INSURANCE

1 Warm up
Complete the questions with the vocabulary from the list. Then in pairs, answer the questions.

insurance (n) insured (adj.) insurer (n) insure (v)

1. In what situations do you need ?

2. Do you have any possessions that are ? Which ones?

3. Which is the most popular in your country?

4. What possessions or situations do you think you will need to in the future?

2 Focus on vocabulary
Part A: Match the vocabulary to the definitions.

1. claim (n) a. physical harm that happens to something making it less attractive or
not work as well
2. no-fault (adj.) b. a request for money that you believe that you should have

3. deductible (n) c. being legally responsible for paying the cost of something

4. premium (n) d. a regular payment of money to an insurance company

5. cover (n) e. the possibility that something bad will happen in the future

6. liable (adj.) f. the protection given by an insurance company if something goes wrong

7. risk (n) g. not saying who is responsible for a situation or an accident

8. damage (n) h. an amount of money that the customer has to pay

 Part B: Now complete the following sentences with a part of speech from the same word family as
the Part A word in brackets.

1. My father £2000 of damages after his car was hit by a cow that ran into the road.
(claim)

2. It’s a very valuable watch so you can’t him for taking out insurance on it. (no-fault)

3. After 10 years of having no accidents, the insurance company made a of 10%

from the insurance premiums my mother had to pay. (deductible)

4. Although I’ve been driving it for five years now, the car is still in condition. (premium)

5. Our holiday insurance gives us for everything except for watersports which I don’t
think we will need. (cover)

6. The driver who hit my car has accepted for the accident, so his insurance should
pay for the repairs. (liable)

7. Playing rugby is quite which is why the premiums for your insurance are so high.
(risk)

8. Your health insurance is much more expensive because of the effects of smoking.
You really should give up. (damage)

3 Vocabulary in action
Complete the phone conversation with the vocabulary from Part A. You will not need all of the words.
Then listen to the conversation to check your answers.

Insurance agent: Good morning, Taylor Insurance, How can I help you today?
1
Customer: Good morning, I’m calling to make a . My car was in an accident
yesterday.
Insurance agent: I’m sorry to hear that, sir. Is everyone OK?

Customer: Oh, yes. Fortunately, nobody was in the car at the time. My neighbour
reversed into the car when they were coming out of their driveway. But there’s
2
some to the driver’s door. I was parked on the opposite side
of the road.
3
Insurance agent: OK, well I’m glad no one was hurt. So, it’s a claim. Can I have
your policy number, please?
4
Customer: Yes. The number is B682-1935. This won’t affect my monthly ,
will it?
5
Insurance agent: No, sir. In a situation where someone else is for the accident,
6
it will not affect your payments. However, if there is a to your
car where you currently park it, I would strongly suggest that you find a safer
place to put it.
Customer: I was in a parking space, but yes, I understand. I will avoid using that one in
future.
4 Listening for gist

Listen to three conversations and decide if the customer was at fault (AF) or not at fault (NAF).

1. Conversation 1 :

2. Conversation 2 :

3. Conversation 3 :

5 Listening comprehension

Listen to the three conversations and answer the questions by putting a tick (✦) in the correct box.
6 Finding vocabulary

Find vocabulary in the article which has the same meaning as the following definitions.

So what happened again?

Crazy insurance stories

A. There have been many different and unusual insurance claims over the years. One example was a farmer from the
county of Devon in the UK who was helping one of his cows to give birth. As it was night time, he was using the
torch on his iPhone to help him see during the operation. At some point, the smartphone disappeared. The farmer
had managed to lose it inside the cow. Some time later, without going into any details about how - it was found.
However, the phone was completely unusable. Fortunately, his insurer did agree to pay the cost of replacing the
iPhone.

B. Australian millionaire, Harry Gordon disappeared in 2000 and was thought to be dead. As a result, his life insurance
paid out $3.5 million to his wife and daughter. However, Gordon had actually faked his death. He travelled to Spain,
England and South Africa before surprising his wife with the news that he was still actually alive. He explained it
by telling her he was in a police witness protection programme and talked with her about how to access some of
the money from the insurance. He then went to New Zealand where he met another woman and illegally married
her as he hadn’t divorced his first wife. It was only when he was out walking one day that he accidently met his
own brother which led to his arrest. He was fined for fraud and served 15 months in jail. He later released a book
called ‘How I faked my death and did not get away with it’.

C. In the US state of Delaware, Nicholas Di Puma filed an insurance claim for a house and car fire. He said that he
was making a meal when two of his cooking pans caught fire. He tried to put the fire out with a cloth, but then
the cloth caught fire. He then threw one of the pans outside, but it landed in the back seat of his convertible car
which was open at the time and that too started to burn. Di Puma then ran back inside for the second pan, but
tripped over a box while holding it and it landed on his sofa causing it to go up in flames, eventually burning down
his house. Authorities did not believe his story and he had to pay a $38,000 fine.

Sources: Daily Mail, Business Insider, Insurance Business

1. being in such bad condition that it doesn’t work (adj., para. A)

2. make something untrue appear to be real, often to get something or cheat

someone (v, para. B)
3. a person who saw a crime happen and is able to describe what happened (n,
para. B)
4. make someone pay money because they did something wrong or committed
a crime (v, para. B)
5. the crime of cheating someone to illegally get money or goods (n, para. B)

6. give something officially so that it can be recorded (v, para. C)

7. having a roof that can be taken off and folded down (adj., para. C)
7 Reading comprehension

Read the statements about the article and decide if they are True (T), False (F) or Not Given (NG).

1. The farmer was helping his cow to have a baby.

2. It took a few days to get the iPhone back.

3. Harry Gordon’s wife helped him to disappear.

4. Harry Gordon was helping the police with a criminal case.

5. Harry Gordon went to prison as a result of his actions.

6. Nicholas Di Puma was cooking for a friend when the accident happened.

7. Nicholas’s Di Puma’s house was destroyed in the fire.

8. Nicholas Di Palma had to pay the insurance company $38,000.

8 Talking point

In pairs, discuss the following questions.

1. Do you trust insurance companies? Why/why not?

2. Have you, or anyone you know, had to make an insurance claim? What was it for?
3. What kind of problems do you think insurance companies have?
4. Would you want to work for an insurance company? Why/why not?
5. Do you take out insurance when you go on holiday? Why/why not?
6. Why do you think insurance companies have ‘deductibles’?
9 Extended activity/Homework

Complete the crossword using vocabulary from the lesson.