Life Assurance

[Annie Hanley]

Hi all,

We have decided to extend our life assurance cover.

All was OK until we declared our diving. We then got an additional questionnaire to fill in, and they have more than doubled our premiums as a result.

So the question is, have any of you any recommendations for life assurance policies / companies, which have a more reasonable assessment of the risks associated with our sport?

Thanks for your help

Annie

[edward haynes]

Hi Annie

Took out a new mortgage earlier this year with Norwick Union, I also had to fill in a diving questionnaire. The company contacted me to ask if I dived on air mixtures other than air, which I don't, no loading of premium.

I asked, why the question? It seems they have become aware of a higher incidence of claims from divers diving to technical (e.g. TDI or IANTD) qualifications, outside the guidance of their 'declared' diving organisation, hence the higher premium. At least you are covered; those who haven't declared their technical diving have a good change of not being.

Edward

[Beanie]

That is just insane

When are people going to realise that mixed gas diving if far safer than air diving

Just because some of use gases other than air dosn't mean we dive deeper push our limits

In fact most 'technical' divers take far more care over their diving than 'sports' divers

In fact even the coronor in a recent case called for more helium to be used to offset narcosis
<a href="http://www.divernet.com/news/stories/inquest180703.shtml" >http://www.divernet.com/news/stories/inquest180703.shtml</a>

also given that a DAN study has just released that Most divers with bends diving within no-decompression limits
<a href="http://www.divernet.com/news/stories/DAN080803.shtml" >http://www.divernet.com/news/stories/DAN080803.shtml</a>

Isn't it about time we educated the non-diving world on what we really do!?

[edward haynes]

Hi Bennie

It's not whether people use mixed gasses or not, it's people not telling there 'Life insurance' company(ies).

With the losses they have suffered on the stock market they are looking for ways to recover, even pennies.

I have spoken to brokers who tell me some companies are now going to ask to see the dive Risk Assessment(s) before accepting a claim.

More and more like the US I'm afraid.

Edward

PS vis 10m and 13'c @ 25m yesterday.

[Beanie]

As the BSAC is the "Governing Body for Sport Diving" shouldn't they be doing something to help divers with this matter.

Or is time for an insurance education program simliar to the excess baggage one?

[Steve Walker]

As the BSAC is the "Governing Body for Sport Diving" shouldn't they be doing something to help divers with this matter.

Or is time for an insurance education program simliar to the excess baggage one?

Think you may as well ask BSAC to resolve the "........" conflict (insert whichever war is in the news today)
Insurance companies are a bunch of "..." insert expletive of choice. You think this is a bad situation? You wait till they've got the go ahead to screen your DNA for heritable diseases or predisposing factors before dishing out cover...

[Andrew Goldby]

Ho ho - but a bit harsh I fear;-)

I checked with my broker today ... their response:
"I have checked the life assurance policy and there are no restrictions relating to any leisure activity being undertaken at the time of death.

So you can Scuba away and if the worst happens, provided that you have nominated her, your wife will benefit"

This is a pension policy though and not specifically mortgage cover.

Edward is right of course ... the problem is that some companies ask about diving and then you need to nominate an agency from a list of choices. If you choose BSAC and then dive outside their guidelines/recommendations then you are asking for your claim to be refused.

Not sure why mixed gas would be frowned upon though - since BSAC now approve of this (down to 70m, pO2&lt;1.4, gases&lt;80% etc).

Slightly confused here as Edward stated:
"I asked, why the question? It seems they have become aware of a higher incidence of claims from divers diving to technical (e.g. TDI or IANTD) qualifications, outside the guidance of their 'declared' diving organisation, hence the higher premium. At least you are covered; those who haven't declared their technical diving have a good change of not being."

Since BSAC approves of mixed gas diving I can only assume that these "outside the guidance" cases are CCRs&gt;40m or 100%O2.

Edward - which brokers did you contact?
Since I work in insurance I would be quite happy to do a bit of legwork for you ;-)

[Nigel Hewitt]

I checked with my broker today ... their response:
"I have checked the life assurance policy and there are no restrictions relating to any leisure activity being undertaken at the time of death.

Any? Grief. I wish I'd had your policy for all those years I had *competitive motorsport* written on my policies. When I took up diving I wondered if I was going to get loaded for that too but the agent said No. Apparently any time I spent diving I wasn't racing a motorbike so they were less at risk.

nigelH

[Robert McLaughlin]

Hi all,

We have decided to extend our life assurance cover.

All was OK until we declared our diving. We then got an additional questionnaire to fill in, and they have more than doubled our premiums as a result.

So the question is, have any of you any recommendations for life assurance policies / companies, which have a more reasonable assessment of the risks associated with our sport?

Thanks for your help

Annie

Hi Annie

I got ?100,000 of extra cover and declaered my diving to 30 mtrs, I never got loaded at all, check out Scottish Amiciable

Rab

[stu]

:=Hi all,
:=
:=We have decided to extend our life assurance cover.
:=
:=All was OK until we declared our diving. We then got an additional questionnaire to fill in, and they have more than doubled our premiums as a result.
:=
:=So the question is, have any of you any recommendations for life assurance policies / companies, which have a more reasonable assessment of the risks associated with our sport?
:=
:=Thanks for your help
:=
:=Annie

Hi Annie

I got ?100,000 of extra cover and declaered my diving to 30 mtrs, I never got loaded at all, check out Scottish Amiciable

Rab

Snap, I decalared my diving to 35 meters and nitrox use to scottish amic. and didn't get loaded. However, haven't told them yet about the trimix !!!!!

Stu.

[Annie Hanley]

So define "technical".

I use Nitrox, but with an air computer and on an air table. I use twins, but only because my independent twin sevens are lighter and more evenly balanced than a single ten and pony.

I don't do technical diving. I don?t claim to be a technical diver. All the diving I do is within the BSAC Safe Diving Practices for sports diving. I dive well within my training and qualification.

If the BSAC figure of 2 million sport dives done in this country each year is correct, and somewhere in the region of 400 to 450 incidents per year are reported (2002 NDC Diving Incidents Report), of which only 14 were fatalities, then we are a very safe sport. (I can?t calculate the actual risk, but I know it?s quite small.) So why are we being penalised?

I agree with Beanie (for once!). Is it not time that the BSAC ensured that Insurance companies were made aware of the relative safety of our sport? If BSAC is ?the UK governing body for the sport of underwater swimming?, then BSAC has the voice that individual divers such as myself have not.

Annie

[Annie Hanley]

Thanks for this.

I had to admit to diving to 50m which might be what upset them, although it is still within my Advanced Diver qualification.

Also, talking to another broker this week, they don?t like people who do a lot of diving. So as an instructor doing 70+ dives a year I am more of a risk than someone who only dives 10 times a year, during their holiday??? Discuss!

Annie

[stu]

Thanks for this.

I had to admit to diving to 50m which might be what upset them, although it is still within my Advanced Diver qualification.

Also, talking to another broker this week, they don?t like people who do a lot of diving. So as an instructor doing 70+ dives a year I am more of a risk than someone who only dives 10 times a year, during their holiday??? Discuss!

Annie

I didn't quite admit the true number of dives I do a year. I told them the number of dive trips, not the number of dives. So it was roughly half the true number. Kinda worked on the assumption that is I had an accident it would be hard for them to check the exact number of dives I actually do a year.

I suppose they put the statisics to work, and yep statistically you probably are more of a risk at 70 dives per year than 10.

Stu