Weird Things You Can Insure

People insure the strangest things. Often, in the case of celebrities taking out policies to protect their legs, voices and other assorted body part money-makers, it’s essentially a publicity stunt. You know, JLo insured her booty for a billion bucks (yes, she did) and it made headline news that people do insure the strangest things. But plenty of average folks take out odd ball insurance policies. So if you’ve ever wondered if you could insure your parakeet’s tweet, read on.

First off, before a company can issue a valid insurance policy, the law requires that several conditions be present, including:

• You must be mentally competent, sober and of legal age to enter into a binding contract.
• The insurance must be for a legal purpose, meaning you can’t insure someone’s life with the intent of bumping them off to collect.
• You have to have an insurable interest. For example, you can’t take out a policy on your next-door neighbor’s house unless you own part of it.
• You can’t insure a speculative risk where there is an uncertain prospect of financial gain or loss. For instance, you can’t insure a lottery ticket or a stock certificate.

If all the conditions are met, people can and do insure the strangest things. For instance:

• A food critic insured his taste buds. But in addition to body parts, it’s possible to purchase insurance against the alien abduction or for more down-to-earth risks like kidnapping and ransom.
• There are also policies available to protect against the risk of vampire bites and werewolf attacks. There’s a company out there that sells insurance that pays your beneficiaries benefits if you laugh to death (maybe while reading about vampire bite insurance).
• Space weather insurance is available to protect businesses from disruptions caused by magnetic solar storms.
• If you’re engaged, you might want to look into wedding insurance, just in case the bride or groom gets a cold or cold feet and you’re left with all those expenses.
• Is your home built over an old, abandoned coal mine? Look into mine subsidence insurance before the ground caves in and swallows your house.
• Get fantasy sports insurance before your star quarterback breaks a leg and is out for the season. It will pay to refund your entrance fee.
• Tons of space debris falls to earth each year (not to mention all those comets, meteors and asteroids). Fortunately, the falling objects clause of most homeowner’s policies covers that.
• And for people who are concerned about what will happen to their beloved pets after the rapture, we’ve heard about a policy that will provide a rescue and care service for Rover when he’s left behind.