What actually decides what you'll pay for life insurance
I can't tell you a price on this page — nobody honestly can, before they know who you are. What I can do is tell you exactly what an underwriter looks at when they work one out, which of those things you control, and why two people who look similar on paper can end up with very different quotes.
Understanding this properly means you go into a quote knowing what's driving the number, rather than just seeing a figure and hoping it's fair.
What actually drives your price
The factors an insurer actually looks at
Every insurer weighs the same broad set of factors. What you can’t change sets your starting point; what you can change is where you have real control over the outcome.
Your age
FixedThe younger you are when you take a policy out, the more favourably an insurer generally views the risk over the life of the policy. This is set the moment you apply and only moves in one direction.
Smoker status
FixedSmokers are underwritten differently to non-smokers, reflecting the statistical risk insurers see across their whole customer base. It's assessed as things stand when you apply — if you've stopped smoking, most insurers ask for a sustained period free of nicotine before treating you as a non-smoker.
Health and medical history
FixedYour current health, your medical history, and sometimes your family's medical history all feed into how an insurer assesses you. This is the single biggest source of variation between two people who are otherwise similar.
Cover amount
Your choiceHow much you're insuring — for example, cover for a £250,000 mortgage versus cover for that plus a lump sum on top for your family — is entirely your decision, and it's usually the biggest lever you personally hold.
Term length
Your choiceHow many years the policy runs for is your choice too. A longer term means the insurer is on the hook for longer, which factors into how they price it.
Level or decreasing cover
Your choiceLevel cover pays the same amount whenever a claim happens during the term. Decreasing cover falls over time, usually shaped to track a repayment mortgage balance. Choosing decreasing cover for a debt that's genuinely shrinking is one of the more effective ways to match your cover to what you actually need.
Guaranteed or reviewable premiums
Your choiceWith guaranteed premiums, what you pay is fixed for the whole term from day one. With reviewable premiums, the insurer can adjust them, usually every five or ten years, based on their claims experience. It's a genuine trade-off between certainty and flexibility, and one worth discussing rather than defaulting to.
Want an actual figure?
I can't quote you here — but with a few details about your situation, I can usually get you real life insurance figures from real insurers within a day.
Same person, different quotes
Why one insurer might quote you very differently from another
Every insurer builds its own underwriting model, and they don't agree on how to weigh every factor. One insurer might take a more relaxed view of a health condition you disclosed while another loads for it heavily; one might favour applicants in your occupation while another is more cautious. None of this is arbitrary — each insurer is pricing against their own claims data and their own appetite for different types of risk — but it does mean the only way to know where you stand with a specific insurer is to actually ask them, not to assume they all see you the same way. Comparing more than one matters for exactly this reason.
I compare cover from leading UK insurers.
- Vitality
- Scottish Widows
- Zurich
- Legal & General
- Aviva
- Guardian
- MetLife
- The Exeter
- LV=
- Royal London
Price isn’t the whole story
Why the cheapest quote isn't automatically the right one
It's tempting to treat life insurance like any other purchase and take the cheapest option on the page. The problem is that price is only one part of what you're buying. Two policies can look identical on the outside and differ in how straightforward claims are to make, whether the definitions used are generous or narrow, and how the insurer has actually behaved when previous customers have claimed. A policy that's marginally cheaper but harder to claim on, or with terms that don't quite fit your situation, isn't a better deal — it just looks like one until the day your family needs it to work.
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Questions people ask
Straight answers, no jargon.
Can you tell me roughly what I'd pay before I speak to you?
Not honestly, no — I don't know your age, health, or what you'd want to cover, and any number I gave you without that would be a guess dressed up as a fact. What I can do is get you real figures from real insurers, usually within a day of a short conversation about your situation.
Will my quote go up every year as I get older?
No — most term life insurance fixes what you pay for the whole term at the point you take it out, if you've chosen guaranteed premiums, so it doesn't creep up as you age within that term. If you've chosen reviewable premiums instead, the insurer can adjust them periodically, which is one of the things worth weighing up when you're deciding between the two.
Does being a smoker always mean a higher price than a non-smoker?
In general, yes, because insurers assess smokers differently based on statistical risk across their customer base. If you've genuinely stopped, it's worth telling me — most insurers will reassess you as a non-smoker after a sustained period without nicotine, and the timing of when you apply can make a real difference.
If one insurer declines me or loads my terms, does that mean everyone will?
Not necessarily — insurers genuinely disagree on how to underwrite the same disclosed condition or history, so a decline or a loading from one doesn't automatically mean the same outcome everywhere. This is exactly why I go to more than one insurer rather than stopping at the first answer.
Is it worth getting a lower cover amount just to bring the price down?
It can be tempting, but the goal is cover that actually does the job if your family ever needs it — clearing the mortgage, replacing your income, whatever you're protecting against. If the number feels like a stretch, it's worth talking through where genuine flexibility exists, such as term length or structure, rather than simply cutting the cover amount and hoping it's still enough.
How do you get paid, and are you comparing more than one insurer?
My advice costs you nothing. My commission is funded by the insurer if you decide to go ahead with a policy, and it doesn't change what you pay. I compare cover from leading UK insurers.
Tell me your situation.
Two minutes now. I'll come back to you within one working day with real figures from real insurers, based on you — not a guess.