This weekend we are mostly reading about…insurance

It’s that time of year when the thoughts of the more coordinated amongst us, ahem, turn to the piste. For those lucky enough to hit the slopes this season there is a word of warning from the weekend Money sections: resist the urge for a tipple at the top. While a slug of Jaegermeister or Schnapps might seem just the thing to warm you up before the descent research from More Than, picked up in the Saturday Telegraph and the Sunday Mirror, highlights the dangers, corporeal and financial. 

Whilst it is widely accepted that taking to slopes comes with a certain degree of risk, more than half a million Britons will unintentionally be at almost double the drink-driving limit according the More Than – which you would have thought was fine so long as you didn’t have any plans to get behind the wheel. However, besides the normal dangers of being inebriated at high altitude, unfamiliar environments and cold temperatures that may cause accidents, the presence of alcohol, whilst likely to exaggerate these hazards, may invalidate any insurance claim were you to injure yourself or a third party. 

The survey reckons 568,000 Britons on the piste after a night out soaking up all après ski has to offer will have seven or more units of alcohol in their bloodstreams, but what shocked us is that 74% of those polled wrongly thought that the cool Alpine air made them sober enough to ski. Confused.com has their own research which showed  that one in four skiers is affected by people who have had too much to drink. According to over half of those polled by Confused.com believed that regardless of alcohol consumption they would be covered for any accidents by their travel insurance.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in insurance land, Stephen Womack in the Mail on Sunday was writing about health insurance policies that reward individuals for healthy lifestyles and regular exercise.  Aviva has launched its own personal medical insurance programme which allows customers to qualify for lower premiums based on their Q score which is taken at regular intervals.  However in light of both the Telegraph and Mirror’s reports, skiing might not be the best option anymore for improving your health and lowering your insurance premiums.

A rough totting up of coverage by topic over the weekend shows the scores on the board for the rest of the sections were:

Pensions              8%

Insurance            15%

Mortgages          15%

Credit cards        9%

Utilities                 6%

Investment        47%