Travel insurance 'musts'

[clam]

Just about to renew. Need family, world-wide with winter sports cover (incl. a pre-exisiting condition for me having broken my leg last year, although not whilst on holiday).
What are the non-negotiables for others? What's a reasonable excess? What general ailments would you regard as needing declaring? Do you always have personal belongings cover (if, for instance it's covered on your home insurance) and so forth?

If I had a pre existing condition after having broken my leg I would definitely tell them about that.
We never add personal belongings cover - it's too expensive and there are always excesses and we don't take anything that we couldn't replace.
For us the reason for insurance is health/medical usually.

For us it's continual cover after any accident. I want to know I am covered for any physio/ ops etc for as many years as necessary

Full cover for whole family to either stay in country with injured person, or all fly back with them.

Oh, I've absolutely told them about the broken leg. My current providers won't cover it ever again, although other companies don't count it as a pre-existing condition. Last year, I just took out extra one-off cover just for me, but I thought I'd tidy it all up for renewal and have it all under one policy.
I have been quite shocked, however, by the number of people in RL who've dismissed even declaring such things when I've mentioned it. I presume they've never yet had to claim and been rejected!

Artandco do you pay a much higher premium for that?

Re: personal belongings, it was pointed out to me a year or two back, just how lucrative to a burglar the average holiday villa is, in terms of ipads, phones, laptops, cameras and so forth that people take with them. I was about to dismiss it, when I took a look round our ski apartment at the time and realised we'd stand to lose a fortune if we were broken into.

I particularly check:
Theft from parked car
Exactly which sports activities are included, in the last few years we have done kayaking, rafting, high ropes, sea kayaking, skiing, ski races (done by the kids at the end of the week's lessons) and summer tobogganing. All of these are covered by some suppliers and not others.
Whether to take insurer's coverage of posessions, money etc or use my house insurance.
That's on top of the usual stuff.

Not really. We paid £132 last time a few months back. That covers myself, dh, and x2 children for the year. Worldwide cover, skiing/ dangerous sports. Good compensation for any missed/ delayed/ cancelled flights, good medical care, covers belongings up to High amount etc etc. we fly at least once a month so worth every penny.

Clam - sure, but have you added up how much you spend insuring these items? I haven't but my gut feeling is that it just isn't worth it considering depreciation and excess.

We usually take out the ski-hire company's equipment insurance, but found out last year (when we might have had to claim, but didn't need to in the end) that nothing is covered if it was unattended when stolen. Which is kind of the main way something would get stolen, really.
Mind you, it was useful when ds dropped his ski pole from a lift and dh's ski fell off his foot from a high chairlift.

Artandco - how many days skiing does that include and how many times a year can you go skiing with that insurance?

Well, some of those items might be covered under a household policy, but it would cost a fair bit to replace an ipad/laptop. Not to mention an iphone or equivalent that was on contract.

Unlimited times skiing or whatever. Only thing is max 31 days in one place. But you could leave for one day and return and the 31 days would start again if you really wanted

Yes to ski racing and also off piste.
Scuba? PADI qualified only or try dives.

You can (and should) have personal possessions cover on household insurance which covers them away from the home. Not much point in duplicating it. My main priority is repatriation for ongoing medical treatment or in the event of death.

Artandco - what company is that with - it seems a good price. We'll need to get one (after his holiday and registering with the gp!) (see my other thread)

Direct travel, call for best deal.

Check for cover on "ash cloud" type incidents. We were left out of pocket when we got stranded for a week and our insurance didn't cover us.