Greenlight Insurance - Disclosure advice

[Tony@Greenlight]

Hi Everyone,

We review all affinities and sources of business on a regular basis, since the RMS scheme has been up and running for nearly a quarter now we can feedback the following:

Claims performance is good, we are able to maintain competitive premiums and will continue to refine our rating.

Disclosure is a problem, we have experienced a quite a high proportion of non-disclosure of claims, convictions and modifications that have been discovered via our policy acceptance process.

Integrity is important to Underwriters and the areas that are not being disclosed in the main wouldnt impact upon your Insurance premium, but they do paint a picture of dishonesty which will not endear an underwriter to expanding (ie. covering other risk profiles or vehicle types such as imports) or writing business on a long term basis.

The purpose of highlighting this is to ensure that the scheme is here for the long term benefit of RMS members by maintaining a positive image with the Underwriters.

We are not shy when it comes to covering modifications and do operate a sensible approach to rating these, a point I wish to reinforce is that YOU CAN DISCLOSE ALL MODIFICATIONS to us - we will be able to cover them.

Underwriters also require full details of conviction and claims history, as if they find out 'after event' it shows the individual in a really bad light and it is extremely difficult to negotiate preferential terms with Underwriters on a retrospective basis.

We are committed to building and maintaining a presence within the specialist vehicle community in the Province, we will do all we can to develop things and provide the cover you as the customer are looking for at good value premium rates but do need your help to do so on a long term basis.

Kind regards & thanks for listening.

Tony

 

[Tony@Greenlight]

Northern Irish Insurance summary

Everything is tracked and profiled by both Greenlight and our underwriters, so far disclosure of material information from the off has presented a real issue to us, as the province currently runs the highest rate of non-disclosure that we have seen from anywhere within the UK.

Whether this is borne from the historically restrictive Insurance market or not it is unacceptable and will lead to the potential withdrawl from terms being offered.

We need to stamp this out and you need to realise that in addition to your legal obligation to disclose full information, you actually can.

Allow us to do our job and negotiate for you, rather than restrict our ability to do our job and leave us on the back foot with our underwriters.

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Below is a copy/paste of a post within our sticky, which is also relevant to this subject:


We do a decent job here, offer good cover in a plain english (ie. no hidden clauses/excesses) way and have very good technical knowledge in relation to performance cars along with their potential modifications.

What is really quite annoying and has unfortunately been prolific from what we've seen so far is a higher proportion of non-disclosure from the province than anywhere else in the UK.

When presenting risks to Underwriters, as your agent we need to capture the correct details first time - basically, declare everything and tell us the truth first time.

Our underwriters will not deal with clients who are deemed to lack integrity and with risks being tracked by both entity and area it does show the source of business in a very poor light.

Basically - DECLARE ALL and let us worry about sourcing cover, let us do our job.

Non-disclosure is wholly unacceptable to both Greenlight and our Underwriters and We WILL NOT react well to non-disclosure, or fraudulent activity surrounding any dealings with us.

One thing that I wish to make absolutely clear to you all is that YOU CAN DECLARE ALL MODIFICATIONS to us, we rate them sensibly and are competitive. We DO NOT treat modified car owners as 'boy racers', they are always regarded as good moral risks.

Kind regards

Tony

 

[Smick]

Go stand in the corner RMS.

 

[hutchy_belfast]

Perhaps this is a stupid question but if you know that someone is not disclosing, what is the point in asking them the question in the first place as you must know the answer anyway? Wouldn't be to create a get out clause in the event of a big claim would it?

 

[six_impressive_hours]

Tony is just trying to give a bit of friendly advice and do his job.

Give him a break.

jamesy

 

[hutchy_belfast]

Its a geniune question though and if it's any answer other than the above I'm sure he won't mind answerring. Just can't see why they need to ask all the questions they already know the answers to and when (of if) they find out someone has told porkies, do they inform the client or leave that as a nice little suprise if they ever need a claim?

 

[Tony@Greenlight]

Morning Hutchy,

The reason we are banging on about non-disclosure is to avoid an Insurer being able to act as you describe - give them zero ammunition and they are unable to act that way.

As your agent we act in the interests of our client at all times, we are wholly independent and are employed by YOU not the Insurer.

Insurance contracts are based upon "uppermost good faith" and all Insurers will take what you say or the details you provide upon face value, rating upon the information provided. If material information (ie. relevant factual information that may influence the terms or acceptance to an Underwriter) is witheld the Underwriter would be unable to provide the correct terms, or in the worst instance you would fall outside their acceptance criteria and the policy would be cancelled or a claim repudiated.

Which by my coming on a public forum and providing feedback - I am trying to ensure we avoid these situations.

When arranging a policy, quotations are provided upon the details you declare and assuming the policy meets your need you pay for the cover.

The Underwriter will then request a contract to be signed and returned, along with ancilliary Information such as a copy of your driving license, proof of NCB etc. Once collated these are assessed by ALL Insurers against the information provided and any items that differ (ie. non-disclosed convictions from license, or claims upon NCB) are raised immediately with the client, then referrred to the Underwriter to assess ongoing acceptance.

When the policy has been accepted and closed off upon the details you have provided, along with requested supporting evidence - providing you inform your Insurer/or agent of any material changes (examples of which include further Modifications or enhancements, convictions, claims, any other declared detail such as a change in occupation, use requirement, garaging etc.) you will not have a problem.

Proven intentional Non-disclosure will be regarded by ALL trading Insurers as fraudulent activity for your personal gain and most contracts that you sign have a data-exchange policy that entails fraudulent activity being flagged to other subscribing underwriters.

However, in most cases it is usually something that has slipped someones mind (ie. a conviction or claim for a named driver that you were not aware of) or something similar where you were unsure. The danger is still present that if this is outside the Underwriters acceptance criteria, further terms may be applied, or if discovered at the point of a claim this is where claims are repudiated. So it's always best to check and ensure all details are known or available when sourcing cover.

At Greenlight, whilst we are reliant upon your disclosure of material information we do request and check as much supporting information as we can in order that we can protect our client (You) and limit exposure to non-disclosure.

I do understand and am mindful that the Northern Irish market has been historically restrictive and draconian at times, especially within the particular area that we cover (Modified/performance cars) which has not served to breed any confidence in the market from the Northern Irish Insurance buying public at large.

What I'm saying and trying to point out as a fresh entrant to the Insurance market within the province, is that you can and should disclose material information and let us worry about sourcing cover for you.

We will always be up-front enough to tell you from the offset as to what is and isnt within our scheme Underwriting criteria.

Kind regards

Tony

 

[Coog]

I could be wrong but I'd assume that all the background checks happen at claim time, and not when the first application is made. This would severely cut processing time down.

However, as part of Admirals T&C's they claim that history, etc is checked at the initial application stage, and if you do provide false details a dirty skid mark will appear beside your name on all the insurers databases... I assume this is the reason why it took almost 4 weeks for my cert to come through the first time, but 3 days when the car was changed?

 

[Tony@Greenlight]

Hi RCoog,

Every trading Underwriter will offer terms (ie. a quotation for your acceptance) upon the details that you declare.

They will then request supporting evidence (copy license, NCB etc) to substantiate your situation, which forms part of the validation process when closing the policy off. Another part of this process at policy issue stage is the checking of databases (QUE, MIAFTA etc) that you mention to which the respective Insurer currently subscribes.

If a problem is discovered, the client will be contacted immediately and the policy will be reviewed by the Underwriter following receipt of information and explanation. The review will be in line with their rating criteria and will ascertain as to whether additional terms are required, or the policy falls outside their acceptance criteria.

This will be carried by the respective Underwriter at the beginning of the policy.

Kind regards

Tony

 

[Tony@Greenlight]

I could be wrong but I'd assume that all the background checks happen at claim time, and not when the first application is made. This would severely cut processing time down.

The checks vary and when they are carried out does alter from Insurer to Insurer, some prefer to cut admin to a minimum by accepting your declared details and purely validating at the time of a claim, others prefer to validate as part of the policy issue process.

I can confirm that to date that the Underwriters we deal with have always adopted the review and validate at the point of policy issue approach.

 

[Smick]

My opinion on it, for what it is worth, is that if you dont disclose all of the details about you / your car when asked then the insurance company has every right to walk away for you. Why would they pay a claim for something different to what they have assessed the risk on.

At the end of the day its down to your own doing. Be honest and you have nothing to worry about, its not exactly difficult is it, especially when the insurer is saying modifications are not a problem.

David

 

[hutchy_belfast]

Morning Hutchy,

The reason we are banging on about non-disclosure is to avoid an Insurer being able to act as you describe - give them zero ammunition and they are unable to act that way.

.......
Tony

Thats great thanks for such a comprehensive reply. For what its worth I agree those people who blatently lie when getting insurance should have their policy voided, I was just concerned that insurance companies actually knew this was going on but said nothing as it means free money for them...the individuals premium is paid but with zero risk for the company paying out on a future claim!

 

[zetec115]

Tony

Can you then confirm that Greenlight do not cover drivers who have a previous non disclosure on their record?

 

[Tony@Greenlight]

Morning Zetec,

Insurance contracts are based upon the principle of uppermost good faith and a reliance upon the indvidual to truthfully declare material information to the Underwriters.

We (as your Insurance provider) along with your Underwriters will provide terms and ultimately offer cover based upon what you declare, which if this turns out to be bogus information deliberately supplied for material gain could be considered as fraudulent behaviour.

Which would lead to withdrawl of cover, quotations and in some cases addition of the client to Insurer shared databases or if extremely serious passed to the authorities.

This is how ALL Insurers will operate.

In terms of Greenlight as a company, we do a decent job and expect all customers prospective or existing to be upstanding, conducting their dealings with integrity.

We will not look to cover individuals of questionable integrity, whether historic or current.

Thus to answer your question I can confirm that we will not look to provide terms to individuals that have a record with proven non-disclosure or fraudulent.

Kind regards

Tony