Insurance News - Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Here are the leading auto insurance headlines from ONTARIO AUTO INSURANCE TOPICS ON TWITTER for Wednesday, January 27, 2016:

• Kathleen Wynne says pledge to cut auto insurance 15 per cent was a ‘stretch goal’ - classic govt speak!
• Ontario's finance minister is hard-pressed to explain why he continued to declare publicly that the government would meet an election pledge to cut auto insurance rates despite being aware that keeping the promise would be challenging.
• Canadians are wary of self-driving cars.  They would rather see technology make driving safer.
• Google's monthly report for its self-driving car project is in, and according to data recorded by onboard computers, the car's human drivers intervened 13 times between September 2014 and November 2015 to avoid an accident.
• Is State Farm preparing for the end of auto insurance?
• The biggest roadblock facing driverless cars is not government regulation but lawyers.
• Windsor wants to become test site for self-driving vehicles.

Insurance News - Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Here are the leading auto insurance headlines from ONTARIO AUTO INSURANCE TOPICS ON TWITTER for Tuesday, January 26, 2016:

• Town of Stratford has built connected infrastructure to attract self-driving cars for testing over the past decade.
• Uber's impact being felt as San Francisco's largest cab company Yellow Cab to file for bankruptcy.
• Why baby boomers embrace sensor-driven cars, but doubt self-driving cars.
• While claiming their self-driving cars have not caused an accident, Google also reports self-driving car mistakes: 272 failures and 13 near misses.
• Google wants to form more partnerships with automakers and suppliers in 2016 to accelerate work on self-driving cars.
• Obama boosts self-driving car development with $4 billion investment.

Ontario's Failed Rate Reduction Strategy

The promise to reduce auto insurance premiums by 15% is a failure.  

In August 2013 the Ontario government announced a two-year rate reduction strategy. What has ensued since that announcement has been a series of reforms to bring down the cost of insurance. Many of those reforms include no-fault accident benefit reductions.  

So how successful has the strategy been?  Last week FSCO posted the fourth quarter rate approvals for 2015. The FSCO post indicates that rates fell a minuscule 0.15% in the quarter. For the entire year, rates fell by just 1.0%.  Since August 2013, rates have only come down by 7.1%.  That's not even half of what the government has been trying to achieve.

Premier Kathleen Wynne now calls the 15% rate reduction strategy a "stretch goal".  That's as close as you're going to get a government to admit to failure.  

Another round of no-fault accident benefit cuts are to be introduced on June 1 of this year but don't expect them to bring down rates by a significant amount. The accident benefits portion of the Ontario in 2014 was only 33.5% of claim costs (see the chart below).  That would mean for a further 8% reduction in premiums, accident benefit costs would have to go down by about 24%.  Meanwhile, some of the accident benefit cuts will drift over to third party liability costs since not at-fault accident victims will be able to sue for benefits no longer available through no-fault.

It's time the government undertake a comprehensive review of the auto insurance system and resolve the systemic problems plaguing the system.  Half measures lead to "stretch goals" and chronically high insurance premiums.

How To Choose A Life Insurance Plan In Nigeria

Life Insurance is all about protecting your future and that of your family/dependants. Life Insurance nowadays is more fashionable because there are many products that involve benefits being payable even before death. There are products for family, kid’s education, capital accumulation, thrift savings plan and so on.
No matter the type of cover you choose, factors ranging from your needs to your age and much more will determine your premium. This post is coming with a purpose of enlightening you on how to purchase a cover that will be of benefit to you.

How To Choose A Life Insurance Plan

1. DETERMINE YOUR NEED

Before you fill the proposal form or issue your cheque, the first thing to do it to determine exactly what your need is. How to do this is to look within. Answer basic questions like:
Are you single or married?
Do you have kids and how many?
What are your running expenses?
Can you afford to keep paying the premium?
It is essential to answer these questions because life insurance involves premium payment which is periodical. You are to estimate your living expenses and add the insurance premium and see how it goes. It is important because once you start should be able to sustain your payment without which you will not be able to reap your full benefit. Also answering these questions will go a long way to help in this next step below.

2. MAKE YOUR CHOICE

There are different life insurance covers available you can choose from. Here are the basic plans: Term assurance, whole life assurance and endowment plan.

• Term Assurance: provides cover for a specific period and will only pay out if the life assured dies during the period. It is the most basic of all life assurance policies. However, if the assured survives, no payment is made and the policy expires. There are different types of term assurance:

1. Level Term Assurance
2. Renewable Term Assurance
3. Convertible Term Assurance
4. Increasing Term Assurance
5. Decreasing Term Assurance
6. Family Income Policy
7. Increasing Family Income Policy
8. Unit-Linked Term Assurance

• Whole Life Assurance: is a very simple policy which pays out whenever the life assured dies. This is different from Term Assurance because it is a permanent policy, hence it does not expire. It is more expensive. Whole life is a substantive policy and can be used as security for loans. There are different types of Whole Life Cover:

1. Non-profit Whole Life Policy
2. With-profit Whole Life Policy
3. Low-Cost Whole Life Policy
4. Single Premium Unit-Linked Whole Life Policy
5. Regular Premium Unit-Linked Whole Life Policy

• Endowment Plan: Allows the sum assured to be payable on a fixed date – the maturity date – or on the life of assured’s earlier death. What this mean is that if the assured did not die, the payout will go to him but if he does, it goes to his beneficiaries. Endowment policies are substantive policies because there will be payout at a point in the future and can be used as a security for loans. The following are the types of endowment policies:

1. Non-profit endowments
2. With-profit endowments
3. Low-cost endowments
4. Low-start endowments
5. Flexidowments
6. Unit-Linked Endowments
7. Pure Endowments
8. Guaranteed Bonds

 
Read the rest here

How To Make A Third Party Car Insurance Claim

 

Do you know that your Third Party Car Insurance Certificate in Nigeria has a N1,000,000 property damage cover on it? Do you also know that the life cover on it is unlimited? If you don’t know, now you know. Your Third Party Car Insurance Certificate is more than ‘Police-let-me-pass’ as it is commonly called in Nigeria, it is a valid piece of paper!
The issue of whether Insurance Companies pay claim is no more an issue presently because the Insurance Industry has been revamped. Please feel free to read Why Insurance Companies Don’t Pay Claims. Now how do you make a Third Party Claim?

How To Make A Third Party Car Insurance Claim

A Third Party Only Car Insurance covers your legal liability (as a holder or insured) to third parties in respect of any damage to their properties (minimum of N1m) and for any injury or death(unlimited) to them from the use your motor vehicle. It also covers your legal fees for defense of a claim in court.
To make a Third Party Claim follow the steps below carefully.

1. NOTIFICATION

Once an accident, loss or damage occurs and it was decided that you are at fault by the officer or people on the spot, contact your insurer immediately. Note that you are not supposed to admit liability on behalf of the insurer; it is the duty of the third party to prove liability or be determined in the court. Call your insurer on phone and for documentary purpose write a letter of notification or email to your insurer. The letter should give a very brief description of the incident stating the date and time of the loss. Since this is a third party claim thus any impending prosecution, inquest or fatal inquiry in respect of the occurrence should be communicated to the insurer with your letter or in subsequent letters. Also, any claim letter from the third party, writ summons and process should be forwarded to the insurer immediately.

2. ACKNOWLEDGMENT 

After your notification has been received, the insurer writes to sympathize with and assures you of handling the claim or to reject the claim if you are not covered. If the claim is not repudiated, the insurer’s letter will be accompanied with a claim form for you to fill. The claim form asks detailed questions relating to the claim. The form helps to get a clear description of the claim. Ensure you complete it accurately without misrepresenting anything. The information you put down in the claim form should be the same as those in the Police Report. The insurer will request for some claim substantiating documents which include:
For Property Damage Claim

• Estimate of repairs
• Photographs of the accidental vehicles
• Third Party claim letter
• Driver’s statement of loss
• Police report
• Driver’s license of the driver in charge of the vehicle prior to the accident

For Death or injury claim

• Writ summons or court order
• Police Report
• Third Party claim letter
• Photographs of the accident
• Hospital bill
• Death certificate
• Corona’s report
• Driver’s statement of loss
• Driver’s license of the driver in charge of the vehicle prior to the accident

After you have gotten the documents, attach them to the Completed Claim Form and forward to the insurer (originals should be forwarded to avoid unnecessary delay).

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How To Protect Your Assets With Insurance

Assets are your possessions that make life easy for you; they are parts of your life. Assets can range from material to non-material. I want to adopt another view as to what constitute an asset.
My view is that assets do not necessarily mean things with financial values alone like cars, houses, business premises, machines etc. I believe what constitute an asset depends on an individual. This means things that assist such a person in earning a living e.g. a footballer’s asset could be his leg while a singer’s greatest asset could be his or her voice. As a bread winner your asset could be your lucrative job, your business, your house, your taxi etc. It will interest you to know that all these assets can and have been insured.
We are going to observe some risks that assets are exposed to and how one can protect his or her assets from them. As an individual or business it is important to protect your asset and that with appropriate insurance policies.
We are going to consider:

• Protecting your Asset as an individual
• Protecting your assets as a business or corporate body

1. FIRE, FLOODING, LANDSLIDE, HURRICANE AND OTHER NATURAL DISASTERS

These risks usually have devastating effects on assets. Fire can cause a lot of damage on buildings, cars and other physical assets so also can the other perils. Every person or business faces all the above listed risks. An insurance policy will not prevent them from occurring but it will be there for you when it does happen so that you will not end up losing everything you own to them. If your house gets burnt without an insurance policy you have lost all!
INSURANCE PROTECTION: These risks can be covered under Fire and Special Perils Insurance Policy. I am going to spare you the technical jargons. This policy covers loss or damage of properties against fire, lightning, explosion of boilers or gas, storm, flood, burst pipes and overflowing of water tanks, impact of vehicles, malicious damage, earthquake damage, aircraft damage, bush fire, tornado and cyclone as well as riot and strike. This insurance coverage is very cheap when you have to consider the premium payable vis-à-vis the value of the property. For example, if your house costs N10m and insuring it, you were charged a rate of 0.225%. This will make the annual premium you are going to pay to be N22,500. With that little amount you are covered under a fire and special perils for a year until renewal.
ALSO READ: How to choose a life insurance plan

2. THEFT, BURGLARY AND HOUSEBREAKING

Every home or business is faced with the challenge of being robbed. Depending on the area of residence houses get burgled and robbed occasionally. Armed robbers, thieves, vandals etc are threats to houses or apartments.
INSURANCE PROTECTION: What you can do to protect your priced assets like your home and properties is Burglary and Housebreaking Insurance. This policy covers your property against loss or damage by theft. It should be noted that the policy covers not only the stolen goods but also the damage inflicted on doors or safe by the burglar in an attempt to gain entrance to the property. It should be noted here that the insurance definition of Theft is different from its legal definition. In Insurance, theft must involve violence and application of force i.e. entry into or exit from a premises by forcible and violent means. This definition excludes stealing by tricks or any means other than the use of some form of force. However, your private residence burglary policy can cover such theft that does not include force (this is called larceny), which is covered at an additional premium. Burglary insurance too is not expensive. For example if all the content in your house or apartment is valued at N5m then depending on the area you reside the insurer might charge you 0.5% rate which makes your premium be N25,000. Kindly note that the rate is applied only to content of the building because it is not possible for a building to be stolen!


Read more here

Insurance News - Monday, January 11, 2016

Here are the leading auto insurance headlines from ONTARIO AUTO INSURANCE TOPICS ON TWITTER for Monday, January 11, 2016:

• Sidecar, the third-biggest U.S. ride-sharing service, has ceased operating as the company is squeezed out by better-known competitors Uber and Lyft.
• Plaintiff’s lawyers are encouraged at the prospects for big court awards from accidents self-driving cars. With no one behind the wheel, lawyers say they can go after almost anyone even remotely involved.
• General Motors and ride-sharing company Lyft are forming an unprecedented partnership that could help them beat their rivals to the self-driving future.
• The big data of bad driving, and how insurers plan to use technological to assess risk and set premiums.
• Aviva Insurance plans to support Uber drivers in Canada with special coverage, a move that could give comfort to users of the ride-sharing service, and one that will likely disrupt the taxi industry further.

Ontario Moves Forward with Regulating the Towing Industry

Ontario consumers and insurers have had many long-standing complaints about the practices of towing operators.  Back in 2012, the Auto Insurance Anti-FraudTask Force, created by the Minister of Finance, recommended a number of changes regarding the regulation of towing services.  Last year the Ontario Legislature passed Bill 15, a wide-ranging piece of legislation that will have a significant impact on the towing industry. 

Changes will be made to the Consumer Protection Act and its regulation, establishing tow and storage-specific consumer protection measures effective January 1, 2017. They will require tow and storage providers to:

• Get permission from a consumer or someone acting on their behalf before providing tow and storage services.
• Record the name and contact information of the consumer, along with the date and time of authorization.
• Disclose certain information to the in writing, such as the provider's business name, contact information and address where the vehicle will be towed.
• Accept credit card payments, in addition to cash, from consumers.
• Provide an itemized invoice, listing services provided, the cost for each service, and the total cost before demanding or receiving payment.
• Make available a current statement of rates at their place of business and on any existing website.
• Post other information, for example, the provider's name and telephone number on the side of a tow truck, at all business premises and on any website.
• Provide a consumer with access to the towed vehicle, at no charge, so that they may remove personal property from the vehicle.
• Prohibit tow and storage providers from recommending repair and storage facilities, legal service providers or health care service providers unless a consumer specifically asks, or the provider offers to make a recommendation and the consumer agrees.
• Disclose to a consumer whether the provider is getting a financial reward or incentive for providing a recommendation for towing a vehicle to a particular storage or repair shop.
• Establish minimum insurance coverage including general liability insurance of $2 million, customer vehicle insurance of $100,000 and $50,000 cargo insurance.
• Maintain authorization and disclosure records, invoices, copies of insurance policy, and current statement of rates for three years.                                         

There are some exemptions, such as, if services are provided under a prepaid agreement or membership in an association, such as the Canadian Automobile Association (CAA) where the consumer is not being charged for the specific service being provided.  These exemptions will also apply when the tow and storage services are provided when a vehicle is purchased or leased and the consumer is not charged for the specific service being provided.

The Repair and Storage Liens Act deals with the rights of repairers and storers to claim a lien against vehicles they repaired and/or stored.  Most of the changes to the Repair and Storage Liens Act will take effect on July 1, 2016 The new regulations are designed to eliminate overcharging for vehicle storage and make it easier for vehicle lien holders to find out that the vehicle is in storage in the first place. 

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Changes to the Repair and Storage Liens Act and its regulation will:

• Reduce the notice period from 60 days to 15 days for vehicles registered in Ontario. The new rules are expected to improve storage practices and remove associated costs from the auto insurance system.
• If the notice is not provided, a lien is limited to the unpaid amount owing for the period of 15 days from the day of receiving the vehicle.
• Provide guidance to courts in determining the "fair value" of repair or storage where no amount has been agreed upon. A list of discretionary factors (e.g., fixed costs, variable costs, direct costs, indirect costs, profit and any other relevant factors) is set out for consideration.

 Finally, the government is adding regulations under the Highway Traffic Act that will bring tow trucks under the Commercial Vehicle Operator's Registration (CVOR) system. Tow trucks and other towing vehicles will require a CVOR certificate.  The CVOR system is used to track the safety of truck and bus operators in Ontario.  This new regulation will come into effect on January 1, 2017.

Under CVOR, tow operators will be responsible for all the drivers and vehicles in their operation. These responsibilities include:

• Monitoring the conduct and safety performance of drivers.
• Resolving driver safety issues when they are identified.
• Keeping vehicles in good, safe condition at all times.
• Ensuring load security. 

Tow trucks will continue to be exempt from some requirements faced by other classes of vehicle under the CVOR system, such as hours of service limits, daily inspection, detailed recordkeeping requirements and entering truck inspection stations, until the government has concluded consultations with the towing industry and other stakeholders on an effective regulatory regime for tow trucks.

Protect Your Building from the Cold

Arctic temperatures can have a dramatic effect on your building — and your livelihood. Regular maintenance and a winter weather plan can help you avoid any negative impact.

WHAT CAN HAPPEN

Winter storms frequently cause electrical power failure, which in turn can disable your heating system. If this happens, water-filled piping (such as sprinklers, domestic water pipes and heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems) may freeze and rupture. It is important to assess the potential for this hazard.

• Inspect all safety shutoff valves and cutoff switches on combustion equipment such as rooftop units, boilers and ovens, including water main shutoffs and main electrical service disconnects.
• Have qualified contractors or staff properly inspect heating, air-handling units and space heaters on at least an annual basis. Assure that space heaters are monitored for fire safety.
• Review the location and storage of flammable liquids such as propane, gasoline and diesel fuel. Should your sprinkler system freeze and require that it be disabled, it is recommended to reduce this storage to a minimum to minimize the amount of fuel in a fire.

Without proper winter weather preparation, your business could experience property damage — roof collapse, pipe rupture and more.

HOW TO REDUCE YOUR RISK

There are some strategies you can implement to protect your facility and minimize the impact of severe weather on your business:

• Maintain building temperatures above 55 degrees. Plan for maintenance personnel to properly monitor buildings during cold snaps, making more frequent visits to buildings or areas of buildings not normally occupied.
• Inspect all areas along the inside and outside perimeters of the building to ensure they are sealed and there are no drafty areas.
• Maintain roofs in good condition, including repairing leaks, securing flashing and clearing debris from the roof, roof drains and overflow scuppers.
• Check that downspouts are secured to buildings and clear of leaves and debris. If they iced over during a previous winter, consider properly installing heat trace to prevent major icicles and dams.
• Make sure all building openings are weather-tight so they do not admit cold air.
• Consider how you’ll address removing snow accumulation on your roof. If you or a contractor use a snow blower, make sure the height of the snow blower shave plate is adjusted higher as to not damage the underlying roofing material.

Gusting winds, heavy snow and bitter temperatures can create catastrophic property losses and havoc in your life, but a little preparation can prevent losses, saving you time and money.