Strange Insurance You Probably Don’t Need – But It’s There if You Do!

Have you ever read some wild story on the internet about someone who collected on an insurance policy for something really crazy?

Maybe you should consider getting the same kind of coverage. Who knows? You might just be able to collect on it someday.

Alien Abduction Insurance

For anyone who is concerned that they might get hauled off into space by extraterrestrials and returned to Earth in who knows what sort of condition, there’s alien abduction insurance.

Some policies will also pay if the insured is impregnated by the aliens and, just in case the aliens have advanced insemination technology, this coverage is available for men too.

One company apparently offers coverage at $155 a year and would pay roughly $160,000 on proof of abduction (with an even higher payout if there’s proof of impregnation). Another company would pay $1 per year on proof of abduction until the insured’s death or for one million years, whichever comes first! Might be worth the investment if the aliens who have figured out the science of male impregnation have also cracked the secret to longevity.

Multiple Birth Insurance

Speaking of pregnancy, you can also buy multiple birth insurance. This one isn’t quite as far out there as being impregnated by aliens. Having a baby can be expensive; have two or three (or more) and the costs can skyrocket, so defraying them with an insurance policy is appealing.

Multiple birth insurance policies typically have to be taken out prior to the 11th week of pregnancy. You are, however, not eligible for coverage if you’ve had fertility treatments over the last few years, since these greatly increase the chances of giving birth to multiples. The chances of having multiples also increases with the age of the mother, so the older the insured, the higher the premium. The premium will also be higher if the mother or the father has a family history of multiple births.

Some of the companies that sell this insurance tout it as a good purchase, but it’s considered “quirky” by some insurance experts who believe that the premium charged is way too high given that only 3.6% of American births are to multiples.

Taco Bell’s Space Station Policy

Back to outer space: in 2001, Taco Bell offered a free taco to everyone in America if the Mir space station (a Russian station launched in 1986 and deliberately brought down into the Pacific Ocean in 2001) hit a 40-by-40-foot target that Taco Bell placed in the Pacific.

Taco Bell bought an insurance policy to help them cover the potential cost, which could have run into the hundreds of millions of dollars if Mir had hit the bullseye. The cost of the policy was not made public, but the insurer got off the hook – surprise, Mir missed the target!

Wedding Cancellation Insurance

How about insurance for cold feet?

According to one site, the average American wedding costs $29,000 and wedding insurance starts at $95. A “change of heart” option is available with most policies, along with matters such as last minute loss of the wedding dress, last minute cancellation by a caterer, and last minute cancellation by the facility where the wedding is to be held.

Policies also often include coverage for gifts that are lost, stolen, or damaged within a specified area and time-frame, for loss of jewelry or deposits (for flowers, for example), and, in some cases, for host liquor liability. Read the policy carefully!

Divorce Insurance

If the wedding goes off as planned but things don’t last, there’s divorce insurance.

In American, roughly 50% of first marriages and 60% of later ones end in divorce. Statistics clearly show that divorce leads to downward mobility: most people end up poorer after a divorce than they were before.

One company briefly offered policies for divorce insurance. It wasn’t cheap and premiums paid did not mature for 48 months, meaning that you collected nothing if you got divorced less than four years after you bought the policy.

Unfortunately for those interested, the only company to offer this insurance scrapped the program in 2011.

Coverage for Specific Body Parts

How about specific coverage for your butt, your voice, or your fingers? Various entertainment celebrities and others have insured just these things.

An actress who parades with a certain panache; a singer, speaker, or courtroom lawyer who would be nothing without their power of speech; a guitarist or pianist who wouldn’t be able to play unless they can press their fingers down with precision? If, like them, your livelihood depends on a specific body part, you might want to look into insuring it.

Should You Buy a Strange Insurance Policy?

A key reason for the existence of insurance is peace of mind. If you really think that you might be abducted by aliens or if your voice is key to your job, you might look into one of these “out there” policies. But if you do, be sure to read the fine print very carefully and be wary of overpaying (learn about The Key Components of Your Insurance Policy to be sure you understand the terms of the contract).