UKC

Wondering if anyone knows the answer to this. I took up rock climbing several years after taking out my life insurance. Do I need to tell the insurers? Will they still pay out if I get killed climbing? Morbid thoughts, but would like to know.

In reply to craigloon: You should check....as should I.

In reply to craigloon:

err yeah. You need to have a policy that covers all your risk sports.

I seriously hope this is a troll!

In reply to craigloon:
you'll have to pay a premium loading probably of about 10%

this is normally only suitable for UK climbing

the gradings they use are nonsensical (easy, moderate, difficult) as opposed to trad, ice or sport etc

In reply to craigloon:

You will need to tell them. Rock climbing is classified as a dangerous sport along with hang gliding, parachuting and sailing among others...

They'll then send out a form that you fill in detailing what/how you climb (grade, do you solo, number of years, etc)

and then they up your cover.

great huh...

but i suppose it all depends on what sort of cover you have.

In reply to craigloon:

Depends on your insurer. Norwich Union do not mind as long as you climb in the UK only (or at least they didn't last year for me).

In reply to Ian:

You were lucky. The one I had what very detailed. I think they'd done they're research very well. Needless to say I didn't admit to being a high altitude extreme soloist... :O)

In reply to craigloon: You need to clarify te situation in writing - as has been said, insurance comapnies are geared up for this sort of thing and have a finely calibrated scale of charges according to your declared activity.

Beware though - I asked a broker about this, he was supposed to be a friend, and he said, 'Oh, let's not just tell them, that'll save a bit of money' - tw@t. I asked for and got a letter saying that I was covered for UK rock climbing.

In reply to craigloon: Thanks for that advice. Sounds like I should tell them. I just kinda assumed that once you took out a policy that was like a binding contract for the insurers and that taking up new risk sports at a later date wouldn't affect the cover. Trouble is I have several policies taken out over a number of years with different insurers as circumstances changed: House, kids etc. I can see this is going to be a bureaucratic nightmare.

In reply to craigloon:

YES YES YES

If you where to "die" to day say thay would not payout as you where undertaking activites that are Not Normal for the average punter in the UK.

they will prpbably send you a forma sking what you climb and what grade.

i pay a lille more on my insurance with the proviso that if i am paralised they will not pay.

In reply to craigloon:

It depends on the policy and the underwriter. One of mine said that the premium covered the risk that I would take up an "extreme sport" and thus there was no increase. Another sent me a form sounding awfully like SFM's to which I sent an 11 page reply including: -

a climbing glossary

the Rockfax Grade Comparison table

a list of abbreviations used in the British Adjectival system

a schedule of my (separate) BMC rock climbing cover

my climbing log

Never heard back from them for some reason .

In reply to johnsdowens:

I'm with NU and they *did* mind (though we also climb sport in Mallorca). Found it infuriating how they class it all as 'mountaineering' as if pootling about on 5m Southern Sandstone somehow equates to attempting K2!

In reply to craigloon:

I'm insured by Legal & General and when I told them I climbed they sent a man round. strangly my policy now states that I climb upto 6000m on Rock & Ice! never been above 4000m! They also through in my private flying coz that is also classed as a dangerous sport.

Paul

In reply to Nao:

The application last year read:
Do you take part in any of the following activities
* Diving (other than as a holiday activity), caving or potholing
* Climbing outside of the UK
* Extreme sports (for example, base jumping, bungee jumping, white water rafting)
* Flying (including hang gliding, microlighting, parachuting, etc)
* Motor car or bike racing on a racing circuit

So I presume that climbing in the UK has no effect - answering no did not affect the premium

In reply to johnsdowens:
Ah, for us it was the climbing outside the UK that did it. Had a whole extra form to fill in about indulging in 'extreme' sports such as top-roping at the climbing wall. And trying to explain the relative risk of sport climbing. Aaaaagh.

In reply to craigloon:

Are we talking just outdoor climbing here, or should indoor climbing be declared too? Looking back over my policy application it DID ask something along the lines of "do you take part in any high risk activities such as rock climbing" (to which I replied "no").

But wonder if they generalise and class indoor climbing as rock climbing....I always imagine insurance companies would use absolutely any tactic they could to get away from paying out in the event of a death...Maybe I'm just a cynic

In reply to GreyPilgrim:

For us on NU we had to describe all aspects of climbing that we partook in, including indoor. John says he didn't have to do this as he doesn't climb outside the UK.

In reply to Nao:

But then there's the grey area about whether winter climbing is "climbing" or an extreme sport?... And what about scrambling - is that hard hillwalking or easy climbing? So many grey areas, I've got my head in the sand about it... All I know is I told the truth as they asked it... Besides, everyone knows that horse riding and rugby are much more dangerous than climbing, and they don't seem to care about them.

In reply to johnsdowens:

I know! We added in loads of extra information for them to assess the risk. I pointed out that we only ever top rope or sport (neglecting to mention bouldering). And yet in NU-speak I think that was totally equivalent to being a high altitude mountaineer!

In reply to craigloon:There's a broker known as "Pinnacle Insurance" (or something similar)which specialises in insurance for climbers - there was an ad in November's issue of the BMC magazine (also called Pinnacle??) and a supporting letter in the letters page of that issue.