Types of general insuranceGeneral insurance only pays out when an insured event occurs. It includes:home insurance (contents and/or buildings)car insurancetravel insuranceprivate medical insurancepet insuranceaccident, sickness or unemployment insurance to protect your income, mortgage or loan payments (also called ‘Payment protection insurance’)critical illness insurancelong-term care insurance
How to shop around for general insuranceWith so many insurance deals on the market it’s worth shopping around. Key points to compare include:suitability for your particular needscostflexibility: what happens if you miss a payment or wish to cancel or switch?terms: when does the policy pay out/are there restrictions?’Keyfacts’ documents to help you shop aroundWhen you contact an insurance provider, they will give you details of the service they offer. This can normally be found in the ‘about our service document’.Once you’ve discussed what you need and answered all the questions about yourself and what you want to insure, the intermediary, insurance company or the firm selling you the insurance will give you key policy information. This sets out the essential facts.
1. Buying insurance – learn more on Moneymadeclear from the FSA:Getting helpYou can buy insurance yourself or with the help of a broker, but either way you’ll get key policy information about the insurance and what it covers.Generally, firms selling insurance and those providing insurance cover (underwriting the risk) have to be regulated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA), the UK’s financial services regulator, or be the agent of a regulated firm. There are some exceptions, for example the sale of extended warranties on non-motor goods (such as on electrical goods) where the person selling the insurance is also providing the goods.Regulated firms and their agents are put on the FSA Register and have to meet certain standards. Always make sure that the firm you use is on the FSA Register before handing over your money. If they aren’t regulated by the FSA, you won’t have access to complaints and compensation procedures if things go wrong – see If things go wrong. To find out if a firm is on the FSA Register, see Check the FSA Register.Your friends or family may recommend an insurance broker or insurance company or you can find one along your high street.
Alternatively there are organisations that can help you – see Useful links. But remember, always check that the firm you use is on the FSA Register.If the firm is not on the FSA Register, or if you have been contacted by or dealt with an unauthorised insurance firm or broker, it would help the FSA if you would provide some information on your dealings with that firm or individual. See its list of Unauthorised firms/individuals and report any dealings using its Unauthorised firms reporting form.Buying without adviceYou don’t have to get advice before you take out an insurance policy, and UK firms that sell insurance without advice still have to follow the FSA’s rules. But it is up to you to decide whether the policy is suitable for you. You may have less grounds for complaint if the product turns out to be unsuitable.Comparison websitesComparison websites will ask you several questions and then provide you with quotes from various brokers and insurers. None of the websites cover the entire market, and some larger insurers are not represented on any of the websites, so you may wish to contact them directly. The comparison website should contain a list of the brokers and insurers they search.Some insurance comparison websites may ask you fewer questions to speed up the process, and instead make a number of assumptions about you. Always check the assumptions made about you and correct them where necessary.Most comparison websites will automatically pass your information on to a broker or insurer.
Although this means you don’t have to provide them again, you should check that the correct information has been provided to the broker or insurer. If anything is incorrect you should either change the information on the broker or insurer’s website, or contact them and ask them to change it.The Association of British Insurers (ABI) has a voluntary good practice guide for insurers, brokers, software houses and insurance comparison websites when providing online price comparison quotes for insurance.This will mean that you’ll get information to help you understand more about the policy you’re being offered. It also says that insurers who are unable to provide a quote to a customer (for example due to age or health) should refer them to another provider who may be able to offer them cover.When using a comparison website make sure:adverts about the site don’t make misleading claims about their market coverage – none of them covers the whole market, so if they claim to, this is unlikely to be true;you fully understand what savings you can make if the firm is advertising what looks like an attractive rate;the assumptions made about you are accurate and the same as the ones on the insurer’s quote; andyou understand what excesses you might have to pay.See our Shopping around guide for more information.What information will you get?When you contact an insurance broker they will give you:details of the service they are offering you – see Step 1; andinformation about the insurance policy being offered to you – see Step 2.Step 1 – Getting the KeyfactsWhen you contact an insurance provider, they will give you details of the service they offer. It may be in a about our service document, but doesn’t have to be.
They will tell you:whether they’re offering you advice or just information about the product;whose insurance policies they offer – it may be from one company or many; andhow much you’ll have to pay for the service.Use this document, or information to shop around to get the service you want at the price you’re happy with.Step 2Once you’ve discussed what you need and answered all the questions about yourself and what you want to insure, the intermediary, insurance company or the firm selling you the insurance will give you key policy information. This sets out the essential facts. Ask questions if you don’t understand anything as misunderstandings could lead to the insurance company refusing to pay out when you claim.The policy information will set out:what the insurance policy actually covers;what it doesn’t cover;any limits or restrictions; andother important features you need to know before you make up your mind.Make sure you get this and that you read and understand it. Ask the provider or insurance company to explain anything you don’t understand.Use this document to shop around and compare like with like. Another policy may be cheaper but does it offer the same cover?2. How to check if a firm is FSA authorisedYou can check whether a firm or individual is FSA authorised by using the FSA online ‘Check our Register’ service.Find out how to use the FSA Register and what to consider when looking for a firm or individual.Firms are put on our Register once we have given them permission to carry out a particular activity. Firms that work as ‘agents’ for other firms are also on our Register and are also known as ‘Appointed representatives’ or ‘Tied agents’. After that we monitor that they follow our set standards, known as being ‘regulated’.Always make sure that the firm you use is on our Register before handing over your money. If they aren’t regulated by us and things go wrong, you won’t have access to complaints procedures and compensation schemes, for example the Financial Ombudsman Service and Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). Some payment services firms do not have to be on the FSA register until May 2011, but you can still take complaints against them to the Financial Ombudsman Service.3. The difference between information and adviceYou can buy insurance after getting advice, or based on information after shopping around. Read our related article to understand the difference between buying with or without advice and the relative pros and cons.The difference between advice and informationWhen you get insurance advice, the broker or adviser looks at your individual circumstances and needs and recommends a policy to meet them. This often involves a face-to-face meeting, but you can get advice in other ways, for example by telephone, email, or through the post. Under FSA rules, if the advice turns out to be unsuitable you have the right to complain and, in some circumstances, may be able to claim compensation.Buying without adviceUK firms that sell insurance without advice still have to follow FSA rules, for example by providing you with certain information about their service and products (see next section). But if you buy this way it’s for you to decide whether or not you think the policy is suitable for you. If things go wrong it may be harder to complain.Information the insurance broker must give youFSA authorised firms must follow certain rules and standards when dealing with you, including giving you certain information.Information about a broker’s serviceWhen you contact an insurance provider, they will give you details of the service they offer. It may be in an ‘about our service document’, but doesn’t have to be.They will tell you:whether they’re offering you advice or just information about the productwhose insurance policies they offer – it may be from one company or manyhow much you’ll have to pay for the serviceUse this document, or information, to shop around to get the service you want at the price you’re happy with.Information about the insurance policyOnce you’ve discussed what you need and answered all the questions about yourself and what you want to insure, the intermediary, insurance company or the firm selling you the insurance will give you key policy information. This sets out the essential facts.For investment-type insurance they must give you a more detailed key features document which includes an illustration of how your investment might perform over time.
Archive for the ‘Insurance’ Category
How to shop around for general insurance?
Sunday, September 5th, 2010All the essentials about insurance
Saturday, August 28th, 2010There are dozens of different types of insurance, from insurance that you have to take out by law (such as car insurance), to policies that it’s a good idea to have (such as contents insurance) to those that are ‘nice to have’ rather than necessities.
Figures from the Association of British Insurers show that, during the recession, one in four people cancelled their home insurance. While it’s a good idea to make sure you’re not paying for insurance you don’t need, you should always think about what would happen if disaster were to strike before cancelling any insurance policies.
When you take out an insurance policy, you pay a premium to the insurance company. If you never make a claim, you never get any of the money back; instead it’s pooled with the premiums of others who have taken out insurance with a particular firm.
That may not sound like a good deal, but the idea behind insurance is that everyone pays into a pot of money, knowing that only some of them will ever need to make a claim. If you have to make a claim (perhaps because your washing machine has flooded your kitchen and damaged your floor), the money comes from the pool of your and other policyholders’ premiums.
Insurers are professional risk takers, which means they know the probability of different types of risk happening so they can calculate the premiums needed to create a fund large enough to cover likely loss payments.
Clearly, only a proportion of policyholders will make a claim in any one period. So, an insurer will take two important factors into account when calculating the premium it will charge. Firstly, how likely it is in general terms that someone will need to claim and secondly, whether the person who wants to take out the policy is a bigger or smaller risk than the ‘average’ policyholder.
Take three examples. In motor insurance, a young person with ahigh-powered car, or a driver with a long history of accidents will pay a higher premium than a mature and experienced driver with a car with a smaller engine who has not had an accident before.
Similarly, the owner of a fish and chip shop will pay a higher premium for his or her fire insurance than, say, the owner of an office. The risk is greater, so the premium is higher.
Someone who is young, fit and in a risk-free job will find it easier to buy life insurance and will pay lower premiums than someone who has a heart condition or is in a risky occupation.
The level of premium is also affected by the insurance company’s desire to target a particular section of the market. So, if an insurer wants to encourage younger drivers to buy insurance from it, it may decide to undercut the premiums charged by some of its rivals.
There are two different kinds of insurance - life insurance and general insurance.
General insurance pays out:
Most life policies, on the other hand, pay out when an event happens, such as when someone dies.
Anyone can buy life insurance but, the amount you pay in premiums will depend on your age, your health, and the type of work you do. The younger and healthier you are, the cheaper the premiums for life insurance. But if you work in a risky job, you’ll normally have to pay more for life insurance.
Most types of insurance are annual policies. That means that the amount you pay can change every year and, if you’ve made a claim in the previous year or your circumstances have changed, it could affect your premiums.
However, some types of insurance, such as life insurance and insurance that pays part of your income if you cannot work because you’re seriously ill, are long-term contracts. That means you don’t get renewed quotes every year as the premium is set when you first sign up.
If you have a joint mortgage with your husband, wife or partner, you can take out life insurance that will pay out if they die before the mortgage is paid off. However, you can’t take out insurance on someone unless you’d be financially worse off if they died.
With many general insurance policies, you have to pay the first part of any claim – called the excess – if something goes wrong. The level of the excess can vary widely. For a travel insurance policy, it may be £25 – £50 while for a car insurance policy it could be £100 or more.
Sometimes insurers will impose a large excess if you’ve already claimed for something and you’re likely to do so again, such as for flood damage or subsidence(which is when a building develops cracks because the foundations have moved).
Other principles apply to all kinds of insurance:
Tailor your policy to your electronic gadgets (mobile phones, iPhones, laptops, iPods, sat navs, cameras, blue tooth headsets, camcorders and more) with prices starting from as little as £1.49 per month!
What Is Property Insurance?
Tuesday, July 27th, 2010They say when it rains it pours. Accidents happen when you least expected it. A fire breaks out and you lose precious inventory. A hurricane sends a tree smashing down into your office; your business gets robbed. For you to be able to claim for these mishaps, you need property insurance.
Property insurance protects your business against any physical damage to, or loss of your assets. Assets also include the area in which the business runs and the property furnished there. In disasters like, fire, theft, explosion or vandalism, having property insurance help you recover your loss – whether it’s to repair damaged property or replace what you’ve lost. Every business owner must have property insurance to protect his assets. Although business property insurance isn’t required by law, it’s a very wise investment to limit your obligation in the event of a natural disaster or other calamity. Without it, it may cripple your business financially. Most business property insurance are tailored fit to the business and can cover a variety of losses, including damage from fires, electrical surges, or even theft by an employee.
Business owners can purchase additional types of coverage depending on their need. For example, a business in the mid west or in the east coast may want to purchase coverage for snow, sleet damage or ice. On the other hand, businesses in the west coast may consider an earthquake-insurance policy for them.
Property insurance can be insured in 2 ways namely: open perils and named perils. Open perils covers all the causes of loss not specifically excluded in the policy. Common types include damage resulting to earthquakes, floods, nuclear incidents, acts of terrorism and war. Named perils on the other hand, require the actual cause of loss to be listed in the policy for you to be able to claim insurance. These are the examples of named perils: damage causing events like fire, lightning, explosion and theft.
In addition, there are 2 lines of property insurance: commercial and personal lines. Commercial lines covers the following: automobiles, business owners (property and liability combined for smaller commercial customers), capital assets, crime and fidelity, electronic commerce, employment-related practices liability, equipment breakdown (known as boiler and machinery), farm, financial institutions, general liability, inland marine, management protection, market segments, medical-professional liability, package policies, property, umbrella, and workers compensation. On the other hand, personal lines cover the following: automobile, dwelling property, homeowners (property and liability combined), inland marine (diverse personal goods), personal liability (including personal umbrella).
Tenants can also buy property insurance. Commercial and industrial tenants also purchase insurance so that in the event that their inventories are damaged, they can replace them. Since businesses can have large amounts of capital tied up in inventory and equipment, such damage could be disastrous without insurance to cover them. Residential renters can also benefit from property insurance, even many are uninsured. Renters are sometimes overwhelmed to learn how much it will cost to replace their possessions after a flood or fire without insurance to cover their loss.
While many businesses purchase their property insurance policy through a business owner’s policy (BOP), these bundles property and liability insurance into just one policy. However, since the amount of coverage available in a BOP is generally lower than in a standard property insurance policy, companies usually require a lot of coverage that stick with a separate policy. Business interruption insurance and extra-expense insurance are 2 types of optional coverage in a property insurance policy that protects your business after a loss occurs. Business interruption insurance provides payments for expenses such as salaries, taxes and debts, as well as any loss of profit due to the interruption of business. Extra expense insurance, on the other hand, pays the costs of temporarily relocating a business when a covered peril occurs. For example, if a fire destroys a shoe store, extra-expense insurance will pay for the business to resume operations and cover such expenses as buying or leasing equipment, buying new merchandise and informing customers about changes that have occurred.
Knowing you have to back up in times of emergencies or disaster situations is important for any property owner, whether it’s business or personal property. Everyone has the right to be insured.