Ex-smokers should aim for cheaper life insurance

New research from Sainsburys Finance has revealed that ex-smokers in the UK, which amount to about 3.3 million people, are losing out big savings when taking out life insurance premiums . It was estimated that that ex-smokers are paying out GBP316 million more in total than necessary, due to them forgetting to inform their insurer about having given up on their habit.

Sainsbury’s Finance said that people who have managed to give up their smoking could save up to 46 per cent on their life insurance cover . The findings from the report revealed that the average smoker’s life insurance premium is GBP209.75 per year, as compared to GBP111.88 for a non-smoker, meaning that you can save as much as GBP95 on annual life cover if you qualify as a non-smoker.

For people to be allowed to put themselves down as a non-smoker on life insurance forms, they must have given up smoking at least a year before, as well as avoiding the use of nicotine replacement products since then, otherwise insurers will still charge them more.

Andrew Gray, life insurance product manager at Sainsbury’s Finance, commented "A huge number of people have quit smoking over the past few years and the health benefits of not smoking are now very well-known, although the financial gains are often underestimated."