Diving and life insurance

Hello, everyone. Has your diving affected your life insurance premiums? My wife and I are in the process of looking at life insurance, and one company has told us that a single dive to more than 100' makes it impossible to be in a "preferred" rate, putting the insured in a "standard" rate.

Are there any diver-friendly companies out there that do life insurance?

Many years ago I had a life insurance from Standard Life in Germany and they didn't care as long as I didn't do commercial diving, dives below 130 ft or drift diving. The last one was odd, but I suppose they had an incident before. I think they also operate in the UK and Canada, but not in the US, though.

My insurance carrier said if I scuba dive at all, anywhere, anytime, I am Standard, not preferred.

Eric,

I have found that insurance rates can be adjusted because of diving depending upon whether you declare yourself as a professional making money from it. If you are a diving business than rates may go up. I had the same problem when I was a skydiving instructor back East but just told them that I didn't make my living from it, just some extra cash. The agent put it down as a hobby and my rates stayed the same. That goes for equipment insurance from your homeowners policy as well.

Steve

Life insurance policies are all about the fine print and exclusions.

I became a student pilot I got a 180 day exclusion

I became a flight instructor I got an exclusion, die in an airplane as an instructor and I am not covered

I became a scuba diver, I never said a word and they never asked

I had a heart attack and can't buy life insurance at any price even though it was 16 years ago.

Pretty lucky that I now find myself in a position that I no longer feel I need death/life insurance.

Save enough and build a solid portfolio of assets to make sure you never need life insurance payouts to help your dependents.

Save enough and build a solid portfolio of assets to make sure you never need life insurance payouts to help your dependents.

With an iron clad will to make sure they get it in a timely manner.

Some time ago I moved jobs and needed to supply my own disability coverage. I was offered a good policy, but only if I would sign a form that said I would be covered for anything EXCEPT scuba-related accidents. Reluctantly, I agreed. When I got the form in the mail, it said I would be covered for everything except "incompetent cervix". Resisting the urge to just sign it and send it back, I called and asked the middle-aged female customer service rep where, in relation to my penis, did they think my cervix would be located. At least I got a laugh out of the whole thing -- and they sent out a new form very quickly. I just figure if I ever have a dive accident, it needs to be a very good one and then I don't have to worry about disability insurance. They were more than happy to ignore my mountain biking and other pursuits, which at the time were far more likley, in my estimation, to result in a disabiling injury injury. But they're the risk experts. Having said this, I do recall a conversation around my life insurance policy a long time ago as to whether my diving was "outside of recreational limits", which I think they defined as 130' and I said no.

As long as you're a recreational diver, you can still get affordable life insurance. As long as you have a good agent who can act in your interests, you should be able to find reasonable term life insurance quotes. Try looking up large aggregator websites that sell life insurance online; you may find better rates and underwriting classes for divers on there because they deal with a larger insurance gamut than an independent agent.

Denise Mancini

Disclaimer: I work for AccuQuote and this is my personal opinion.

Be aware of the case of a successful British business man and technical diver who died on the Brittanic. His life insurance excluded diving and helicopter flying. His main assets guaranteed his business. After his death, his business failed. His wife and family have ended up with nothing. It's a riches to rags story.

Save enough and build a solid portfolio of assets to make sure you never need life insurance payouts to help your dependents.

Don´t have dependents!

I never thought about life insurance but I would think there are far more risky activities than diving...

A good agent will run the traps for you. Insurance companies are all over the place on scuba diving. Since I said I didn't dive past 100 ft., I had no issues with my insurance policy. That was a long time ago. You might find an policy with an exclusion, and then get one that covers diving (e.g. DAN), but a standard rate may be cheaper than having two policies.

I heard somewhere that if you make it through 2 years of your policy, it won't make a difference if you go past a 100ft. after saying you didn't go past 100ft. Just a rumor I heard.

Someone on another site did a survey. I'll see if I can dig it up. The only problem is all such surveys are time sensitive. My policy is with Manhattan Life which has been bought/sold/merged/consolidated about ten times since I got the policy.

I knew someone who had a private pilots license, sky dived and scuba dived. He had trouble finding life insurance.

Edit:

Found it. cut and paste

Courtesy of the Sep '10 issue of Undercurrent.

"Finding Diver-Friendly Life Insurance

In our June issue, we wrote how life insurance companies often charge divers high rates. Because they consider divers to lead “risky” lifestyles, they knock them out of the running for a Preferred or Standard policy, which have lower rates, and qualify them only for the pricier ones.

But Undercurrent subscriber Michael Horbal

(Newtown, PA), owner of Life Insurance Advisors, wrote in to say that there are actually some life insurers with good reputations that are more competitive on rates and will consider divers for policies without charging extra.

“In the past two years, some companies have loosened up their requirements for divers who go deeper than 100 feet (they’re not looking at the standard openwater certification you got with a 130 foot maximum, but what’s the average depth you go to while diving).

“Genworth Financial Company will offer Standard

rates for divers who go to 125 feet. John Hancock will go to 120 feet on a case-by-case basis. How they’ll offer the rate is by considering whether you’re an experienced diver who dives regularly and has your own gear, not if you’re a honeymoon diver who does his dives at Sandals in Jamaica. And if you qualify medically, John Hancock will give you its Standard rate.”

Horbal says Life Insurance Advisors has helped 200

divers get better rates, and that he routinely checks rates offered by the handful of companies that underwrite divers.

If you’re seeking a competitive policy quote, contactHorbal (he promises no obligation and no pressure) at

http://www.lifeinsuranceadvisors.com

Diving did not affect my insurance but technical climbing did for about 15 years. The insurance (State Farm) decided that after 15 year I had not died that I was probably an okay risk so they dropped the cause which was the double indemnity. Like others have said shop around.