Diving, aviation and insurance underwriting

These two sit together because they are underwritten the same way: on a small number of precisely defined parameters. For diving, insurers ask about certification, the depths you dive to, how often you dive and what kind of diving you do. For aviation, they ask about licence type, total and recent hours, the aircraft you fly and whether you instruct or carry passengers.

In both cases, ordinary recreational participation within standard limits is frequently accepted without any rating at all. What produces a loading or an exclusion is operating outside those limits — technical or cave diving, low-hours flying, aerobatics, or commercial activity. Where the activity is commercial, it is generally assessed as an occupation rather than a pastime, which is a different part of the underwriting manual entirely.

These questionnaires are unusually specific, and precise answers produce better outcomes than round numbers.

Diving

• Certification level and the agency that issued it.
• Maximum depth dived and typical depth.
• Number of dives per year.
• Whether you do technical, cave, wreck or solo diving.
• Whether any diving is commercial.

Aviation

• Licence type and ratings held.
• Total hours and hours flown in the last twelve months.
• Aircraft type, including microlights, gliders and helicopters.
• Whether you instruct, carry passengers, or fly aerobatics.
• Whether any flying is commercial.

Ratings here attach to the activity profile, so they move when it does. Reducing frequency, stopping technical diving, or accumulating flying hours can all support a request to review a loading. Insurers will want an updated declaration and, for aviation, usually a current logbook summary.

These are the details that decide whether the cover does what you expected. Read them before you compare on price.

• That commercial activity is assessed as occupation, not as a pastime, and the terms differ.
• That precise figures produce better outcomes than approximations on these questionnaires.
• Whether the exclusion offered names the activity narrowly or covers a broader category.
• That some policies contain standing aviation exclusions in addition to any underwriting decision.
• That accumulating hours or reducing depth and frequency can support a later review.

Every New Zealand insurer writes applications involving diving or aviation to its own wording, and the words are where the money is. Two policies that look identical on price can pay very differently when it matters. Closing that gap is the entire job of an adviser.

• Insurers differ considerably on where their thresholds sit for both activities.
• An adviser can obtain indicative terms for your exact profile before an application is made.
• For pilots, an adviser knows which insurers weight hours and aircraft type most favourably.
• Where a profile changes, an adviser can put a review request to the insurer with the evidence.

There are three ways to buy life cover in New Zealand, and they are not equivalent. You can buy direct from one insurer, which means you see one product range and one underwriting appetite. You can buy through your bank, which usually means a single insurer’s product sold under the bank’s brand, often with narrower definitions. Or you can go through an adviser, who quotes several insurers at once and is required to put your interests first.

The premium you pay is the same either way. Insurers build adviser commission into their pricing whether or not an adviser is involved, so going direct does not get you a discount — it just removes the person whose job is to argue your corner at application and at claim time.

• An adviser can see which insurer is currently taking your health history on standard terms, and which one will load or exclude it.
• An adviser can structure cover across two insurers if that produces a better outcome than putting everything with one.
• An adviser handles the underwriting back-and-forth, and is the person who chases the claim when a family is least able to.
• An adviser has to document why the recommendation suits you, which is a written record you can hold them to.

We are a referral service, not an insurer. We do not quote premiums and we do not sell policies. What we do is put you in front of one licensed New Zealand adviser who can compare the market properly.

1. 1

   You tell us what you are looking at

   The form takes about a minute. Nobody asks for your medical history on a web form — that conversation happens with the adviser, properly, and only once you have decided to proceed.

2. 2

   An adviser calls you

   A licensed New Zealand adviser talks through your situation: who depends on you, what you owe, what you already have in place, and what you are actually worried about.

3. 3

   They compare the market

   The adviser quotes across the major insurers, checks which of them will take your health history on the best terms, and puts the options side by side in writing.

4. 4

   You decide, in your own time

   There is no obligation and no cost to you. If the answer is that you already have enough cover, a good adviser will tell you that.