MISTAKE NUMBER 6: NOT MAKING SURE YOU ARE COVERED FOR HAZARDOUS PURSUITS
If you are one of those people who plan to spend weekends engaging in extreme sports, it is crucial to determine if your life insurance and disability policy covers you in the event of an accident arising from these activities.
If your leisure activity is deemed to be a ‘hazardous pursuit’ by your insurer, then your insurance policy may well not cover you in the event of an accident. Most people wrongly assume that their insurance policy will still cover them if they have an accident regardless of how it happened, yet in reality this is often not the case as policies often contain exclusions such as hazardous pursuits.
Hazardous pursuits include activities such as motor sports, quad biking, flying light aircraft, scuba diving, and mountaineering or abseiling, though it is advisable to contact your insurer for a comprehensive list.
By their very nature, these hazardous pursuits involve a high degree of risk and there is a risk that those engaging in them will get injured or even die. It is simply irresponsible to undertake these activities without being sure you or your family will be looked after in the event of an accident.
Unlike PPS life cover, which does not contain such restrictions, most policies require people to apply for the additional cover at an extra premium, which can often prove to be expensive compared with the cost of an ordinary policy. In fact, some insurers not only automatically exclude coverage for hazardous pursuits, but will also refuse to provide cover against such activities at all.
While insurance is likely to be the last thing on your mind over a weekend, it is exactly then when many people are likely to take part in such activities and they should therefore review their life cover before undertaking the activity rather than waiting for the incident to happen.
PPS covers hazardous pursuits such as private flying, motor racing and skydiving as well as dangerous occupations such as mining engineering, at no additional premium. In addition, clients are covered internationally if they decide to emigrate, take up temporary work, or go on vacation abroad.
Author: Tiffany Boesch CA(SA) is group financial director of PPS
