Life Insurance-UK & US

[marcorenaldo 0]

Being a Brit who currently works and who learned to skydive in the US, it suddenly occurred to me that as a UK homeowner that my life insurance policy for my mortgage although it covers nasty diseases, probably does not include skydiving accidents?
Does anyone have any solutions or advice. Does this mean when i tell my insurance company of my new habit that they will produce a long "sh*tty" stick and push me as far away as possible?
Anyone have any experience of such matters??.....

The planet is yours, the planet is ours, the planet is red.

[BoostedXT 0]

I dont have anything really helpful to add, but from my exceperience when I called to get some they asked....."Do you scubadive or skydive?"....Yes.....sorry we cant help you.

Joe

For long as you live and high you fly and smiles you'll give and tears you'll cry and all that you touch and all that you see is all your life will ever be.
Pedro Offers you his Protection.

[lifewithoutanet 0]

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Does this mean when i tell my insurance company of my new habit that they will produce a long "sh*tty" stick and push me as far away as possible?

They'll probably not just push you away...they'll probably drop you altogether. Not sure how they can do this, as they're supposed to base their policy terms on actuarial data (and by this, skydiving is not as risky as driving to work). The insurance companies can somehow do this for skydivers, SCUBA divers and, I believe, private pilots. Being two of the three, I just choose not to tell my life insurance company what I do when I'm not decaying in my office.
One day I'll be forced to do a little more research on this matter, but until I meet and impregnate my wife, it's just me and the pups to worry about, so the life insurance thing doesn't much factor in.

How do those of you with a family (dependents) handle this, or do you handle it at all?

-C.

[Quincy 0]

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They'll probably not just push you away...they'll probably drop you altogether.

Don't bet on it. I just incresded my coverage, and had my premium cut, with the insurance company knowing about skydiving. They'll ask a lot more questions, which you should certainly expect, but don't assume that just because you jump, you'll get no coverage or unaffordable coverage. When the agent submitted the preliminary application for a verbal quote, the initial response from the underwriters was for a pretty good pop in the premium because 1.) skydiving meant you were a higher risk, and 2.) I was increasing the coverage. He suggested that we actually submit the formal application and see what happened. If I didn't like the final quote, no obligation. The company actually wrote the policy at a better rate than I ever expected.

Point is, don't assume you can't get coverage. Give it a shot.

Quincy

[Brian425 0]

Tell your insurance company. If something bad was to happen to you skydiving, they will not pay. It's worth the extra money to have a policy that will actually cover you.

I ride a motorcycle, skydive and smoke cigarettes. I told my insurance company about eveything in writing. I had it noted in my policy so they can never deny my payment if something happens. I pay insurance for my family, not for me. I do not want to leave them in a bad spot if I die or get injured. Pay the extra and don't worry about it. It's only money.

The only time you should look down on someone is when you are offering them your hand.

[maxmadmax 8]

Insurance companies are damned odd.

One company would insure me if I made less than 100 jumps a year. Hell, l spend 10 days at WFFC and you have 100 jumps. I told them to go to hell.

Another company just wanted to know if I was current and kept current. So I have a 250K - 20 year term for $51 per month.

USPA offers the $100k coverage for about $45/month.

Life insurance wasn't so bad. Try and obtain disability insurance if you are self employed and skydive.....OUCH!

Blue Skys

Don't go away mad....just go away!

[tbrown 26]

I used to be a life insurance agent in California about twenty years ago, but I think most of what I knew then still holds true. First of all, a life insurance policy is a contract between you and the insurance co. So long as you're paying your premiums on time they can't go pulling a bunch of funny shit on you.

They will ask you if you participate in "dangerous" activities, i.e. sky or scuba diving, mountaineering, drag racing, hang gliding, etc. Depending on the company, they may decide to rate you, or not to sell the policy at all. But just because one company declines you doesn't mean they all will. Believe me, the top companies will generally cover you. I worked for one of the biggest and at the time all they required was USPA membership "in good standing".

The other issue you need to be aware of is INCONTESTABILITY. When you buy life insurance and they ask you all those cute questions about your lifestyle, the company has so many years, usually three years - it's actually fixed by state law - to discover whether or not you lied to them. If in fact you did lie to them, they're free to cancel your policy and return your premiums. But once the three years are up, they've had their chance. As long as you keep your premiums paid up, they're STUCK with you, no matter if you're BASE jumping off eight story buildings. In my own case, I bought a policy about 10 years ago, in the middle of a 22 year layoff. At the time I truthfully answered "no" to the risky business questions and actually did not think I'd ever be jumping again. Last year I started jumping again, so I called my agent, already knowing I'd been incontestable for the last 5 or 6 years. He wasn't real happy to hear the news (typical whuffo...), but admitted that I was damn well incontestable and they were stuck with me.

Anybody who jumps should OWN their own life insurance policy. The life insurance they might provide at your job is barely enough to plant or incinerate your ass. If you have a family, you have a serious obligation to provide for them if "shit happens".

Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

[Adriandavies 0]

I had to phone loads of brokers who all took down my details promising to phone back with a quote but very rarely did. In the end I got a mortgage protection policy from Virgin which covers my house if I am killed but doesn't cover me if I am paralysed! At the moment I can't find a better policy without paying £100's per month so if any UK based skydivers have got any better ideas I could sure do with one.

[xpug 0]

Anyone have any luck finding reasonable cover for life insurance for anything other than death?

I've just had a quote from Legal & General. The premium (for both Critical Illness and LA) jumped from £27 pcm to £120 pcm after I completed their 'dangerous activities' questionnaire. And that was only an average of 250 jumps a year, unbelievable!

I really wonder how they come to the risk assessment.

Fortunately, I've no dependents yet, but when I do marry it looks like I'll have to compromise on something - less jumping or no cover...hmmm

[Buried 0]

group policies are really good too. My work covers 2.5x my salary up to 200k then you can opt in for another 250k for .40/mth per 10k$ extra coverage. It pays out when "death occours for any reason"

Where is my fizzy-lifting drink?

[moretole 0]

Try Norwich Union, my work got a life insurance policy as key man insurance for £500k @ £41 / month. I had to fill in additional forms for Skydiving and Flying, but was surprised by how cheap the premiums were. I think I said I would be doing either 50 or 100 jumps a year.

[Channman 2]

During the first two year of a policy there is a contestability clause that gives most Insurance companies the opportunity to determine upon death the applicant did not make any false statements. If for example you said you don't smoke and in fact you do their only liable to pay the amount of insurance your monthly premiums would have payed at the smoker rate, or if killed while skydiveing they don't have to pay the death benefit, except the premium payments payed.

Most companies have a questionnaire that covers pilot, scuba diving, skydiving, racing....., the actual sport does not mean you are not insurable you just might be rated at a higher premium payment for the added risk. Flying and Scuba usually gets you rated as standard and you might not be qualified for their Perferred rate.

I've been an active pilot for over 22 years and just took up skydiving in Dec. 2004. I have 300,000 coverage for 30 year level term and my wife has 300,000 level term for 30 years and our premium is $105.00 per month.

You also can have your skydiving excluded from a policy if you request it. Therefore in the event you are killed while flying in a jump plan or hook turn into the ground sending you into the here after you can rest assured your wife, husband and or children can suffer along with you when the bill colectors come calling.

Protect your family financially, but lying on the application is not smart, your family will be the ones to suffer, not you, because your dead.

[cpoxon 0]

I received some random spam (from Interactive In vestor - I had agreed to it) that caught my eye, for Risk Placement Services who deal with special risks. Might be worth a try. No point lying to the insurance company; if you go in and you didn't tell them you jumped, they won't pay out, so either tell them and pay up or get them to exclude it. Let us know if they give you a decent quote.

Skydiving Fatalities - Cease not to learn 'til thou cease to live

[skytash 0]

I had missed your first post, hence a late reply. First off, I'm really curious on how you get on with that link cpoxon posted, as my actuaries tell me it's not worth working out how much to load the premiums for as the UK market is so small.

My own experience was that the cover under my endowment policy is still valid, I took it out before I started and called them after I started and they were happy. So I'm holding on to my endowment as a life policy rather than as an investment!

tash

Don't ever save anything for a special occasion. Being alive is a special occasion. Avril Sloe

[Groundrush99 0]

Anyone got any suggestions/advice for life insurance cover for skydivers in the UK?

I don't jump very often & after starting a family I now need to ensure that I am insured for any eventuality.

What do most skydivers do?

[dks13827 3]

in the US we can get accidental death coverage at a fair price. It doesnt cover death from an illness so that requires another policy. Good luck.