Yachting & life assurance...

[rogerroger]

I'm changing my life insurance and under the "Hobbies" section of the application form I put "sailing".

A few weeks later I get a "Yachting Questionaire", written by someone who clearly knows as much about sailing as I do about genetic engineering. Lots of daft questions like where I sailed, what boat etc.

Today I get a phone call to clarify what I'd written and more silly questions about what I'm likely to do in the future - how many times are you going to cross the Channel (how the heck should I know - everytime it's blowing from the west and I'm out of wine would be most peoples' reply). Do I ever sail outside the UK ? well yeah I guess that's possible in the next 30 years.

Anyway - no sensible questions at all. They didn't bother to find out that I'm a qualified Yacht Master for example or that the boat has an RNLI SEA check certificate etc.

Strange thing is it didn't seem to bother them that I ride a 600 cc motorcycle which I found rather odd.

Anyway - I'm not sure they'll turn me down or that the policy will be anymore expensive. But if I state I do mainly coastal and cross Channel sailing, will my policy be invalid if I kick the bucket sailing back from the Azores next summer or will I have to phone them up and get thier permission should I wish to cross the Atlantic again ??

All very strange especially as I'm sure more people die playing football than sailing.

What d'ya reckon ?

Roger Holden
www.first-magnitude.co.uk

 

[kingfisher]

Cheaper ? Fitter ? Healthier ? More Productive ?

We lead a much healthier life:
- out in fresh air
- light diet (bisuits and apples the first two days for most)
- moderate alcohol consumption (define moderate
- good social life (problems with previous item though)
- we don't bunch up our frustrations (get that *§+#@ line out of the &%£ water before it fouls the @^$# prop).
- lots of exercice in the winter (we calculated it once: in our ten seasons, we sanded down two soccer fields)

and more ?

So probably your life insurance will be much cheaper now that you have admitted your lust for irresponsible adventure (yeah, right).

Obi-Wan

 

[Guest]

Ooooooooh dodgy!!

It looks like someone is preparing to take you for a ride (and NOT in a boat).

It will all come down to the small print (that bit written in "Times Roman 0.001 point") that specifies recognised self inflicted injuries that insurance companies worry about. These include (but are not limited to) really dangerous pastimes like lettuce wrestling, downhill stawberry picking and shove h'apenny. The "Lessons to be Learned" are:

Lesson One

Insurance Companies MAKE MONEY out of the people they insure. This is NOT occasionally - NOT periodically - but EVERY BL**DY DAY!!

Lesson Two

Insurance Companies try to make sure that THEY don't have any accidents - like having to pay out money!! They invented the terms "SMALL PRINT" and "EXCLUSION CLAUSE" to minimise their exposure. If they make a mistake and look like having to pay out real money they simply go bust, say "Sorry. Act of God." and drive away in the Ferrari they bought with YOUR money.

Lesson Three

Minimise your exposure by minimising your insurance. Spend the money saved on entertaining your friends and relatives and they will then come to your assistance in times of need.

Lesson Four

Remember the phrase "I never shot a Robin." and be assured that God will not have it in for you so badly that he will keep visiting disasters upon you!!

Start saving today - stop paying out good money to insurance companies - let the parasites go and suck someone lese's blood!!

Best regards )

Ian D

 

[Guest]

Spooky stuff Ian!

Strange you know, I have been in the Life Assurance industry for the past 10 years, and I have met several widows and widowers who have never complained about the amount that had been paid out in premiums. It is strange, but when a death occurs in a household, very few relatives and friends rush forward with a cheque for £50,000/100,000/150,000 or however many thousand pounds to help the recently bereaved! It is equally strange to see a queue of friends family and relatives standing at the door of a recent Heart attack or Cancer victim with a cheque for a large sum of money that while it may not make them better will certainly remove a great burden from their day to day lives. Your comments about "the small print" are to say the very least infantile, and most Life companies meet the Crystal Mark for clarity of their documentation.

You state - 'Insurance Companies MAKE MONEY out of the people they insure. This is NOT occasionally - NOT periodically - but EVERY BL**DY DAY!!' WOW! and I suppose that the publisher of this venerable journal is not making money out of people every day of the week, and neither is your newsagent, nor the garage where you fill your car up with petrol! Grow up Ian...It is a big adult world out there, and successful businesses tend to make money!

On the subject matter of the orginal question, I must say that I have only once before come across a Yachting Questionnaire, and I have to agree that the questions in it were to say the very least rather bizarre.
Certainly the company that I represent at present has no such thing as a yachting questionnaire, and we yachties are treated as normal people...just goes to show!

 

[Guest]

Re: Spooky stuff Ian!

Me thinks thou do'st protest to much (sic)

 

[Bergman]

Re: Spooky stuff Ian!

My experience when my father died was that the insurance company firstly denied the existance of a policy (I was holding it in my hand at the time)

Then said the policy did exist but had been cancelled several years before ( while I was looking at receits for premiums paid up to a few weeks before his death)

Then they arbitrarily refused to pay because thier records did not show the premiums being paid at all.

Only when I threatened to bring charges of theft against their agent did they actually pay up. The threat was made by fax to the MD. Even then they took several weeks to actually pay.

I had a similar problem when my mother died, not quite as bad but very upsetting just the same.

At such a time no-one wants that kind of battle.

I would love someone in the industry to tell me how much money is made by the companies by refusing to pay on life assurance by simply being difficult and by the relatives of the deceased simply not having the stomach for a protracted fight with an organisation which appears ready to resort to any lengths to avoid paying what it owes.

My blood is boiling just thinking about it again, I'm going to lie down in a darkened room for a while.

 

[Guest]

DEAR ROGER- I CAN UNDERSTAND HOW YOU FEEL-BUT ITS ALL ABOUT SOMETHING CALLED" EXPOSURE TO RISK"-I WILL NOT BORE YOU WITH ACTUARIAL MATHS-TABLES ETC!!!!!!!!!!-OR UNDERWRITING CRITERIA!!!!!!!!!!!

IN THIS INSTANCE IT IS PROBABLY A ROUTINE UNDERWRITING DEPT., QUESTIONNAIRE PROBING TO FIND OUT IF THEY WILL BE TAKING ON BOARD A[ HIGHER THAN AVERAGE RISK] INDIVIDUAL !

YES THE QUESTIONS MAY SEEM STUPID-BUT WE TEND TO FORGET THAT LIFE INSURANCE/ASSURANCE COMPANIES ARE BUSINESSES -YES THEY DO WANT TO MAKE PROFITS FOR THEMSELVES-POLICYHOLDERS AND/OR SHAREHOLDERS! ££££££££££££........WHY NOT? THEY ARE NOT CHARITIES!
HAVING SAID THAT, THEY DO REALISE THAT THEY OPERATE IN A HIGHLY COMPETITIVE MARKET-PLACE WHERE "OVER EXPOSURE" TO RISK IS UNWISE AS IT EVENUALLY LEADS TO EVERYONE LOSING OUT! [LOOK WHAT HAPPENED TO EQUITABLE LIFE!!!!!!!!!!]

SORRY FOR THE LECTURE!- IF YOU ARE NOT HAPPY WITH THE WAY THEY ARE TREATING YOU-YOU CAN ALWAYS GO SOMEWHERE ELSE FOR COVER-SHOP AROUND- ESPECIALLY IF THERE IS NO INVESTMENT ELEMENT-JUST LIKE CAR INSURANCE!??

SUGGEST YOU SPEAK TO THE UNDERWRITING DEPARTMENT-DIRECT-AS THE MORE INFO THEY HAVE- THE QUICKER YOU WILL KNOW HOW THEY VIEW YOU IN TERMS OF RISK!

FINALLY- IF YOU TELL" PKY.PIES" THERE IS THE LITTLE MATTER OF THE PRINCIPLE OF "UTMOST-GOOD-FAITH" WHICH COULD LEAD TO THE NON-PAYOUT OF A CLAIM-JUST WHEN THE PEOPLE YOU CARE FOR NEED IT!!!!!!!!!!!


HOPE THIS HELPS?-KIND REGARDS-

ROGER & OUT-[ROGER-ROGER-ROGER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!]

ROGER RIDLEY-HUGHES-TRAINING CONSULTANT.

 

[rogerroger]

yeah I totally agree with what you write...

But it seems strange they consider yachting so dangerous - I ski like a nut case, ride a motorcycle and the mere fact that I live in work in London must mean I've got far more chance of being mugged to death or have a hijacked 757 land on my head. I just would have thought that if they were going to probe any part of my life it would be one of these...

The fact that my insurance premium for my yacht is £120 for £2,000,000 cover only goes to show what a low risk another part of the industry really considers it.

and I guess the ultimate irony is that I'll never see a penny of the payout anyway!

Roger Holden
www.first-magnitude.co.uk