Regular B&C reviews are the key to saving customers money and reinforce the importance of advice

15 July 2019

Advisers should review customers’ household insurance cover every year to help them save money. By conducting that review face to face, there is an opportunity to complete a more holistic review of their finances, according to Assurant Intermediary.

Carl Stacey, Head of Distribution, commented, “Buildings & Contents (B&C) insurance is an annually renewable product and provides a great opportunity to not only review levels of cover, but also the terms and conditions covering excesses, accidental damage, alternative accommodation, trace and access and escape of water excess. Older policies definitely need to be reviewed as much for what they do not cover as for what they do. Providers’ appetite changes all the time and as we have seen with car insurance, today’s best deal might not actually look as good a year down the line.”

Carl added, “For example, in the case of water leaks, does the policy cover the finding of the leak source as well as getting to the issue to fix it? If it does not, any damage to fixtures and fittings in the hunt for the leak may not be covered. While on the subject of water escape, there is likely to have been an excess placed on the policy which is higher than the standard excess, but how much higher? It varies from insurer to insurer – a good one to check.

Apart from making sure the customer has adequately estimated the cost of replacing the contents, the critical part is to ensure that the cover actually does what the customer thinks it does.”

Once the re-evaluation of the B&C policy has been completed, in most cases customers will have saved money and also a new policy, which is fit for purpose. From there, it is a small step to review the mortgage and any likely short or long term lending requirements as well as other insurances, investments and pension provision.

“With advisers’ client banks increasingly under threat from online product and service providers, as well as fellow advisers, it makes it even more important for brokers to stay closer than ever to their customers,” said Carl.

Assurant Intermediary’s top ten tips when checking a client’s existing B&C cover:

1. Is the policy on a bedroom rated or sum insured basis?
2. Could your client be under insured? (bedroom rated products usually reduce this risk)
3. Is Accidental Damage cover included?
4. Are Personal Possessions covered away from the home?
5. Does the client need to specify any valuable items?
6. What are the policy excesses?
7. Is trace & access covered?
8. Does the client have Home Emergency or Legal expenses cover and understand the value of these products?
9. What door and window locks are stated?
10. What exclusions/endorsements are there on the policy?