|
Category:
Insurance
News /
Short Term
Insurance /
Santam
/ October 2007
The importance of understandable policy wordings
We will do our best to provide clients with simple and clear
documentation.
As
part of its ‘risk management’ platform, Santam, the country’s
largest short-term insurer, has committed itself to making insurance
policies simpler to read and understand.
The objective is to enable policyholders
to be able to extract important information with ease and therefore
to exercise more control over rising premiums.
Caroline da Silva, Head of Portfolio Management at Santam says,
“Simpler policies, accompanied by easily accessible broker and call
centre advice means that policyholders will be less likely to have a
claim rejected as a result of ‘not knowing’ the terms of their
contract.
“By
providing need-to-know information in a clear and accessible way,
policyholders are less likely to miss out on important details that
may have been lost in the fine print before.
“The industry sometimes has a very negative image amongst the
general public. At Santam, we are determined to play our part in
ensuring improved relationships with all our policyholders and
brokers, and for this reason we will do our best to provide clients
with simple and clear documentation, along with appropriate
education and support.”
“But,” Da Silva warns, “An insurance policy is a two-way street and
will be based on the information given by the customer. It is thus
very important that the customer makes a full disclosure to the
insurer or his broker. Since this will determine the appropriate
terms and condition of the policy."
"Once the client receives the policy he or she needs to ensure they
read it carefully. Ultimately it’s all about communication and we
really encourage policyholders to ask questions if they are unsure
about any element of their policy at any time.”
Da
Silva cites several industry examples where policyholders have been
left out of pocket as a result of having omitted important
information up-front, or where they have failed to study their
policy documents adequately.
In
general Da Silva notes that a policy becomes immediately voidable if
an incorrect claims’ history is submitted or where any details that
could affect the risk are not disclosed.
“Often, policyholders do not fully disclose claims history, which
provides the insurer with a good indication of individual risk from
which individual premiums are determined.
“Policyholders also often forget to upgrade policies when an insured
item is upgraded, or they neglect to inform the insurer when new
risk appears. For example an insurer would need to know about the
presence of builders at a policyholder’s premises.”
Da
Silva says that by not implementing the security measures required
in terms of ones policy - for example by not fitting burglar bars at
home or gear locks in cars, where specified and required in terms of
one’s policy - an insurer would be entitled not to pay out should a
theft occur.
“And, once the security is in place, it needs to be used properly.
It’s no good installing an alarm system but not activating it,” she
says.
Source: ITInews – Insurance
Times and Investments Online
www.itinews.co.za
Save to del.icio.us
 |
