Insurance – Lots of It

After a day of pawing through the fine print of our existing insurance policies and giving myself a series of mahoossive headaches, I discovered that our normal health and car insurance essentially won’t cover us for our trip: no offroading, no leaving neighbouring countries, no voluntary assumption of risk (risk, what risk?), no gravel tracks, no sand roads: no, no, no, don’t go, go, go. As every border crossing requires evidence of both forms of insurance, I needed to find a solution.

TuffStuff (www.tuffstuff.co.za) have insured the 4×4, the roof rack and it’s contents, and the fridge, laptops, cameras, iPods, camping gear against damage and theft – as well as offering emergency air evacuation, hospital cover, roadside/breakdown assistance and airborne breakdown assistance ANYWHERE south of the African equator. They’ll even insure us against engine water submersion damage (woop! I can use the snorkel) and fly in spare parts if we need them. All this for the princely sum of R900/month ($150) – roughly equivalent to the cost of a ticket to a Toronto Maple Leafs game or a few Starbucks skinny mocha lattes. The challenge comes in Uganda, through which the equator runs – though I expect there’ll be a helpful thick white line running through the countryside to alert us before we errantly cross into the northern hemisphere.

Regent Insurance (bought through the South African AA) have provided healthcare insurance for the entire family for 6 months, including air evacuations, hospitalizations, GP consultations for (R3000) $500 – a sixth of the price of our South African healthcare insurance, which is about a quarter of the price again of US healthcare insurance.

I ain’t no actuary but to my thinking this either proves that this trip isn’t as risk-ridden as we think it is going to be – or the insurers don’t pay claims.

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