Ski instructor course insurance

Each year thousands of would be ski and snowboard instructors head abroad to take part in courses designed to equip them with the skills and qualifications required to work in a ski school.

Ski instructor courses are intensive in nature and  as a consequence they are not cheap, as often the "all inclusive" price include flights, accommodation, transfers, tuition and room and board. In most cases the organizers refund policy due to medical injury will not cover pre paid course fees, therefore you need to ensure that you have a ski instructor course insurance which has been specifically designed for such an eventuality and provides good cover for courses fees pre-travel and during the stay. Our Ski Instructor Course Insurance policies cover a variety of options including for course fees up to £10k.

The most important question to be asked?

In 90% of all cases when talking to clients on the phone, they have never asked the course organizer abroad the critical question regarding the companies refund policy due to cancellation prior to the course starting or during the course because of a medical issue which causes them to drop out.

Now in our experience, most, if not all of these ski instructor course providers will  expect you to obtain travel insurance because they will not provide any form of refund once your final balance has been paid, so its important to understand what you need.

Will a regular ski insurance policy do?

Most ski insurance polcies will cover you for pre booked accommodation, flights, etc. in the event of cancellation pre departure or in the event of you being injured and being repatriated back to the UK. They will not cover pre paid course fees unless agreed in advance so taking out the wrong type of policy could result in you being seriously out of pocket. 

Why do you need extra cover?

The reason you need extra cover is easy to understand. Ski Instructor course are full time and trainees spend significant time on the mountain and this extra risk needs to be factored in. The courses are also very expensive and only a mild injury could be sufficient for a trainee to withdraw from the course, which results in a subsequent claim.

Also courses will cover  a wide range of activities not normally covered by a standard policy, including avalanche training, race training, terrain parks etc and all of these activities present a higher potential risk to the insurer.

When getting a quote, How do I choose the right level of policy to cover my course fees

When doing a quote you will be asked your travel dates and your age. Everything is else in the booking engine is preset for you.Your results page will show you those policies that are suitable for your journey. The default minimum level of cover is £2,000 however you can increase this by using the Policy fine tune functionality which is on the left hand side of your results page and which asks " Whats the total course cost?" Choose a figure high enough to cover yourself for the full cost of your trip including flights, accommodation, course fees and transfers as you dont want to be out of picket in the event that you have to cancel your course before your trip starts or during the ski instructors course itself.

Photo: Trysil Under licence.