Travel insurance and breakdown cover for motorcycle touring abroad
Three kinds of cover matter on a motorcycle tour from the UK: your bike insurance, travel insurance and breakdown cover. Plenty of policies quietly leave motorcycles out. This is what to check before you buy, so the cover works on the day you need it.
We are not an insurer or a broker and this is not advice on any particular policy. Read the policy wording, and ask the provider in writing if anything is unclear.
Travel insurance
Travel insurance pays for medical treatment, getting you home and cancelled plans. GOV.UK's foreign travel insurance guidance explains why you need it. For a motorcycle trip, check:
- Motorcycling is covered. Many policies exclude it, or cover it only up to a set engine size. Find the limit and compare it with your bike.
- You meet its conditions. Policies often require a full licence for the bike you ride, a helmet, and that you keep to local law.
- Pillions are covered, if you carry one.
- Every country on the route is covered, including any you only pass through, for every day of the trip from the crossing out to the crossing home.
- Riding off tarmac and track days. Gravel roads, green lanes and public sessions on a circuit such as the Nordschleife are often excluded.
- Medical and repatriation limits are high enough. A GHIC gives state healthcare in some countries, but GOV.UK says it is not a replacement for travel insurance.
- Pre-existing conditions are declared, or the policy may not pay out.
European breakdown cover
UK breakdown cover often stops at the coast. European cover is usually sold separately, by trip or by year. Check:
- It covers motorcycles. Some European policies are for cars and vans only.
- Recovery to the UK if the bike cannot be fixed abroad, and whether there is a limit on the bike's value or age.
- Every country on the route, and how many days a single trip can last.
- What happens to you while the bike is off the road: a hotel, a hire vehicle or travel home for the rider and pillion, and the limits on each.
- Where they will come out. Ask about mountain passes, unpaved roads and remote areas, which some policies treat differently.
- Each bike in a group needs its own cover. One rider's policy does not cover another rider's bike.
Bike insurance abroad
Your UK motorcycle insurance is the cover the law requires. GOV.UK explains what your motor insurance covers abroad. Before you go:
- Ask your insurer whether your full cover applies abroad, or only the legal minimum, and for how many days a trip.
- Ask whether you need a green card for any country on the route, and carry proof of insurance with you.
- Tell your insurer about any changes, such as luggage, a pillion or a different main rider.
Everything else for the trip
The tour planner builds a paperwork checklist for every country on your route, from GOV.UK, that each rider in the group can tick off. Our official pages to check before riding in Europe cover licences, permits and vehicle documents, and the ferry and tunnel crossings page lists every operator that takes motorcycles.