View Full Version : PPL and Life Insurance
rocafellascunk
28th Mar 2003, 16:27
Hi all,
I am due to begin my first PPl lessons in a few weeks. I suddenly thought about life insurance. I already have that but I don't know if flying is covered.
Is it classed as a "dangerous activity"? I just wanted to get an idea from pprune before approaching my insurance company. (Im sure they will say anything that will lead to an increase in my premium).
Any help/info/advice greatly appreciated.
R
Most underwiters do regard private flying as dangerous, bracketing it with diving and mountaineering. Your existing policies may or may not cover you: have a look at the wording. I purchased additional cover making specific disclosure of my flying, climbing and ski-mountaineering hobbies. I obtained a sensible price from a Swiss company via www.ukinsurancenet.com. My contact there was Neil Thompson, who was very helpful.
Dufwer
28th Mar 2003, 17:03
When I started flying about two years ago I took out life insurance with one of the larger companies. I told them about the flying and had to fill in an aviation questionairre. The premiums turned out to be the same as without the aviation bit. In fact the premiums are less than those quoted by some of the specialists aviation life insurance companies you can find in the usual mags. At the end of the day if you don't tell them about your activities and any claim is refused, it would cost you, and more importantly your dependants, a lot more than a few quid a month.
PM me if you are interested in knowing the name of the company I decided to use.
D
Mr Wolfie
28th Mar 2003, 17:05
scunk,
Insurance deals are contracts of "ultimate good faith" between parties and you should notify your life company of your new circumstances.
There is no point in hiding the facts in order to avoid an increase in premiums. The company will not routinely go looking to find "flaws" or untruths in your application, at least not until they need to, and that will be when your family need to call the policy in.:(
However, if when you took out your term assurance you answered "no" to the hazardous pursuits question (caving, private flying, scuba diving etc.) and at that time did not participate in such activities and had no expectation of participation then they should not now load your premiums. If however you only took out the policy last month stating that you did not undertake such pursuits and then this month make your first entries in your log book they are not going to look too favourably upon you.
Mr. W
rocafellascunk
28th Mar 2003, 18:07
Thanks to all of you. Very helpful and informative. I will approach my insurance company and find out if I am covered.
Many thanks and happy flying.
Rocafellascunk
tacpot
28th Mar 2003, 21:46
Another thing to check is any Death in Service benefit from your employer. Death in Service benefits are very common and should form part of any planning for your demise, especially if you have dependents.
The good news is that most death in service cover arranged by employers usually covers enough people to ensure that for every mountaineer, rock-climber or pilot, there is a tree-hugger, twitcher or line dancer who balances out the risk, therefore all dangerous activities are covered. (No offence intended to tree-huggers or bird-watchers). :)
Hilico
28th Mar 2003, 23:28
Just be sure you're covered.
This is slightly off the original question, but I run a business that requires I visit airports regularly. Not going airside, mind, I just go into offices. The first company I attempted to get business cover from ('if you spill coffee over their PC we pay for the damage', that kind of thing) said they wouldn't cover any airport activity whatsoever. I said it wasn't airside. They said it didn't make any difference. I said 'there's a MacDonalds at one of those airports, are you saying you wouldn't cover me if I had business there?' That was a correct assumption - they wouldn't.
I know some folks with extremely cynical opinions of insurance companies, because they've had apparently valid claims rejected for the most obscure reasons. I've not made many insurance claims in my lifetime so far, but with one exception all have paid out. The exception refused to pay out £30 on a cracked washbasin, so lost a £300 a year premium business. Their loss!
However - when I took up flying I wrote to all my insurance companies, and all but one replied that cover would continue, with no extra premium.
The exception was the firm's own personal accident policy: insurers said they wouldn't cover me when flying other than as a farepaying pax on a commercial airline. Since the firm had its own fleet, on which I flew often (no fare paid!), I queried that with the Company Insurance Dept. The firm's policy moved rapidly to a different insurer!
My present "Company" doesn't insure me. I don't complain.
Hey keef, I thought that your company was in the business of life after death insurance. Are you suggesting that its guarantees aren't worth the tablets they are carved in?
FNG
You have to read the small print ;) Yes, the guarantee is more than enough for me. Premiums can be a bit of a stretch, though.
But, as I so often say, I'm in Sales not Management so what would I know about corporate policy in these matters...