DAN vs. DiveAssure (or, why does everyone seem to love DAN so much?)

[Blackcrusader]

Where is the reply?

UK DAN

Post in thread 'Diving beyond cert?'

Aug 20, 2024

Just to be clear on something many people don't understand....

DAN has a number of policies with different names and different requirements. That is because the policy a diver chooses as to be legal in the state or country in which they have their primary residence.

Yup. I emailed DAN as my coverage is based in Taiwan but I pay through the Australian service.

I asked if any countries were excluded this was the reply

Thank you for your inquiry.

The following countries/regions are not approved for travel assistance benefits at this time: Afghanistan, Algeria, Chad, Iran...

• Blackcrusader

• 

 

[ScubaGini]

I have been an active DAN member and advocate for them for more than 30 years. I always recommended them to everyone I dove with. Until now.

I organized two 11-day back-to-back trips to Indonesia in Mar/Apr 2024. I personally knew most of the people who booked and they were all very experienced world travelers/divers. There was a lady who booked both trips. I don't want to go into details, but she was descending on her first dive of the trip, experienced some discomfort, notified the dive guide and they surfaced together. They got on the tender which brought them back to the main boat. She immediately collapsed and died.

Very, very long and convoluted story cut short, DAN didn't help. AT ALL. The owners of the liveaboard and their on-shore support crew arranged absolutely everything, from getting this lady to Sorong, to contacting the family, arranging her transport to Manado to be cremated, arranging to ship her belongings back to her family in the US, etc. The boat's owner had to pay for it all themselves because DAN was so unhelpful. Every time they'd get a request to help with something, they would tell them that this form or that paperwork or the other application would have to be filled out and approved first.

Yes, I realize the woman had passed away, so she wasn't in imminent danger any longer. But there was no compassion, no assistance, no cooperation, no financial help and every person on board was appalled by how badly DAN handled the situation. If it hadn't been for the crew and the owners, I don't know what would have happened.

Dive Assure (according to their website) will insure you up to age 80. We had several folks on each trip who were over 70 and every one of them said they had issues renewing their DAN membership after that age. One guy, who was probably the most experienced diver on the boat, with more than 55 years of very active diving, was denied renewal, for what reason he never did find out.

This put a really bad taste in my mouth for a company that I've been a member of, supported, recommended and relied on for more than 30 years. If there's an alternative, I will use it.

 

[greatwhite1]

I have been an active DAN member and advocate for them for more than 30 years. I always recommended them to everyone I dove with. Until now.

I organized two 11-day back-to-back trips to Indonesia in Mar/Apr 2024. I personally knew most of the people who booked and they were all very experienced world travelers/divers. There was a lady who booked both trips. I don't want to go into details, but she was descending on her first dive of the trip, experienced some discomfort, notified the dive guide and they surfaced together. They got on the tender which brought them back to the main boat. She immediately collapsed and died.

Very, very long and convoluted story cut short, DAN didn't help. AT ALL. The owners of the liveaboard and their on-shore support crew arranged absolutely everything, from getting this lady to Sorong, to contacting the family, arranging her transport to Manado to be cremated, arranging to ship her belongings back to her family in the US, etc. The boat's owner had to pay for it all themselves because DAN was so unhelpful. Every time they'd get a request to help with something, they would tell them that this form or that paperwork or the other application would have to be filled out and approved first.

Yes, I realize the woman had passed away, so she wasn't in imminent danger any longer. But there was no compassion, no assistance, no cooperation, no financial help and every person on board was appalled by how badly DAN handled the situation. If it hadn't been for the crew and the owners, I don't know what would have happened.

Dive Assure (according to their website) will insure you up to age 80. We had several folks on each trip who were over 70 and every one of them said they had issues renewing their DAN membership after that age. One guy, who was probably the most experienced diver on the boat, with more than 55 years of very active diving, was denied renewal, for what reason he never did find out.

This put a really bad taste in my mouth for a company that I've been a member of, supported, recommended and relied on for more than 30 years. If there's an alternative, I will use it.

Did DAN break the small print terms and conditions?

 

[dfad]

Which of two is better if I plan to dive in the USA only for the next year, maybe +US territories like Puerto Rico? Likely 10-15 shallow dives through the year.
I like DiveAssure's offers more, but ChatGPT thinks they might have worse coverage withing the US. On the other hand, comparing some discussions since 2015 until now, they have improved a lot in the last few years.

 

[ZephyrNYC]

I have been an active DAN member and advocate for them for more than 30 years. I always recommended them to everyone I dove with. Until now.

I organized two 11-day back-to-back trips to Indonesia in Mar/Apr 2024. I personally knew most of the people who booked and they were all very experienced world travelers/divers. There was a lady who booked both trips. I don't want to go into details, but she was descending on her first dive of the trip, experienced some discomfort, notified the dive guide and they surfaced together. They got on the tender which brought them back to the main boat. She immediately collapsed and died.

Very, very long and convoluted story cut short, DAN didn't help. AT ALL. The owners of the liveaboard and their on-shore support crew arranged absolutely everything, from getting this lady to Sorong, to contacting the family, arranging her transport to Manado to be cremated, arranging to ship her belongings back to her family in the US, etc. The boat's owner had to pay for it all themselves because DAN was so unhelpful. Every time they'd get a request to help with something, they would tell them that this form or that paperwork or the other application would have to be filled out and approved first.

Yes, I realize the woman had passed away, so she wasn't in imminent danger any longer. But there was no compassion, no assistance, no cooperation, no financial help and every person on board was appalled by how badly DAN handled the situation. If it hadn't been for the crew and the owners, I don't know what would have happened.

Dive Assure (according to their website) will insure you up to age 80. We had several folks on each trip who were over 70 and every one of them said they had issues renewing their DAN membership after that age. One guy, who was probably the most experienced diver on the boat, with more than 55 years of very active diving, was denied renewal, for what reason he never did find out.

This put a really bad taste in my mouth for a company that I've been a member of, supported, recommended and relied on for more than 30 years. If there's an alternative, I will use it.

Thanks for sharing your experience. Which company do you use now?

 

[OTF]

DAN is one of the few organizations undertaking and funding dive medicine research, that alone is a good reason to support them. Not sure if DiveAssure does anything like that.

 

[greatwhite1]

Thanks for sharing your experience. Which company do you use now?

ed by how badly DAN handled the situation. If it hadn't been for the crew and the owners, I don't know what would have happened.

Dive Assure (according to their website) will insure you up to age 80. We had several folks on each trip who were over 70 and every one of them said they had issues renewing their DAN membership after that age. One guy, who was probably the most experienced diver on the boat, with more than 55 years of very active diving, was denied renewal, for what reason he never did find out.

This put a really bad taste in my mouth for a company that I've been a member of, supported, recommended and relied on for more than 30 years. If there's an alternative, I will use it.

I feel like she is not telling us everything about this case and why DAN were not involved. If she organised this trip and knew most of the people on it, why did she leave the dive centre to be out of pocket and not help contribute to costs?

 

[bradlw]

Number 2 is weird. If you live in AK, AR, AS, CO, GU, LA, MD, ME, MN, MT, NV, NM, NY, NC, MP, OR, PA, PR, TT, UT, VT, VI, or WA, “coverage is valid outside of home country, worldwide”. If you live in AL, AZ, CA, CT, DC, DE, FL, GA, HI, ID, IL, IN, IA, KS, KY, MA, MI, MO, MS, NE, NH, NJ, ND, OH, OK, RI, SC, SD, TN, TX, VA, WI, WV, or WY, “Coverage is valid domestically and worldwide.” I would never have guessed that. But obviously a non-starter if you’re in one of those states not covered.

So would I be correct to interpolate from this
that since I live in Florida, the insurance would cover me anywhere in the US?
Even if I'm diving for example in NC?

but If someone lives in NC they cannot buy coverage for anywhere in the US?

Insurance is a weird game.

 

[bradlw]

um, I googled. Diveassure
the very first listing was a sponsored one of course, but it was DAN.
That's some sneaky stuff right there! Kinda puts a bad taste in my mouth for DAN

Back in the day a few decades ago I remember DAN being promoted as being primarily a diving safety and science research organization. Seems like everyone looked at them in that regard.

Recently in my family's OW class, DAN was mentioned several times...100% context was insurance. That was from the instructor, from the divemaster, from some random other instructor who stuck his head in the room to speak with our instructor..and his presence prompted the story of when this guy took an undeserved hit and used DAN insurance...

 

[Jcp2]

So would I be correct to interpolate from this
that since I live in Florida, the insurance would cover me anywhere in the US?
Even if I'm diving for example in NC?

but If someone lives in NC they cannot buy coverage for anywhere in the US?

Insurance is a weird game.

Sometimes state’s rights works for you. Sometimes it doesn’t.