Ski Instructor Course Travel Insurance | Ski Insurance
Cover for BASI, ISIA and other instructor courses worldwide, from Level 1 through to advanced. Including cover for your course fees. Get an instructor course quote Start your quote → …
Cover for BASI, ISIA and other instructor courses worldwide, from Level 1 through to advanced.
Including cover for your course fees.
Get an instructor course quote
Select Activity Pack 2, 3 or 4 and tick the Study Abroad extension.
Or call 0800 043 0020
This is a P J Hayman Longstay policy, arranged through us.
Everything on this page describes that policy.
- Your course fees, and how to cover all of them
- Why a standard ski policy will not do it
- Which activity pack
- Working as an instructor afterwards
- When people do the course
- Ski instructor course insurance FAQs
Your course fees, and how to cover all of them
Instructor courses run from five to fourteen weeks and cost anywhere between £5,000 and £15,000.
Break a leg in week two and you cannot finish the course.
You can recover the course fees you have not used.
Cancel before you travel and the prepaid fees are covered in full.
Come home early once the course has started and it is pro-rata on what is left.
Deposits and contracted course fees
You are contracted for the whole course fee, not just the deposit you have paid.
Put down £4,000 on a £10,000 course and you still owe the provider the remaining £6,000.
So insure the full cost of the course, not the amount you have handed over so far.
Insuring the deposit leaves you owing the balance with nothing to claim against it.
How to cover a course of any size
Two parts, and between them they cover the whole fee.
- Study Abroad extension — covers up to £6,000 of prepaid course fees
- Top Up Cancellation — covers the balance, up to £50,000
Worked example — a £10,000 course:
- Longstay policy with the Study Abroad extension — covers £6,000 of the fees
- Top Up Cancellation for the remaining £4,000
- Total course fees covered: £10,000
So it is two policies above £6,000.
If the course fees are £6,000 or under, you need the Longstay policy with Study Abroad added and nothing else.
Above £6,000, you add the top-up policy for the balance.
When it pays
Cancellation, before you go — you or a close relative becomes ill, is injured or dies, and you cannot travel.
Prepaid fees you cannot recover from anywhere else are covered in full.
Once you are out there — you are injured or taken ill and cannot finish.
You get a pro-rata refund of the fees you have not used — the part of the course you did not get.
It also pays if you are called for jury service or as a witness, if you are in the armed forces or emergency services and your leave is withdrawn, or if the FCDO advises against travel to within 30 miles of where you are going.
There is a £100 excess on a course fees claim.
When it does not
It will not pay if you fail the course, change your mind, cannot afford to go, or did not tell us about an existing medical condition.
Why a standard ski policy will not do it
Four reasons, and the first is the one that matters.
- Course fees. A standard winter sports policy has no mechanism to cover £5,000 to £15,000 of tuition. Curtailment on a normal policy refunds the unused part of your holiday, not your course.
- You will not be on piste all day. A standard policy covers recreational skiing on piste. On a course you may learn to teach in every genre, and you will spend a good part of it off piste, in intensive training and doing avalanche awareness.
- You are learning to teach people who cannot ski, and you are skiing in a group of other people who are also learning to teach.
- The volume. These courses are relentless. On the hill by nine, off it at five, six days a week, for weeks.
Which activity pack
Activity Pack 2. Ski instructing courses sit there, alongside skiing, snowboarding and off piste with a guide or within resort boundaries.
Tick Study Abroad as well, or the course fees are not covered.
If you are doing more than the course, the pack has to reach it:
- Ski terrain park and heliskiing are Pack 3
- Off piste without a guide, ski touring and backcountry are Pack 4
Take the pack that covers everything you will do, not just the course.
Working as an instructor afterwards
This is the question we are asked most, so here it is plainly.
The course is covered.
Working as a paid instructor afterwards is not.
That should be covered by your employer.
Pack 2 covers ski resort occupations — chalet work, bar work, resort jobs — but ski instructing is specifically carved out of them.
If you pass and then take paid instructing work for the rest of the season, that work needs cover from your employer.
Ask the ski school what they hold before you start.
What about skiing on my days off?
Your own skiing is covered in the normal way, whether you are working or not.
When people do the course
As part of a gap year. Finished school, not ready for university, and you like skiing.
It is a good use of a winter.
Alongside a season. Do the course early, then work the rest of the winter in resort.
As a career. Instructing properly, and the qualification is the entry ticket.
Ski instructor course insurance FAQs
Is liability cover included?
Personal liability is on the policy in the normal way, for your own skiing.
It does not cover you for claims arising from teaching people.
That is professional liability and it comes from the ski school or course provider, not from a travel policy.
My employer provides liability cover for instructing. Do I still need this?
Yes, they are different things.
Employer cover deals with your instructing work.
This policy deals with you — your medical treatment, your repatriation, your baggage and your own skiing on days off.
Neither replaces the other.
I am already out in resort. Can I still get cover?
Yes, but through a different provider.
Call us on 0800 043 0020.
Can I extend the policy to cover recreational skiing to the end of the season?
Yes, if you buy the whole period as one trip from the outset.
Give us the full dates — course and the rest of the winter — and it is one policy.
What else does the policy cover besides the fees?
It is a full travel policy: emergency medical and repatriation, baggage, personal money, cancellation, curtailment, personal liability and legal expenses, with gadget cover on the Longstay and Longstay Plus schemes.
It covers you on and off the snow.
See ski season insurance for the full summary of cover.
Am I covered training on my own before the course starts?
Your own skiing is covered in the normal way, at the level on your certificate.
Does the policy cover my course fees?
Yes, with the Study Abroad extension, up to £6,000.
Above that, Top Up Cancellation covers the balance to £50,000.
What happens if I break my leg during the course?
Your medical treatment is covered, and you get a pro-rata refund of the course fees you have not used.
I have only paid a deposit. What do I insure?
The full cost of the course.
You are contracted for the whole fee once you book, so a deposit-sized policy leaves you owing the balance with nothing to claim against.
My course costs more than £6,000. Am I still covered?
Yes.
Study Abroad covers the first £6,000 and Top Up Cancellation covers the rest, up to £50,000.
Why do you need to know what the course cost?
To set the top-up.
Course fees above £6,000 need the additional cover, and we cannot size it without the figure.
Does standard winter sports insurance cover a ski instructor course?
No.
It has no mechanism for course fees, and a course is a higher activity category than recreational skiing.
Am I covered to work as a ski instructor after the course?
No.
The course is covered, paid instructing is not — it is specifically excluded from the resort occupations in Pack 2.
Work cover for instructing comes from your employer.
Am I covered for my own skiing while I am out there?
Yes, on days off and around the course, in the normal way.
Does it cover teaching as part of the course?
Yes.
Teaching under supervision as part of the training is part of the course.
Which activity pack do I need?
Pack 2, plus Study Abroad for the fees.
Pack 3 if you are riding the park or heliskiing, Pack 4 for off piste without a guide or ski touring.
Does it cover off piste during the course?
Pack 2 covers off piste with a guide or instructor, which is how a course skis it.
Off piste without a guide in your own time is Pack 4.
Does it cover snowboard instructor courses?
Yes, on the same basis.
Can I add the course to a policy I already hold?
No.
A standard winter sports policy cannot be extended to a course — it is a different product.
Can I cover the course and a season on one policy?
Yes, if the whole period is one trip.
Tell us the full dates when you quote.
Is there a minimum age?
Call us.
Course providers set their own minimums and the policy has its own age bands.
Can I get it with a pre-existing medical condition?
Yes.
A Longstay policy has its own medical screening, so conditions are declared and assessed at the point of quote.
Get a quote
Get an instructor course quote
Select Activity Pack 2, 3 or 4 and tick the Study Abroad extension.
Or call 0800 043 0020
Have the course cost to hand, so we can size the top-up cover if you need it.