Vhi Life Insurance Review 2025
I’ll admit I was worried when Vhi life insurance entered the market back in 2017.
Vhi has one million customers, that’s roughly 990,000 more than us.
Little Lion.ie taking on the mighty Vhi is like David taking on Goliath, The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin.
Plus Zurich Life were underwriting their policies.
As you know I like Zurich Life, so I felt betrayed.
How could they do this to me? Howwwwwwww?
But after reading through the Vhi life insurance bits and bobs, it didn’t seem so bad.
It was like waking from THAT Leaving Cert dream.
I realised only an eejit would buy from them, and our customers are far too discerning, aren’t you?
So let’s see what Vhi life insurance are all about….starting with The Good.
Are Vhi Good for life insurance?
Vhi life insurance through Zurich has two benefits over our life insurance through Zurich Life.
Free waiver of premium benefit
This means you won’t have to pay your premiums if you’re unable to work for over 13 weeks.
That’s a handy one especially if your premiums are going to be on the high side (and they certainly will be high if you choose VHI)
Counselling support
Counselling support gives you access to face-to-face counselling (up to 4 sessions) and a 24/7 freephone helpline, provided by Vhi.
But this can be withdrawn at any time.
Moving onto The Bad…
Can you trust Vhi life insurance?
This is where it gets interesting.
Although Zurich Life underwrites the policy, there are big differences in what they offer.
The devil is in the detail.
Maximum age you can apply
If you’re over 60, forget about applying, you won’t qualify.
But with our Zurich Life policy, you can apply for cover up to age 74.
Maximum age you can insure yourself to
You can only insure yourself up to age 70.
Once you reach 70, they cancel your policy…so if you plan on living to 71, you have a decision to make.
With our Zurich Life policy, you can insure yourself to age 89.
Protection continuation option
The conversion option allows you to extend the term of your policy at any stage.
But with life insurance from the Vhi, you can only extend your policy to age 70.
At 70, your policy ends and they pocket your premiums.
But with our Zurich Life policy, you can extend your policy to your 89th birthday.
Finally, let’s look at the DOWNRIGHT UGLY elements of Vhi life insurance
How much does Vhi life insurance cost?
A LOT MORE than it should is the simple answer.
Have a look at this quote:
Vhi Life Insurance | The Good, The Bad & The Ugly
One last thing to be aware of is that Vhi isn’t a life insurance broker.
They are a tied agent of Zurich Life so can only sell Zurich Life products, they cannot advise on life insurance available at the other insurers:
Aviva, Irish Life, New Ireland and Royal London.
We like Zurich for most things but for some underlying conditions, they are very strict.
Remember if VHI refuses your application, you will have to disclose this refusal in all subsequent applications.
This will raise a red flag at the other providers making it more difficult to get cover at the best price.
Over to you…
The Vhi life insurance terms and conditions are skewed in favour of the insurer, but with one million customers and a MAHOOSIVE advertising budget, I’m sure they’ll find a few suckers.
Hopefully you’re not one of them.
Vhi | Very High Insurance Premiums
If you’d like some help protecting your family, please complete this questionnaire and I’ll be right back with a no-obligation recommendation.
Thanks for reading
Nick
Editor’s Note | We published this blog in 2017 and have updated it since