60-second summary
Want to know how vaping can affect your life insurance in less than a minute? Here’s our snapshot:
Most insurance providers place vaping and smoking in the same bracket because the long-term health risks of vaping aren’t yet understood.
This means vaping is likely to bump up your life insurance premiums.
It’s important to be honest about your smoking or vaping habits when you apply for life insurance – and to tell your insurance provider if your smoking habits have changed.
Failing to disclose information about whether you smoke could invalidate your life insurance policy if you’re later found to be a smoker.
Does vaping count as tobacco use for insurance?
Most insurance providers consider vaping as tobacco use. That means that most are likely to consider you a ‘smoker’ if you vape.
This means vaping impacts your life insurance in the same way as smoking does. And if you tick the ‘non-smoker’ box on your policy and it turns out you’ve been using e-cigarettes, you could invalidate your cover.
Since the two are considered the same in insurance terms, when we mention ‘smoking’ in this guide, we’re also referring to vaping.
Why is vaping seen as a risk for life insurance?
According to UK smoking statistics, roughly half of all long-term smokers will die 10 years earlier than non-smokers.
The main causes are lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and heart disease.
And, although Public Health England states that vaping is 95% safer than tobacco smoking, it’s not entirely harmless – and the long-term effects are still unknown.
Vaping has been linked to lung inflammation and tissue damage, and it can trigger or worsen the symptoms of asthma.
Also, because it contains nicotine, vaping is highly addictive. All of this puts vapers in a higher risk group than non-vapers or non-smokers.
In the eyes of an insurance provider (and healthcare bodies), nicotine is nicotine. It doesn’t matter where it comes from, and the effect on your insurance premiums will be the same.
That said, not all insurance providers treat vaping – including nicotine-free vaping – the same way. So, it’s worth checking before you apply for life insurance.
What nicotine products classify me as a smoker for life insurance?
For insurance purposes, if you’ve used any products that contain nicotine in the past year, you’ll be classed as a smoker.
These include:
Cigarettes
Cigars
Pipes
Hookahs
Chewing tobacco
E-cigarettes
Nicotine patches
Nicotine gum.
It doesn’t matter whether you smoke a packet a day or have the occasional puff on a cigar, you’re still a smoker as far as an insurance provider is concerned.
However, your particular smoking habits may have an impact on your premiums.
Did you know?
Around 6 million people in the UK say they smoke. And 5.1 million say they vape, according to the latest data from the Office for National Statistics.
Although the number of tobacco smokers has dropped significantly over the past decade, it accounts for roughly 64,000 deaths each year in England.
While it’s still too soon to know how vaping impacts long-term health, it’s easy to see why life insurance providers see it as a potential risk when working out premiums.
What if I don’t tell an insurance provider that I vape?
You should always be honest with your insurance provider. Failing to inform it that you vape – or smoke – could invalidate your life insurance if it then finds out.
Anyone can make an honest mistake. But if you vape and deliberately withhold information or mislead your insurance provider, your beneficiaries may not be able to claim on your policy when you die.
Will my life insurance be more expensive if I vape?
Whether you smoke e-cigarettes or traditional tobacco products, the risk is considered the same by insurance providers. So, you’re likely to pay more for your life insurance.
When working out how much to charge you for life cover, insurance providers will look at:
What you smoke (for example: cigarettes, a pipe or e-cigarettes)
How many years you’ve smoked (or vaped) – the longer you’ve used nicotine products, the more you’re likely to pay
How much you smoke – for example, are you an occasional vaper or do you vape multiple times a day?
Your overall lifestyle and physical fitness
If you have pre-existing medical conditions caused by smoking or vaping.
Each insurance provider will have its own criteria for giving you a quote. But, generally speaking, you’ll face higher premiums as a smoker or vaper.
If you quit vaping, when are you considered a non-smoker?
Typically, you’ll need to have been off all nicotine products for at least 12 months to be considered a non-smoker.
However, the amount of time and how you’re classified varies among insurance providers. For example:
If you gave up 12 months ago you may be considered a previous smoker.
If you haven’t smoked for one to five years, you may be considered for better rates than a smoker.
After five years you may be considered a non-smoker.
Some providers may only consider you a non-smoker after ten years.
It might not always be possible to amend your existing life insurance policy to reflect that you’ve quit smoking.
Check with your insurance provider. If it can give you a new quote, it might want to see evidence that you’re 100% nicotine-free.
This could involve:
A doctor’s report
A chest X-ray
A saliva or urine sample.
Should I tell my insurance provider I have switched from tobacco to e-cigarettes?
Yes, you should tell your provider if you’ve switched to e-cigarettes – especially if you’re using a vape liquid that doesn’t contain nicotine.
Whether it will make a difference to your premiums will depend on the individual provider. Some classify all types of vaping as smoking. Others may have different rules regarding nicotine-free e-cigs.
Just don't assume that stopping smoking or vaping will reduce your premiums.
Generally, life insurance costs are calculated based on your health and lifestyle at the time you take the policy out.
But once you've been a non-smoker for five years or more, it may be worth comparing the cost of a new policy against what you have been paying.
Age is also a factor, and you may have developed health conditions that could also affect the cost.
Getting help to stop smoking
If you want to quit smoking or vaping, there’s lots of help and support available from the NHS. You can even get a personal quit plan.
Where can I get a life insurance quote if I vape?
You can compare life insurance quotes with Compare the Market. We’ll ask you a few questions about your health and lifestyle, including your smoking or vaping habits.
Once we have your details, we’ll send you quotes based on your needs.
Shopping around and comparing a range of quotes is one of the easiest ways to make sure you’re getting a good deal on your life insurance.
FAQs
Why don’t insurance providers reward vaping if it helps me quit smoking?
Insurance providers don’t reward vaping because the long-term effects aren’t yet known.
So, until there’s research proving that vaping doesn’t cause serious diseases in the long run, they’ll take a cautious approach.
You might find providers that take a more lenient view. But most will class it in the same bracket as smoking.
How will my life insurance provider know if I’m a smoker?
Your life insurance provider will know that you’re a smoker based on the answers you give in your application. When you apply for life cover, you’ll be asked if you’re a smoker or have ever smoked.
As part of your application, you might also need to take a medical exam. This will test for a variety of things, including nicotine in your system.
Your insurance provider may also ask your GP for your medical records (with your consent), which may identify you as a smoker.
It’s always best to be honest about your smoking habits. Otherwise, any claim you make could be rejected.
What type of life insurance should I get if I smoke?
The type of life insurance you should get if you smoke or vape depends on your personal circumstances. Options include:
Level term insurance: cover stays the same throughout the policy length.
Decreasing term insurance: cover decreases as your debts, particularly your mortgage, are assumed to decrease.
Over 50s cover: typically, policies guarantee acceptance for life insurance without a medical.
You might also consider adding critical illness cover to your policy as an optional extra. This could pay out if you’re diagnosed with a serious condition or illness that’s listed in your policy, such as some types of cancer, a stroke or a heart attack.
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With more than eight years’ experience in writing and sub-editing content, Karen started her career in fashion before making the move to insurance. She now specialises in producing clear, engaging content that helps people make better financial decisions.
Karen’s areas of expertise include insurance products, such as car insurance, travel insurance and life insurance, as well as utilities such as energy comparison.
Stephen Maunder is an experienced personal finance editor, having spent more than a decade working for consumer print and online titles. He won several industry awards for his personal finance features at Which?, before becoming Deputy Editor at Compare the Market.
Our content is written by a Compare the Market expert, backed by data and enhanced by technology. Find out how we ensure accuracy and quality in our Editorial Guidelines.
