Virgin Life Insurance Competition Exposed...

Virgin Money decided to run a Life Insurance Competition to mark the launch of their Virgin Life Insurance product in Australia. Do you get any real value with this competition or is it just a marketing gimmick?

Virgin Life Insurance Competition - The Rules

Virgin Insurance is giving away 50 Virgin Life Insurance policies to new families. Each family will receive $200,000 worth of life insurance cover for a year. Don't be confused - it's not $200,000 in cash, but $200,000 worth of life cover. You will receive this money only if your insured partner dies during the 12 months of cover.

To be eligible to enter the competition you must:

• Be at least 18 years old;
• Be an Australian resident; and
• Be the parent of a child born or adopted between 1 December 2010 and 1 May 2011.

You also need to submit the required information on the virginmoney.com.au website.

Small Print

This Life Insurance competition brings a lot of question marks.

Firstly, how are the winners determined? Virgin Money says "All valid entries received will be reviewed by a panel of representatives nominated by Virgin Money and judged against the criteria as determined by Virgin Money by 15 March 2011." So what's the criteria to win?

Second, life insurance cover is the same for all families and doesn't take into consideration personal circumstances. What if some families' needs are more than $200,000?

Third, Virgin Money insure only one family member with this promotion - "each policy won is limited to one policy owner and one life insured". We know from experience that it is very important to cover both partners, even non-working partners, because the working partner will need to pay a nanny to look after the children or stop work to look after them.

Fourth, life insurance cover is valid for 1 year only. How can you be sure you receive competitive premiums after 1 year? And even worse, if something happens to your health during that year, what about guaranteed insurability with Virgin Life Insurance? Guaranteed Insurability means that once the insurance company has accepted you as a client, the insurance company can not cancel your life insurance policy in the future, unless you stop paying for it. And with this promotion you are not paying for 1 year, does that mean Virgin Money can adjust premiums if your situation changes?

Last but most importantly Virgin Money only offer one product. It is always a good idea to compare multiple insurance companies to ensure that you are in fact getting the most competitive policy.

Conclusion

In a nutshell Virgin Life Insurance competition is offering basic life insurance valued at $200-300 per year each.

You shouldn't take life insurance just because it's free. You should evaluate your needs and take an appropriate level of life insurance to protect what matters most.

If you would like to receive life insurance quotes from all major life insurance companies in Australia at once - give us a call on 1300 793 143 or fill out the form on this page and one of our friendly advisers will provide you with unbiased life insurance comparison.

You may even be eligible to receive a 20% rebate after 12 months. Call us now to find out if you are.