Month: April 2021

20th April 2021

As you will be aware, there has been a growing problem over the past few years of certain cars being popularly targeted by thieves. This had led the insurance industry to put conditions on clients for more and more models, particularly 4x4s.

As can be seen from the following Daily Telegraph article in the Money section by Will Kirkham on 10th April 2020 (reproduced in full) one of the more popular approaches for insurers is to ask for a tracker to be fitted to the car.

Four-by-four owners blocked from car cover after spike in thefts

Car insurers have refused to cover four-by-four vehicles unless they have been fitted with a specialist tracking device following a rise in thefts.

In some cases, trackers fitted as standard by vehicle manufacturers have been deemed inadequate by insurers, according to Broadway Insurance Brokers.

Data from the Office for National Statistics showed that 12pc of all burglaries in England and Wales in the 12 months to March last year involved theft of cars or car parts, double the figures for 2010. Several of the bestselling four-by-four models were among the most frequently stolen vehicles in Britain, according to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency.

The Land Rover Range Rover was the second most likely vehicle to be stolen in 2020, with 2,881 illegally taken over the year.

Eleanor Moore, of Broadway Insurance Brokers, said it was a growing issue: “Having a tracking device is now a regular requirement before a quote is even provided. Even so, we have seen plenty of cases in which vehicles with trackers are being turned down because they’re not regarded as offering sufficient protection.”

Ms Moore said that one client saw a claim refused by his insurer after his car, which was fitted with a tracker, was stolen. His was because the client had failed to renew his tracker subscription, meaning the device was not operational at the time of the theft. This left him liable for £40,000 in car finance payments.

“It’s important to remember that insurers are under no obligation to provide cover,” she said.
“Those motorists wanting to take out and renew policies for their cars need to make sure that they understand and abide by the small print.”

Some 74,769 vehicles were stolen across Britain last year, according to DVLA figures obtained by Riverdale Leasing, a car firm, nearly 20,000 more than the previous year.
Despite this, car insurance costs have fallen to a seven year low across the market due to a drop in claims during the pandemic, according to Moneysupermarket, a comparison site

It is clear these tracker requirements mean some considerations for your clients and we encourage you to engage with them so that they don’t make any costly assumptions. While it may feel that an extra few minutes on a sale which the client has already confirmed compliance with all the endorsements seems like overkill, those two minutes will be a great investment if it takes away the need for a call to explain that cover isn’t in place for a car that has been stolen.

Thankfully, we have very few occasions where we have to deliver bad news to a client, but it’s not a nice conversation on those limited occasions that we do. It’s especially hard to have when it’s clear the client has made an honest, if grave, error.

Here are a few probing questions to add to the conversation so that it doesn’t stop at, “this policy requires you to have an active tracker, can you confirm you can comply with endorsement X?”…”Yes”.

If the car has a manufacturer fitted tracker:

Is it activated?
• Some manufacturers include a tracker, but don’t necessarily subscribe you to a tracking company.
• Even if they did include a subscription when you bought the car, are the subscriptions up-to-date?
a. Perhaps they offered a 1- or 2-year subscription. Has this now lapsed?
b. Did you continue it in your own name?

What type of tracker was fitted?
• It may be that the tracker is a standard tracker, but the insurance requires an Automatic Driver Recognition tracker. Does the manufacturer’s tracker meet the insurer’s requirements?

Regardless of whether the client believes the manufacturer fitted a tracker, or perhaps a previous owner says they added one to the vehicle:
• Are you sure there is a tracker fitted?
• Have you got an instalment certificate?
• Is the tracker Thatcham approved?
• Are you aware that any automatic driver recognition device must be removed from the vehicle when it’s unattended?

You may have your own set of questions. The important thing is to engage with clients to fully understand what’s required of them so that they don’t make the costly mistake of assuming what they have (or think they have) will cover them for all eventualities.

We all know it’s preferable to give monosyllabic answers to insurance proposal questions, but it really is in your clients’ interest to engage in this subject. With thefts up over 33% in a year, security requirements are only likely to become more stringent and may draw more people into understanding the reality of the situation.

19th April 2021

Confidas are resuming the sale of travel insurance with immediate effect. Just as importantly, we are delighted to confirm that we haven’t made any price increases with this re-introduction.

With so many products being pared back with wide exclusions on Covid-19, we have been careful to keep as much cover in place as possible. To help with some of the inevitable client questions, the following is some guidance on our cover.

Since November 2020 all current policies have had an endorsement which means that a customer won’t be covered if they cancel a trip because of COVID-19 or another pandemic for the following reasons:
• Government actions such as lockdown, social distancing restrictions and quarantine/self-isolation requirements (test and trace).
• Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCDO) advice against all or all but essential travel.
• Not being able to get to their destination or use their accommodation.

However, Customers are still covered for the following reasons relating to COVID-19 or another pandemic:
• Cancelling a trip if they, a travelling companion or close relative is diagnosed with COVID-19.
• Cutting short a trip if the FCO advice changes during it, as long as the advice wasn’t in place when they departed.
• Cutting short a trip if they can’t stay in their pre-booked accommodation
• Emergency medical expenses if they’re diagnosed with COVID-19 while on a trip.

Travel insurance can be bought new as part of a portfolio alongside either our Confidas Max or Lux Home products, and it can also be added for clients who already have a Home product as a mid-term adjustment.

With concerns around capacity in the travel insurance market as the travel industry opens up, we hope this gives you even greater options to serve your clients.

We are delighted to announce that Flood Re is now available through Confidas.

The first thing to note is that there the process for gaining Flood Re cover is the same as for current enquiries, simply present the risk as you normally do.

New Business
• The immediate benefit is that Flood Re will allow us to quote a further 1 in 10 cases and give you more opportunities to win business.
• There will be certain triggers where we will automatically cede to Flood Re, but a further benefit of this launch is that we have also developed a rating system to price the flood risk element ourselves where these triggers are not activated.
• In the circumstances where our own Flood premium returns a lower price than the Flood Receded premium, we will offer these exclusive terms instead.

This means your clients will always get our best possible terms.

Change of Address & Additional Properties

• We will also be able to continue to cover more clients who change address or add properties (excluding let properties – see below) to their portfolio.
• At launch, we will require a new policy for risks that are ceded, owing to the new rating structure that has had to be developed to allow Flood Re interaction.
• For the interim this will mean a small number of high flood risk portfolios will need to be cancelled and replaced with a new 12 month policy if the new property must be ceded in order for us to continue to cover our mutual client.
• We are continuing to develop the system to cope with the high flood risk properties on a mid-term adjustment basis and eventually all risks will be migrated on to the new rating system when this is available.

Excess

• Flood Re require a minimum excess of £250.
• Where there is a higher policy excess (usually on Lux) it will be this excess that will be used and this will be clearly shown on the policy schedule.
• Should the excess waiver clause on our own policy mean the policy excess is waived, the Flood Re excess will then apply.
• We will never charge two excesses, only the higher of the two excesses applicable.

Flood risks that will continue to be declined

As you will know, Flood Re will not accept ceding on a very limited number of properties. In line with this, we will not be offering terms in high flood risk areas for:
• Let properties
• Properties built in 2009 onwards.

This is an exciting time for us all, particularly as the new rating approach will give an alternative, exclusive, pricing structure to you and your clients who may have previously struggled to find cost effective solutions to their household insurances.