Will e-cigarettes really have an impact on my insurance costs?
As the nicotine content of e-cigarettes is highly variable, vapers are treated like smokers by many insurers, such as BMO Insurance.* (By the way, you're usually defined as a smoker if you've used a tobacco product within the last 12 months. Poached a cigarette off a friend in the last year? Hello, smoker.) It's believed that people who smoke or vape are more likely to develop health issues and, potentially, pass away at a younger age than non-smokers and non-vapers. As a result, you'll most likely find yourself paying more for life insurance. For example, if you were an otherwise healthy 31-year-old woman with a standard underwriting risk who uses e-cigarettes, you may pay $13.86 per month for a 30-year EasyTerm $50,000 life insurance policy. By comparison, if as that same 31-year-old woman you didn't vape, you may only pay $10.08 per month, a 37.5 per cent lower rate. Over 30 years, that number adds up — you'd fork out an additional $1,360 in additional premium payments. (Want to know what an EasyTerm life insurance may cost you? Get a quote now. ) For larger policies, the additional cost of using tobacco or vaping products is even bigger. For a $200,000 policy, you'd pay $15.12 more per month, which adds up to an extra $5,443 over the 30 year-term of the policy. Whichever type of cigarette you're into, you can expect higher insurance premiums until you're smoke-or vape-free, typically for one year. But if you are a vaper, you should pay close attention to how smoking is defined in different policies because they may vary.