they don’t require advance notification of a European trip, but their inclusive European cover varies from 30 to 365 days per year, so I can’t make sense of that.  I would tell thm anyway; it’s only a phone call and they let you use 0800 numbers, so why not?  (I alays give my credit card company a ring too every time I go abroad; the last thing you want is to have it blocked because of an “unusual pattern of spending” when you’re depending on it to pay for your petrol.)

Finally, on this subject of bike insurance, it’s important to be aware that not all European Countries will be covered, although you should have covers for Western Europe and some of Eastrn Europe too.  But Carol Nash’s excludes Russia and, perhaps unsurprisingly, Iraq.  I didn’t ask whether Aire Valley covers Russia – or Iraq.

If anyone is adventurous enough to be going anywhere into East Europe, or of course anywhwere outside Continental Europe, like Iraq, it would be sensible to ask.

2  Cover to ride other people’s bikes?

There are many situations which could arise when you’re abroad with other bikers when it would be very handy to be able to ride someone else’s bike, and not just for purposes of riding a different bike for a change.  Swapping bikes just for a change is probably best avoided when you’re abroad anyway, it’s fraught with potential complications if something goes wrong.  I was thinking of contingency situations in which riding someone else’s bike might become necessary for safety or damage-limitation reasons.

For example someone in your group drops his bike and twist his ankle or crushes his foot.  His bike is still rideable but he can’t ride it safely.  (Remember my story about Randy Rodriguez riding 200 miles home with a broken right arm?  That was all on one US highway, no ferries, no roundabouts.  You can’t do much riding wearing a plaster cast.)

Supposing the incident occurs some distance from your base or your next overnight halt.  And you don’t want to just abandon his bike to its fate at the roadside.  It would be very handy if somone else could ride it back to base or at least to a place of safety, even if this meant having to bring a rider back as pillion to pick it up.  And in these circumstances allowing another to ride the rdierless bike could be very much in the interests of the insurers; they don’t want the abondoned bike stolen any more than the owner does.

Unfortunately however insurance cover to take the riderless bike to a place of safety is not automatically available, even if the volunteer rider is acting in a Good Samaritan basis.  It’s not difficult to understand why insurers cannot include blanket let-outs like that in their policies; they would be open to abuse.

If a problem like this arises during working hours, it will be possible (and very worthwhile) ringing the injured rider’s insurers because this might well result in an offer to add the volunteer rider to the bike’s policy as a named rider.  But unless that’s done and agreed, there will probably be no insurance cover at all on the injured rider’s policy.  This is another good reason for having your insurer’s phone number with you when you’re abroad.

If the insurer agrees to add the volunteer rider to the bike’s policy this is the preferred solution because insurance will be on the same basis as when the owner is riding the bike himself.

The only other possibility of cover will be if the volunteer rider is insured to ride other people’s bikes on his own policy, in which case it won’t ever be comprehensive cover, just third party.  The volunteer rider should establish clearly that he has the injured rider’s permission to ride the bike and that the injured rider understands that it will be third party cover only, so any damage to his bike will not be covered.  The volunteer rider should maybe get the injured rider to accept that risk explicitly; he is after all doing a favour by moving his bike and if he’s ulucky and subsequently damages the bike h won’t want o end up forking out for it. A telephone call to the injured rider’s insurer to arrange temporary cover is much better if it can be done.

So are you covered on your particular policy to ride other people’s bikes?

Once upon a time all motor and bike policies provided third party cover for driving and riding other people’s vehicles automatically but those days are long gone.  The facility was open to abuse, it was widely abused so perfectly understandably insurance companies withdrew it.  The best you can hope for these days is third party cover for the same type of vehicle you are insuring (ie a bike on a bike policy, car on a car policy) and nothing else and then only if your Certificate of Insurance actually says so.  So check.

There is however an interesting anomaly with Aire Valley’s Goldspan Policy which I discovered when I rang to check my own cover.  Some riders are covered to ride other bikes, some aren’t.

This oddity arose because of a software glitch which occured a while ago which started giving people this extra cover unintentionally, because of some back-room error in programming.  It turned out to be too complicated and uneconomic to remove the extra cover, so it’s been left in.

So those of you who renewed with Aire Valley within the last two or three months probably do have third party cover for riding other people’s bikes, otherwise not, or at least not until your next renewal.  With effect from any future renewals, this extra cover will included on every Winger’s Goldspan policy but it’s not being included retrospectively.  You can check by looking for “MB0″ as an endorsement on your Schedule of Insurance.  If you have the endorsement you have got third party cover to ride other bikes, otherwise you don’t.  To get a definitive answer about your personal scope of cover, ring your insurer and ask; don’t assume you have cover to ride other bikes unless you have checked very carefully.  For Goldspan policy holders it’s the Schedule of your insurance you need to check; the endorsement does not appear on the Certificate of Insurance but it is shown on the Schedule if it applies.  Nowt so queer as insurance anomalies, as they probably say in parts of Keighley.

And Carol Nash’s policies are said not to cover other bikes while abroad even if they cover riding them in UK, so one way and another riding someone else’s bike while abroad is a very bad idea unless you have both the rider’s and hs insurer’s permission before you do it.

Riding the Nurburgring?

I wrote about my own experience of riding the Nurburging last year in a previous Article.  Was I covered if I had had an accident?

Technically, according to the Germans, the Nurburgring, or at least the part that’s open to the public, is a toll road and not a racing circuit.  Any road-legal vehicle can use it simply by buying a ticket. There is no system of scrutiny, no racing is allowed or acilitated and there’s no system for timing of circuits unless you use your own stopwatch. And they take various steps to discourage people from getting carried away, like banning the use of video cameras.  It’s a fun opportunity to ride a road which has 147 bends in 13 miles; a really interesting and potentially exhilarating biking challenge.

So it’s at least arguable that your European cover should apply to the Nurburgring in exacly the same way as it would on a French Toll Motorway.

But if you ask your insurer in advance they will almost certainly tell you that it is not covered because they regard it as a race circuit (whether the Germans do or not) and so your insurance is invalid if you ride The Ring, just as it would be if you did a track day in UK.  At least you are pretty unlikely to get stopped and booked by the German Police for riding uninsured on the Nurburgring, s there is that consolation.

So if you’re going to ride the Ring while you’re in Germany it should be on the basis that you will at the very least have a struggle to get an insurance claim settled if you try to make one.  And it might be best not to tell your insurer about this part of your holiday plans in advance; at least that way you won’t have been told in advance that they will repudiate any claim, so you will at least be able to argue the toss on that basis!

The same uncertainty will apply to your travel insurance for medical expenses too on the Nurbugring of course, so if you are admitted to a German hospital after an accident on the Nurburgring, expect to have to hand over your credit card – and maybe to face having to extend your morgage by quite a few years t pay the credit card bill off too.

Does your breakdown cover work for Europe and does it cover accidental damage as well as mechanical breakdown? Are you also covered if you get injured or ill and so cannot ride your (rideable) bike home?

This is another variable provision of insurance.  All Carol Nash’s standard bike policies cover breakdown and accident recovery in Europe.  Likewise if you pay Aire Valley the extra  £60 for their European cover it provides for both situations, which is what you need.

But you may already have European breakdown cover for the bike anyway, as I do on my family’s breakdown cover with Britannia Rescue for the car, so I don’t need to spend the extra £60, my standard Goldspan Policy plus the Britannia cover does the trick.

And it covers recovery of the bike to UK if I cannot ride it because I get ill as well as injured, even if the bike is undamaged and wasn’t involved.

The point to be made, yet again, is that you can’t take the cover for granted, you need to check – and before you go, not by the roadside when you are picking up the pieces.

Are you covered for medical costs in case of illness or injury to you and/or pillion passengerand are there any restrictions or exclusions because of the type of riding you will be doing?

This is the biggie. If you have to pay to get your bike recovered back to UK it would hurt but you could probably pay for it – maybe £1,000 or thereabouts.  But what about a bill for tens of thousands of pounds in ambulance charges and hospitall fees, what then?

While overlap between bike and breakdown insurance may provide what you need in way of both to tour in Europe, neither type of policy will ever provide cover for medical expenses.  Of course if you get injured in an accident which is someon else’s fault you will probably, eventually, be able to recover your medical expenses from the guilty party, but you will still probably have to fork out in the short term.  And the problem is that hospital bills can, admittedly in rare and fairly extreme circumstances,  rack up huge bills.

The rider who was killed in an accident in Germany a few years ago was in intensive care for three weeks before he died and fortunately he was insured and the insurer took care of the hospital bills directly and would presumably have organised and paid for getting himback to UK  if he had survived.  Goodness knows what would have happened if he hadn’t been insured.

Within the EU we UK taxpayers (and even non-taxpayers who are UK Residents) are entitled to the same free health provision across the whole of the EU on the same basis as ciizens of those Countries in which we travel. Unfortunately while this means that ciizen of other EU Counries cn come to UK and expect to be treated free by the NHS, it doesn’t necessarily work the other way around.  We only get whatever they get, which turn out to be not very much.  What they have to pay for we have to pay for.

So while you must obtain and take with you a valid European Health card with you (your insurers will require it because it will help to minimise their costs in the event of a claim) it does not provide sufficient cover to protect you from the risk of some really big hospital bills.  And because Wingers are often ‘of mature years’, there are risks of heart attacks and Strokes to be considered too, it’s not just biking accidents.

Travel insurance which provides medical expenses cover is therefore essential, and therein lies another substantial insurance pitfall.  Travel insurance for medical condition almost excludes “pre-existing conditions” and anyting arising as a consequence of them.  For several years I was travvelling to the States relying on travel insurance advertised in Rotary Club magazines as suitable for Rotarians who, as a bunch, are even older and less healthy than Wingers.  I had been taking tablets for raised blood pressure for some time; my blood presure was stable and well controlled.  But when I got around to asking i was told that simply because I had raised blood presure, no matter how well controlled, any claim i might make in th event of a heart attack or stroke would be repudiated, because these conditions would be regarded as linked to the blood pressure problem.  I hanged insurers at once and ever since then I have checked the “pre-existing conditions” exclusions on travel insurance very carefully.

Travel policies often ask you to check before your travel, every time, that you can make their “health declaration”, failing which you must ring up for special clearance or special terms, or risk not being covered.  This is either a list of medical conditions, either those which can be ignored or those which you have to tell them about.  There is no way of ducking the obligation to take this seriously, because otherwise your premium will be wasted and your insurance cover invalid. Age restrictions creep in too; it can be very difficult to get affordable travel insurance at all. One family friend of ours has been refused travel cover since he was discovered to have hardened coronary arteries and another quoted 310,00 premium for a one week holiday in the Canaries.  Eventually, unless you stay remarkably healthy, you may find yourself force either to go without effective travel insurance (at least for medical expenses) or not go abroad at all.

Travel insurance also frequently carries exclusions for adventuous or especially risky activities. The travel policies sold by the holiday industry often exclude motorcycling, either altogether or using bikes over 125cc.  They might just realise that a GoldWing is over 125cc if you make a claim.

Last year i was relying on an annual  travel policy which came free with a bank account.  The health side was OK (my blood pressure was an acceptable condition for that particular policy) but they excluded a list of “activities” which included motorcycling using abkie over 125cc.  When I rang to ask whether touring on a GoldWing would fall into this category of exclusion I explained that the motorcycle would be my means of transport on a touring holiday.  The girl I was speaking to, who was of course a call taker rather than an xpert insurance underwriter, said that I was OK because it was holiday activities (such as hiring a bike to go riding once you’re abroad) which they were trying to exclude. I took this at face value and relied on the insurance, but I fear there probably would have been an attempt to repudiate a claim if I had had to make a big one.

I changed travel insurers again recently and I checked before I took this one up (because of previous experience) whether my tow pre-existing medical conditions (blood pressure and arthritis) would be excluded – and I was told they wouldn’t.  When the policy arrived I checked again and found I had to telephone a special number (every time I go abroad) to check whether the cover still holds.  It turns out that for my next trip abroad my blood pressure wil be covered but my arthritis won’t – because I started taking some tablets for arthritis within the past six months.  Under this policy every time you change the nature or dose of any of your medication they exclude cover for the relevant medical condition, even if the dose is reduced or your stop taking it altogether!

Having been at risk of having a travel claim repudiated twice now, and once over a period of several years without realising it, I’m now pretty careful about checking that my travel insurance really does cover me.  You do end up thinking that the whle business of travel insurance is a bit of a rip off, because they seem to grab every little opportunity to exclude cover.  And of course if you fail to declare something you are handing them an opportunity to repudiate any claim on the policy – and you can be sure that if there is a substantial claim they will insist of having a look at your GP’s medical records of you, to see if there is anything you haven’t declared.

Exclusions of motorcycling activities in travel policies are relatively easy to get around because the travel policies sold by both Aire Valley and Carol Nash (and also MAG and BMF policies) all cover motorcycling properly. Carol Nash’s Travel Policy even has special inclusions for bikers: it covers helmets, leathers and up to £250 for pannier contents.

Fraudulent Claims

The background to the care which insurers take with exclusions and careful checking before they pay out is of course that they have experienced fraudulent claims – and travel insurance is particularly prone to fraudulent claims.  Before the days of computer records and cooperation between insurance companies to detect fraudsters, it was difficult to check whether an individual had a track record of making claims for lost cameras or luggage.  Of course people are less likely to claim hospital bills without actually having been in hospital, but even that is subject to fraud these days with people travelling abroad specifically for surgery and other treatment.

So if you make a claim on a travel insurance policy you should not expect it to go through without question and even if you change insurer each year if you build up a track record of making claims they will know about it.  They will ask for proof whenever they reasonably can (so you’re expected to report thefts to the local police and get a crime number for example) and they may well subject you to quite a long and repetitive telephone enquiry about your claim – to see if your story holds up to persistent questionning.

Happily however, after years of getting tougher and tougher in their approach to checking and cross-checking claims before paying out, insurance companies are realising that giving every claimant a grilling just because some of them try to cheat is counterproductive. A contact in a large insurance company told me recently that they had discovered that about 70% of what they thought they were saving (by using a challenging approach to claims) was lost in renewal premiums the following year – the decent folk who were making a genuine claim resented being treated with obvious (and from their viewpoint time-wasting) suspicion, so they vote with their feet.

Hopefully therefore the pendulum is swinging back again and insurers do realise that they have to take care not to offend honest folk as well as catch out the fraudsters.

And for injury claims, for example a biker having an accident and ending up in hospital, insurers do operate a supportive system to pay your hospital and other bills without adding to your difficulties and they will try to be helpful, for example by organising your repatriation to UK should that be necessary.

Summary

So the message about insurance for a European bike tour is check your cover carefully well before you go, not just the night before you set off for the ferry.

Tell your bike insurer in advance when and where you’re going.

Check that your breakdown cover will bring your bike home if you are too injured or sick to ride it, if not take out extra insurance which does.

And don’t rely on ordinary travel insurance to cover touring on a GoldWing without checking carefully for motorcycling exclusions.

Likewise if you have (or have had) any substantial medical conditions, don’t fail to check whether any of those will invoke an important exclusion in your travel cover because it counts as a pre-exiting condition.