Home Insurance- How do you choose ?

luci

MyRealNameToo said:

luci said:

MyRealNameToo said:

AllClear and Insure&Go are both trading styles of the same company and I believe staff work across the two brands in the same way as Direct Line, Churchill, Privilege etc are all just trading styles of UK Insurance these days. 

Many insurers operate under multiple brands, back in my call centre days the headset just says which brand's telephone number they have rung and you use that in the salutation. From our perspective everything was in one system that was unbranded but it knows which brand the customer is with so if you sent a letter it would choose the right header stock to print it out on and wasnt something I had to deal with (other than the one time someone loaded the wrong paper to the wrong tray). 

Most insurers will exclude any pre-existing conditions of non-travelling relatives. The more generous may rely on the doctors opinion on if it was foreseeable that the relatives condition would deteriorate within the timescales involved, AllClear have wording along these lines at present. 

Interesting to know AC and I&G are under the umbrella of the same company. Most companies use the same medical screening company with identical questions. There is another screening company, but very few insurers use them.

I have compared policies from Direct Line and Churchill for car insurance and there were subtle differences between them.

I have seen policies that will cover close relatives if a doctor will confirm that there was no known reason that their condition would deteriorate.

Haven't looked at DL -v- CH in years but there is history given CH was an acquisition. The brands were pitched at different segments, Privilege was mass exclusive, DL broad mass market and CH at slightly lower end mass market and void in Scotland. The problem they had shortly after the acquisition was that Priv had the worst policy terms and CH the best whereas to match the brand position that needed change. 

Generally you won't have identical terms, you will vary them slightly to align them to your brand proposition but it can also be market segmentation even within a brand. Aviva write both fairly basic policies to be distributed by brokers but also do high net worth policies. 

Theres always challenges though, arguably you need the same people looking at a single product so you can consider things in the round and consider the consequence if you move pricing on one brand what it means for the other brands but then how do you keep the brand aligned if people sit on a product axis rather than brand. 

Privilege is one I won't even look at, probably because I looked at it years ago and didn't like what I saw. 

 "CH at slightly lower end mass market and void in Scotland". What do you mean by void in Scotland? Is that historical or current?

MyRealNameToo

luci said:

MyRealNameToo said:

luci said:

MyRealNameToo said:

AllClear and Insure&Go are both trading styles of the same company and I believe staff work across the two brands in the same way as Direct Line, Churchill, Privilege etc are all just trading styles of UK Insurance these days. 

Many insurers operate under multiple brands, back in my call centre days the headset just says which brand's telephone number they have rung and you use that in the salutation. From our perspective everything was in one system that was unbranded but it knows which brand the customer is with so if you sent a letter it would choose the right header stock to print it out on and wasnt something I had to deal with (other than the one time someone loaded the wrong paper to the wrong tray). 

Most insurers will exclude any pre-existing conditions of non-travelling relatives. The more generous may rely on the doctors opinion on if it was foreseeable that the relatives condition would deteriorate within the timescales involved, AllClear have wording along these lines at present. 

Interesting to know AC and I&G are under the umbrella of the same company. Most companies use the same medical screening company with identical questions. There is another screening company, but very few insurers use them.

I have compared policies from Direct Line and Churchill for car insurance and there were subtle differences between them.

I have seen policies that will cover close relatives if a doctor will confirm that there was no known reason that their condition would deteriorate.

Haven't looked at DL -v- CH in years but there is history given CH was an acquisition. The brands were pitched at different segments, Privilege was mass exclusive, DL broad mass market and CH at slightly lower end mass market and void in Scotland. The problem they had shortly after the acquisition was that Priv had the worst policy terms and CH the best whereas to match the brand position that needed change. 

Generally you won't have identical terms, you will vary them slightly to align them to your brand proposition but it can also be market segmentation even within a brand. Aviva write both fairly basic policies to be distributed by brokers but also do high net worth policies. 

Theres always challenges though, arguably you need the same people looking at a single product so you can consider things in the round and consider the consequence if you move pricing on one brand what it means for the other brands but then how do you keep the brand aligned if people sit on a product axis rather than brand. 

Privilege is one I won't even look at, probably because I looked at it years ago and didn't like what I saw. 

 "CH at slightly lower end mass market and void in Scotland". What do you mean by void in Scotland? Is that historical or current?

Poor choice of words... the brand doesnt resonate at all with the Scotts so they dont bother advertising there and their market share is tiny compared to other areas of the UK with the same demographics... its not that the insurance literally isnt valid. 

luci

MyRealNameToo said:

luci said:

MyRealNameToo said:

luci said:

MyRealNameToo said:

AllClear and Insure&Go are both trading styles of the same company and I believe staff work across the two brands in the same way as Direct Line, Churchill, Privilege etc are all just trading styles of UK Insurance these days. 

Many insurers operate under multiple brands, back in my call centre days the headset just says which brand's telephone number they have rung and you use that in the salutation. From our perspective everything was in one system that was unbranded but it knows which brand the customer is with so if you sent a letter it would choose the right header stock to print it out on and wasnt something I had to deal with (other than the one time someone loaded the wrong paper to the wrong tray). 

Most insurers will exclude any pre-existing conditions of non-travelling relatives. The more generous may rely on the doctors opinion on if it was foreseeable that the relatives condition would deteriorate within the timescales involved, AllClear have wording along these lines at present. 

Interesting to know AC and I&G are under the umbrella of the same company. Most companies use the same medical screening company with identical questions. There is another screening company, but very few insurers use them.

I have compared policies from Direct Line and Churchill for car insurance and there were subtle differences between them.

I have seen policies that will cover close relatives if a doctor will confirm that there was no known reason that their condition would deteriorate.

Haven't looked at DL -v- CH in years but there is history given CH was an acquisition. The brands were pitched at different segments, Privilege was mass exclusive, DL broad mass market and CH at slightly lower end mass market and void in Scotland. The problem they had shortly after the acquisition was that Priv had the worst policy terms and CH the best whereas to match the brand position that needed change. 

Generally you won't have identical terms, you will vary them slightly to align them to your brand proposition but it can also be market segmentation even within a brand. Aviva write both fairly basic policies to be distributed by brokers but also do high net worth policies. 

Theres always challenges though, arguably you need the same people looking at a single product so you can consider things in the round and consider the consequence if you move pricing on one brand what it means for the other brands but then how do you keep the brand aligned if people sit on a product axis rather than brand. 

Privilege is one I won't even look at, probably because I looked at it years ago and didn't like what I saw. 

 "CH at slightly lower end mass market and void in Scotland". What do you mean by void in Scotland? Is that historical or current?

Poor choice of words... the brand doesnt resonate at all with the Scotts so they dont bother advertising there and their market share is tiny compared to other areas of the UK with the same demographics... its not that the insurance literally isnt valid. 

Phew! I took out my home insurance with Churchill this year and was worried there was an issue. I thought there shouldn't have been, as my postcode would have flagged that I'm in Scotland. I've been with them before for car insurance and found them good to deal with when the OH was in a no fault accident.

What do you think about Ageas? My car insurance is with them this year.

MyRealNameToo

I dont have that much opinion on them, they are always stated to be larger than I would imagine they are in the UK but they are much bigger in other countries than here. Never had a policy with them, never worked with them and in my claims days they weren't particularly remarkable in one way or another but that was pre their needing governmental bail outs etc. 

luci

MyRealNameToo said:

I dont have that much opinion on them, they are always stated to be larger than I would imagine they are in the UK but they are much bigger in other countries than here. Never had a policy with them, never worked with them and in my claims days they weren't particularly remarkable in one way or another but that was pre their needing governmental bail outs etc. 

Thanks. I chose them because I remembered my friend having a good experience with them for travel insurance when she was diagnosed with terminal cancer. However, that was a different product and a long time ago. I wasn't aware of the governmental bail out. Should I be concerned about that?

MyRealNameToo

luci said:

MyRealNameToo said:

I dont have that much opinion on them, they are always stated to be larger than I would imagine they are in the UK but they are much bigger in other countries than here. Never had a policy with them, never worked with them and in my claims days they weren't particularly remarkable in one way or another but that was pre their needing governmental bail outs etc. 

Thanks. I chose them because I remembered my friend having a good experience with them for travel insurance when she was diagnosed with terminal cancer. However, that was a different product and a long time ago. I wasn't aware of the governmental bail out. Should I be concerned about that?

Not really, they used to have a banking arm and it along with RBS and Santander bought ABN Amro which turned out to have been grossly overvalued hence why in 2008 both RBS and Fortis (as they were called at the time) required bailouts. Like RBS they were forced to split up and chose to rename... RBS sold RBS Insurance (which return to its old name of Direct Line Group) and renamed to Natwest, Fortis was broken up and its Insurance arm renamed as Ageas, its banking operations were split with the dutch arm being nationalised and its other arms going to BNP Paribas 

Insurers generally survived the 2008 credit crunch ok, but many were part of wider groups whose banking/ investment arms had problems. AIG was bailed out by the US government and their insurance arm got renamed Chartis for 4-5 years before returning the name AIG. 

The AIG France office used to hold an annual event at the George V to engage with brokers, it was to be held the day after the US governmental bail out. By all accounts the George V said they need prepaying rather than the normal 28 days payment terms and it was a very somber event rather than the normal Parisian excess with the AIG guys trying to convince everyone that the insurance arm was still profitable, stable and wouldnt be sunk by the problems of other divisions. 

luci

MyRealNameToo said:

luci said:

MyRealNameToo said:

I dont have that much opinion on them, they are always stated to be larger than I would imagine they are in the UK but they are much bigger in other countries than here. Never had a policy with them, never worked with them and in my claims days they weren't particularly remarkable in one way or another but that was pre their needing governmental bail outs etc. 

Thanks. I chose them because I remembered my friend having a good experience with them for travel insurance when she was diagnosed with terminal cancer. However, that was a different product and a long time ago. I wasn't aware of the governmental bail out. Should I be concerned about that?

Not really, they used to have a banking arm and it along with RBS and Santander bought ABN Amro which turned out to have been grossly overvalued hence why in 2008 both RBS and Fortis (as they were called at the time) required bailouts. Like RBS they were forced to split up and chose to rename... RBS sold RBS Insurance (which return to its old name of Direct Line Group) and renamed to Natwest, Fortis was broken up and its Insurance arm renamed as Ageas, its banking operations were split with the dutch arm being nationalised and its other arms going to BNP Paribas 

Insurers generally survived the 2008 credit crunch ok, but many were part of wider groups whose banking/ investment arms had problems. AIG was bailed out by the US government and their insurance arm got renamed Chartis for 4-5 years before returning the name AIG. 

The AIG France office used to hold an annual event at the George V to engage with brokers, it was to be held the day after the US governmental bail out. By all accounts the George V said they need prepaying rather than the normal 28 days payment terms and it was a very somber event rather than the normal Parisian excess with the AIG guys trying to convince everyone that the insurance arm was still profitable, stable and wouldnt be sunk by the problems of other divisions. 

Many thanks for the detailed reply. Really interesting to hear what has gone on in the past.