In a world full of fears, many people are ready to pay an insurance company to insure their cars, families, and health. With the pandemic going on, it hasn’t been simple to find proper COVID-19 insurance. But are you ready to find out that there is coverage against alien abduction?
Unusual insurance policies like this are real. They can even go weirder and insure your cold feet. Don’t you find it funny and sad at the same time?
Nowadays, people come up with creative ways to make money, and it's paying off. But sometimes, their creativity crosses all the boundaries. How could you even think about giving your child a lethal candy for Halloween to get some money in return? Sadly, this is happening.
If you want to get introduced to the world's weird types of insurance, please continue reading.
Our Top Picks of Weird Types of Insurance Policies
Have you ever heard about crazy insurance claims not approved by the insurance providers? Situations that your friends or relatives told you about? Such as a "rain of potatoes" on the car or a spider crawling on the driver’s leg, causing the car to crash? The ones that make you want to be there to witness.
These people create the need for strange types of insurance policies. And where's the need, there's a solution.
We’d like to present some of the weirdest types of insurance. Buckle up because you're gonna experience a crazy ride here.
Body Parts Insurance
Now, if you are a footballer or a pianist, your legs or fingers are the main “tools” for making money in your life. When you think that way, the body part insurance doesn’t seem so weird anymore. But many celebrities take this too far, making it funny.
- Legs With Capabilities and Famous Legs
Many famous footballers have insured their legs, which are a crucial part of their job. And when men love something, they spend an entire fortune on it. If you think about it, girls should be the biggest spenders when it comes to legs. Little do we know. Cristiano Ronaldo has legs worth a whopping $144 million.
David Beckham’s legs are one of the highest insured things in sporting history. He insured his legs and face for $195 million.
But not every sports player loves their legs. The former NFL player Troy Polamalu insured his curly hair for $1 million.
What about some famous models? Heidi Klum has her legs insured for only $2 million.
Now, it will be good to know what’s more unusual: insurance for footballers’ legs or singers’ legs, as some pairs of legs do know what to do, and the others are only pretty? Why would a singer decide to insure their legs instead of voice, especially considering that they make money with their voice boxes?
Rihanna has her legs insured for $1 million. Mariah Carey is a brilliant performer, and instead of ensuring her voice, her legs are breaking the records of a whopping $1 billion. If we were Mariah, we would fall more often. Many more singers have followed this trend. Moreover, many musicians spend fortunes on insuring their other body parts.
Many people look at their hairy parts as something valuable. In this category, we present you insured mustaches, beards, and even chest hair. Yeah, you read that right.
Even though Tom Jones is old now, he was a sex symbol once. He got his chest hair secured for almost $7 million. When wearing unbuttoned sexy shirts, fans were plucking out his hair. He believed that it was a contribution to his charm.
Among all these weird insurance policies, insuring your mustache or beard seems quite normal. As if! The famous Billy Gibbons from ZZ Top insured his beard but didn't want to brag about the price as Merv Hughes, whose mustache is worth $370,000. At least this man got an amazingly unique mustache.
Are you wondering who supports all these weird insurance claims? It’s Lloyd’s of London, an insurance company, which also insures gentlemen’s beards from fire and theft. Now, we can only wonder how one can possibly steal your beard?
- Senseless Senses Insurance!
We all witness how a coronavirus can take your senses away for a month or few. After that experience, it seems reasonable to insure your senses if you use them for work.
Hayleigh Curtis is a chocolate scientist working in Cadbury. Her job is to create new chocolate inventions for us to enjoy. That’s why she got her taste buds insured for over $1 million. Hayleighs’ buds are as important to her as legs to a football player.
Even though we all love chocolate, we must admit that coffee is the one waking us up every day. Now, open your eyes wide, same as after a double espresso, and read this: Gennaro Pelliccia’s taste buds are insured for an unbelievable sum of over $14 million. He is a coffee taster who can distinguish over 100 different coffee flavors and easily find any defects with the product. Now, that’s a thing!
Can you smell the rest of this paragraph? If you can’t, there is a man who actually insured his nose. Ilja Gort is a winemaker, who instead of tasting the wine, believes in his nose the most. He claims that his nose is the most important asset he has. He runs a Chateau la Tulipe de la Garde in Bordeaux, France. Can he smell properly after four glasses? This funny insurance is actually saving his smell. But little does he know. With all this money, he could insure his whole collection of wine and protect it from any possible threats, such as fire, theft, breakage, frost, etc.
- Tongue-Twister $1 Million for an Oral Appendage!
Have you ever had a shirt with a tongue on it? If not, you surely know someone who did it. The frontman of the rock band “The KISS” has his famous tongue insured for $1 million. Gene Simmons is the rocker wearing makeup and swirling his tongue around, making his fans go crazy. When he was a little boy, he even got bullied for his tongue. And today, every fan has an item or clothes with his tongue on them. While the musician makes money as he sleeps, we may only wonder if he also gets paid when he burns his tongue with hot soup.
Now, what comes as a strange insurance policy is Miley Cyrus and her tongue. She has also insured her tongue for the same sum as Gene did, $1 million. Miley was just a teenager when fame hit her, and she didn’t know how to handle it. When a young star was in the center of attention, not knowing what to do, she stuck out her infamous tongue. Now, this is her thing, and she is doing it so much that it became her image and trademark pose.
In this section, we will see that many people insure their flaws as the most valuable assets. After talking about all these weird types of insurance costing an arm and a leg, it makes sense to insure your dentiles, crossed eyes, or even big noses.
Ben Turpin was a famous comedian in silent films back in the 1920s. He bought a $25,000 policy, which today equals $333,817. According to the policy, Ben would be paid if his crossed eyes ever got uncrossed. Sorry, Turpin, they could never uncross, except in the REM phase.
Both people and companies can get very creative and invent crazy insurance policies like this. It all began with a nickname for Jimmy Durante, who loved his large nose so much that he put the Italianized word “Schnozzola” as his middle name. “Schnoz” is slang for a big nose. This man was famous in the 1930s as an actor, comedian, singer, and much more. He got his large nose insured for what equals today as $1,884,365. Large nose, large money!
Wedding Insurance
As the price of a wedding event without including a honeymoon can reach a whopping $34,000, wedding insurance becomes a huge necessity rather than one of the weirdest types of insurance.
Nowadays, it is a considerable risk to organize a wedding without thinking of the possible adverse outcomes. Not only could the bride's dress get ruined, but the venue could get double-booked, your photographer could get drunk, or the weather could fail you. So for better or for worse, say yes to this insurance.
Moreover, if your partner has a change of heart, you can also get covered. Not all companies include this option, but you can easily find the best wedding insurance companies with some research online. The “change of heart” policy is usually known as the “cold feet” policy. That’s when one of the partners may feel uncertain before the wedding and maybe not even want to tie the knot anymore. Among all the crazy insurance policies, you can wholeheartedly say yes to this one and save yourself from the possible burden of debt.
Even so, don’t forget that you won’t get paid if you cancel the wedding one week or two days ahead. It should be announced one year before the event. I guess this is the fact that makes this policy weird.
Divorce Insurance
You managed your wedding, and all came well in the end. However, there are thousands of other possibilities that insurance companies want you to take a policy for, like a divorce. Even if you love your partner very much, you should always protect yourself first. A prenuptial agreement or a prenup is a contract between you and your partner created before your marriage.
The interesting fact about the prenups is that not even one royal member got this kind of agreement regardless of their big assets. On the contrary, many popular couples claim "investing" in their relationships. Some of the most interesting prenups are:
- Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michel Douglas have been together for over 20 years. They have a prenup that will give Catherine $2.8 million for every year of marriage and a bonus of $5 million if Michael cheats on her. If they were to divorce, Douglas would have to pay a huge amount of money.
- When it comes to Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan, they value quality time over money. So, Priscilla asked for at least 100 minutes of Mark’s time and one date night per week in their prenup.
- After being married for six years, Kim Kardashian and Kanye West got a divorce. According to their prenup, Kim will keep her wedding ring and all the other gifts from Kanye, plus she will get a total of $6 million for all the years in marriage with him.
We looked at the stats for you, and they are not brilliant as 40%-50% of the first marriages end up in divorce, and 60%-65% of the second ones do too. However, keep in mind that with some companies, you will get nothing out of your divorce insurance if you end your marriage during the first four years.
Multiple Birth Insurance
Many people are financially unstable in times like these. Moreover, even if you have a lot of money in your account, you never know what the future holds.
Childbirth has an enormous impact on your bank account, especially if you already have kids. You can already expect growing expenses with one child, but imagine having another two or three surprises that aren't included in your plan.
We are talking about twins or triplets. Many couples don’t know what it means to have two or three children at once. And the thing is not just about the attention but the money needed. That’s why many couples safeguard themselves by purchasing a policy that will help them support their babies.
Parents with multiple births should buy insurance as early as possible to receive extensive coverage. Many insurance companies offer supplemental maternity options for mothers who need to stay home without income. This is also a big plus for a high-risk pregnancy.
Lottery Insurance
Another strange insurance we’ve come across is lottery insurance. It’s insurance for business owners in case their employee wins the lottery.
What are the odds for this to happen? Really none. There are bigger odds for you to be paid if you get UFO abduction insurance. Let’s be realistic; not everyone plays the lottery today. Even if they do, the chances to win are slim to none.
On the other hand, business owners want to protect their companies. So, many owners opt for lottery-winners insurance. And you may wonder, where would the employees be if they won a lottery? Well, we don’t think many would go back to their favorite nine to five job.
It doesn’t matter how funny it sounds; your boss will surely need a tremendous amount of money to interview new candidates, coach them, and hire them. So, after all, maybe it’s worth rolling your dice on this chance.
Falling Coconut Insurance
Are you a person who always assumes the worst will happen? When you’re traveling on a vacay to an exotic place full of coco palms and sunny beaches, are you thinking you might die from a falling coconut? If that’s your case, worry not; even this fear can get insured. On the other hand, if you are not one of those people, you may wonder where they get those kinds of ideas in their heads.
According to a shady study by Dr. Peter Brass, approximately 150 people die each year after a falling coconut hits their head. However, there are also people who claim that they have been hit by a coconut. Well, since they are claiming it, it wasn’t fatal after all.
But it’s not like there are palms everywhere, and you can’t really save yourself. Stay out of the palm shadow, and remember you have bigger chances to stump your little toe on your bed than to be hit by a coconut.
Fantasy Football Insurance
We bet you know what Fantasy Football is since stats say that over 60 million people play it. Some play it just for fun and others for real money. The sum spent on it is unbelievable — it’s $556 a year from the average adult member.
Fantasy sports are easy to play, so they’re becoming very popular. You need to set up your team that plays in real-time, bringing you points. If, however, your player gets injured, you can reduce your losses. There is a way to reimburse your fees by buying a real insurance policy for the imaginary athletes. This means that if your athlete is out for a few games or the rest of the season because of injury or other reasons, your funds can be reimbursed in full.
Along with protecting imaginary players, insurance companies also offer coverage in many sports such as hockey, football, baseball, or basketball.
Death-By-Laughter Policy
Laughing is regarded as medicine that prolongs your life. But if you throw a glance at ancient history, you would see that many people actually have died from laughing. Laughing hard is not always the only reason for death, as in most cases, it’s related to heart failures, oxygen deprivation, brain or nervous dysfunctionalities, and so on.
One of the first cases dates back to the 5th century BC when a Greek painter Zeuxis died laughing at the funny way he painted the goddess of beauty Aphrodite after the older woman who commissioned the painting insisted on modeling for the portrait.
Another notable case is about Chrysippus, an ancient philosopher, who died after seeing a donkey eating his figs. He told his slave to give the donkey some neat wine to wash them down; after a good hard laugh, he died.
Even the famous Monty Python had a sketch called "The Funniest Joke in the World." It revolves around a joke that is so funny that anyone who reads or hears it dies from laughter immediately.
After reading about all these weird instances of death by laughter, it wouldn't be so funny to lose your life laughing at some stand-up comedy show. This is why many comedians have purchased death by laughter insurance to protect themselves from someone in the audience dying on their shows.
Contest Insurance
Some tournaments give big awards like cars or considerable amounts of money. If you’re wondering how they manage it all, we’ll tell you. It is the insurance.
People got so far that the weirdest insurance in this category goes to the competition for catching the Loch Ness monster alive. It was in the 70s, and the competition prize was £1 million (appr. $1,378,507). As crazy as it sounds, the company insured itself against someone capturing the Scottish beast.
Another one in this category is the infamous contest called "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" Many people had won it, and we all felt their joy. This competition has insurance against anyone actually winning the main prize. This insurance policy was bought from the famous Lloyd’s of London. When the show just started, six people managed to win the prize, and Lloyd's sued the producers for having such basic questions.
"Key Person" Insurance
Nowadays, many companies have to admit that their success is on the shoulders of one employee, aka a key person. Under the term "key person," we can define an essential and successful worker whose worth is so big that the company decides to insure their life.
If that employee passes away, the insurance policy will provide a big chunk of money for the company to cushion the damages. For example, if the individual had a unique skill set or played a crucial role in generating profits, the company would need time and money to search for another big talent and educate them on the matter. And of course, the business might spend some time without receiving the same amounts of cash, so the insurance money could be essential for the company.
Alien Abduction Insurance — a Little Green to Save You From the Little Green Creatures
Alien abduction insurance policies have the same attributes as the aliens. They do exist, but they’re a gimmick. Although there are over 30,000 policyholders, we don't know whether to find the policy weird or get one for ourselves. This insurance, also called UFO insurance, can cover an abduction of an earthling, aka human, by extraterrestrials. In other words, to get paid, one must get abducted and then returned to the earth to file a claim.
Let’s assume all this happened. To get a benefit, you or a third party will need to prove the occurrence of abduction by photos or other means. You can buy this insurance for a single payment of $9.95 and, in return, receive $10 million of benefit.
But there’s a catch, read the fine print as in case of payout, you’ll receive $1 every year for a period of 10 million years. Isn’t that exciting?
So, if you are searching for an unusual gift similar to Donald Trump’s, go ahead and buy your friend UFO insurance.
Paranormal Insurance
The UFO insurance is not the only insurance that exists in the paranormal section. There are many spooky things that you can get insured against. Or can we call them fears? In the movie industry, there are many creatures such as warlocks, vampires, ghosts. And as a cherry on top, there are also urban legends or myths about some famous creatures around the globe, such as Yeti, Bigfoot, zombies, etc.
You can buy coverage of up to $1 million, which includes:
- Death or injury caused by paranormal creatures/activities
- Damage to your property caused by paranormal creatures
- Even attacks from vampires, zombies, warlocks, etc.
Doesn’t it look real enough? There are claims that can validate this type of insurance.
A few years ago, the investigators concluded that the ghost was responsible for the death of the woman thrown over the banister of her home. The insurance provider paid $100,000 in claims.
In 2002, the Royal Falcon Hotel obtained a $700 premium annual policy because of the claims that the hotel was haunted by a monk who threw glasses in the pub. The insurance will have to pay over $1.4 million if anyone gets injured or killed.
We can't claim if the paranormal activity exists, but if it does, this kind of insurance would be a necessity.
Conclusion
We’ve discussed many weird types of insurance policies to give you a clearer picture. It’s up to you now to decide how necessary they’re or whether you believe them.
As you can see, many policies are just gimmicks that have never paid a cent of compensation. At the same time, some have provided a payout. If someone can insure their hair, legs, and even death caused by a falling coconut or hard laugh, you can surely buy yourself at least one crazy insurance policy and get yourself peace of mind if not money.
