Info for the vacations

Winter vacation: What insurance do you need?

Even if not all accidents can be avoided through caution or suitable equipment, at least the financial damage can be reduced.

(Bild: cppzone - stock.adobe.com)

Skiing, ski touring, cross-country skiing or tobogganing - for thousands of winter sports enthusiasts, fun on the slopes ends in hospital every year. Even if not all accidents can be avoided through caution or suitable equipment, at least the financial damage can be reduced with the right insurance cover. 

Gabi Kreindl, insurance expert at the Association for Consumer Information (VKI), explains which insurance policies make sense and which you can do without.

• Liability insurance is most important: If you cause an accident while skiing, tobogganing or ice skating, you may have to pay for someone's loss of earnings. This can be a financial threat to your livelihood. This is why personal liability insurance is one of the most important insurance products you should have, regardless of whether you are on a winter vacation.

"In Austria, personal liability insurance is generally included in household insurance and usually covers the whole family," explains Gabi Kreindl. "It is important that the sum insured is set as high as possible. 1.5 million euros is the lower limit."

• Private accident insurance advisable: In addition to liability insurance, the expert advises taking out private accident insurance to cover permanent damage after an accident, for example. "In this case, too, it is very important that the entire family is covered and that the sum insured is correspondingly high, especially in the event of severe disability," emphasizes Kreindl. "However, private accident insurance is also an insurance policy that should be taken out in general and not just for a vacation."

• Who pays for helicopter operations? Unlike transporting an injured person to the valley, transportation from the mountain to the valley is not covered by statutory health insurance in the case of a helicopter mission. It is worth taking out insurance to cover this damage. This can be provided by private accident insurance, credit card insurance, but also by membership of a drivers' club or an alpine club.

• Trip cancellation insurance for high travel costs: In certain situations, trip cancellation insurance can be worthwhile. For package tours, it is usually offered at the time of booking. "For families with trips booked well in advance, this can make perfect sense. After all, if a child falls ill, the whole family is usually unable to go on vacation." In general, it may also be worth considering taking out annual travel insurance for people who travel several times a year.

• Ski insurance is dispensable: "The theft of skis is annoying, but not life-threatening. In our opinion, insurance for skis, snowboards or other sports equipment is therefore unnecessary," explains the expert. Apart from the low amount of damage, the laborious processing also tends to speak against it; the theft must be reported. You also don't get reimbursed for the new purchase; there is always a deductible.

"In general, we recommend only taking out insurance for claims that could represent an existential burden," concludes the VKI.