Haggling

pawsies

Just got 20% off a renewal but I've just thought does this mean that the insurance company will secretly put a mark against my name should I need to make a claim and thus be more likely to refuse any claims?

Can anyone that has worked in insurance let us know what happens?

dunstonh

Just got 20% off a renewal but I've just thought does this mean that the insurance company will secretly put a mark against my name should I need to make a claim and thus be more likely to refuse any claims?

no. Retail and claims are two different things.

InsideInsurance

You should always assume an insurer will apply the terms of the policy as they are written. If you get any benefit of the doubt/ gesture of goodwill it should be seen as a bonus and not assumed that you'll get it.

Insurers do factor in a number of things when deciding if to give a gesture of goodwill or not. Most of the time it revolves around market segmentation, relationship with intermediaries (if there are any), length of relationship etc. In theory they could use discounts negotiated/ applied but in practice I haven't seen it done.

One example with a previous client was on their Travel insurance which they sold as a white label product via other companies brands. So the wording said you received £X per complete hour delayed so if you were 1 hour 58 minutes delayed you'd get £X because it was only one complete hour. However, a number of the brands wanted to give a better customer experience so paid slightly more wholesale price so that whilst the wording was still the same they'd actually have paid £2X and given them a gesture of goodwill over the 2 minutes shortfall.

This of cause was the wholesale price though and they were free to charge their customers whatever they wanted at consumer price (and not all those that paid the extra passed it on to their customers)

*Scarlett

The insurer will probably have recorded that they gave you the discount but it will not count against any future claims.

They have given you a discount to keep your business and unless they have applied any special terms to get the price, your ability to claim would not be affected.

Check any endorsements or an increased excess fee.