Too old to get insurance cover

I was reading the "Your Money" column in Saturday 20th February 10's edition of The Independent and came across this headline "Calm down! If we say you're too old, you won't get cover - Insurers and lenders have been accused of penalising older people by imposing unfair age limits"

According to the article, new evidence from Age Concern and Help the Aged (two UK charities that according to the Help the Aged website says that they will soon be called Age UK The new force combining Age Concern and Help the Aged ) shows that half of motor insurers and a third of travel insurers automatically exclude people aged 80 or older.

People are now living much longer and have more money to spend and like to travel.

Looking at various insurance products beeing advertised on the jml-insurance.co.uk website, I see that insurance4carhire.com offers "Policies available for 75 - 85 year olds - With the age of the traveling public increasing, these new policies will help those aged 75 to 85." Europe 75-85 Cost: £ 65 Excess Worldwide 75-85 Cost: £ 75
More information at http://www.insurance4carhire.com/index.asp?linkfrom=4&curID=1&langID=1&refID=188

Staysure Travel Insurance says "It offers policies for annual cover up to the age of 80 and single trips up to the age of 85." More information via link at http://www.jml-insurance.co.uk/displayproduct.php?id=322&sec=8

Another provider advertising Insureme4.co.uk Travel Insurance offers travel insurance up to the age of 85 More information via a link to their site at http://www.jml-insurance.co.uk/displayproduct.php?id=327&sec=8

Unfortunately from reading the article the upper age limit for many providers is still 85. Michelle Mitchell the charity director was reported to have said "We accept age should sometimes be taken into account in pricing insurance, but automatic age limits completely undermine the message the Equality Bill is supposed to be sending. Our fear is that household name insurers will see the new law as a green light to shut their doors to older customers."

Hopefully more and more insurance companies will raise the age limit of 85 and not charge over the odds for insurance.

The Independent's article can be found at http://www.independent.co.uk/money/spend-save/calm-down-if-we-say-youre-too-old-you-wont-get-cover-1905089.html