UKC

I am currently in the process of arranging a mortgage protection policy and having stated that I take part in rock climbing and mountaineering on the proposal form, was required to fill out a suppmelmentary questionnaire. I summarised my fairly bumblyish levels of activity (VS / III ish) and answered truthfully questions such as "do you intend to climb abroad in future?". As a result the premium doubled and disability (but not death) resulting from climbing is excluded. The company in question is Friends Provident. No doubt this is a common experience but I wondered if there are any specialist brokers / companies who cater for climbers etc.
Also I wondered if qualifications are likely to reduce or increase the premium ( I am a JSMEL - military ML equivalent).
Cheers

In reply to impoverished mountaineer: I arranged a policy with Scottish Life who sent me a standard climber's questionnaire, however despite this my partner's portion of the premium is still higher, as apparently she represents a higher risk. I would find it very unlikely that any quals would make a difference...

In reply to impoverished mountaineer: Try speaking to an independent financial adviser. They'll be able to tell you who to go with. We've just sorted ours out through an independent guy (can't remember who it's with though - doh) and have had no problems - cheap as well.

In reply to Minx: am insured with Abbey National up to Severe. though haven't checked the policy for a while.

In reply to impoverished mountaineer:
I went through an Independent Financial Advisor. Got hold of several proposal forms with climber questionnaires. Total lack of appreciation of climbing by most e.g.do you "free climb"? Best, and most knowledgeable, seemed to be Norwich Union, and their quote was some 30% lower than others.
Best of luck

In reply to impoverished mountaineer:

A search on here will reveal a good deal of info. There used to be an independent financial adviser who seemed to know a great deal about it and posted a fair bit, but unfortunately I can't remember his name.

An urban myth used to have it that the insurance companies in the 60's funded an investigation into rock climbing and decided that you were more likely to be killed driving to the crag than actually climbing. This study was said to have secured the continuing ability of British climbers to secure mortgages. I'd love to know whether this was true.

In reply to impoverished mountaineer:

You should find some info on the bmc website (www.thebmc.co.uk) - and if not phone them up - about the insurers, or maybe they're brokers, they've been working with. Summit Financial Services or something along those lines. Anyway, they have people who actually understand climbing, and might be able to sort you out sensible cover.

Qualifications generally seem to decrease premiums, but don't bank on it....

n reply to Carolyn:
I can recommend Summit very highly

015395 64200

Gave me a better quote than Lloyds/Scottsh Widdows, and were also much more efficient to deal with.

Kevin

In reply to impoverished mountaineer:
My wife and I went through Summit and would have got quite a good deal if we had not been so honest.
The trick is (I have since been told by a brocker from Summit) to answer questions that you have plans for at the moment of filling in the form eg:
Q: Do you plan to climb in America?
Our answer: (Well we may do at some stage in the future, although we have on plans at the moment, but we want to be covered when we do.) Yes.
'Correct answer': (Well we may do in the future and want to be covered when we do, but have no plans at the moment to do so.) No.
Apparantly the form is 'for what you have planned at the moment' not 'what you may plan in the future'. Be aware of this.
Huw.

In reply to impoverished mountaineer:
I have policies with both Norwich Union and Standard Life, neither with any climbing-related exclusions/costs. NU didn't even ask me to fill out a supplementary form. In short, shop around.

In reply to Huw Davies:
To back that up, I took up caving some time after taking out my policies. I told the insurers, who both replied that it was irrelevant what activities I did now, so long as I had been truthful about what I did at the time the policies were taken out. Bizarre.

In reply to impoverished mountaineer:
I had to arrange life insurance a little whilw ago.

I did this throgh the bank(Lloyds. Whilst I had to complete a questionnaire and there was a small delay while they thought about it, they didn't load the premium.

The policy was taken up through Scottish Life.

In reply to impoverished mountaineer: just to drag this up again, what if you just took out a seperate climbing insurance policy of say £70 a year would that provide sufficient life assurance cover, as well as decent travel insurance?

In reply to yer maw:

Can you get climbing insurance for £70 per year?

In reply to impoverished mountaineer: The BMC specialise in arranging policies for climbers www.thebmc.co.uk

In reply to impoverished mountaineer:Standard Life didn't even ask me, they were more interested in parachuting and diving (no loading for muff).

Royal London took off their loading when I pointed out that I hold qualifications, do it professionally and am therefore less likely to crock myself than a "weekend warrior".