14 September 2015 Insurance

Mythical monsters and crocodile attacks: the strangest risks

The Loch Ness Monster, flying frozen duck carcasses and Bigfoot are among some of the strangest risks ever underwritten, according to respondents in a recent Intelligent Insurer survey, held in the run-up to the Monte Carlo Rendez-Vous.

We asked participants to list some of the most bizarre risks that they’d ever come across, or heard of.

Many of them stem from companies protecting themselves after putting up monetary rewards for unusual things.

One of the most famous instances of this type of reward was brought up by one online reader who recalled that Cutty Sark, the Scotch whisky manufacturer, bought coverage against the discovery of the Loch Ness Monster in the 1970s after the company put up a reward of £1 million in the event that it was actually captured.

“There were diving teams at Loch Ness looking for it at the time. The risk was underwritten in Lloyd’s,” the reader recalled.

On a similarly mythical note, one reader claimed to have heard of a prize indemnity on a contest for submission of DNA that proved the existence of ‘Bigfoot’.

But insurance is also required on more tangible risks. Footballers’ legs and various parts of models’ and pop stars’ bodies are regularly insured. So too are unusual risks where jackpot prizes are offered. While lotteries buy coverage, so too did a company offering a prize for two holes in one at a golf tournament, claimed one reader.

Other bizarre examples stemmed from assessing a risk in an unusual way. “I heard of an engineering errors and omissions (E&O) risk that was testing jet aircraft canopies for the US Air Force by catapulting frozen duck carcasses at high speed and filming the test results for documentation,” said a reader.

Another respondent noted that crocodile attack risk is insurable in Australia.

“Australia's TIO Insurance $50,000 crocodile attack insurance available in the Northern Territory was rather interesting. Allianz, which now owns TIO, gave one to Prince Harry while he was in Darwin earlier this year,” she said.

Animal-related cover proved a popular theme among the strange risks.

One reader claimed to have come across coverage for elvers in the water of a Japanese power station in the 1970s, presumably covering their numbers and, thus, value while, on a similar note, the production of snails has also apparently been insured.

“I’ve even seen mortality of yaks in Mongolia covered through a temperature-related parametric trigger,” said one person.

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