One of the questions we get asked most often at Kingsbridge is “Do you ever actually pay out on claims?”
The answer is a simple one: “We do, regularly”. The follow up question is almost as common: “Can you prove it?”
As it happens, we can. We understand why the majority of customers are unsure as to whether their insurance will pay out in the event of a claim. After all, you’ll only really know if the cover is good if you have to use it and we’re sure you’d rather that didn’t happen.
Our main insurance product is underwritten by Zurich. In 2017, as they recently announced, Zurich paid out 99% of all claims made by their policyholders in the UK.
In fact, they paid a total of over £1.7bn in claims in 2017 (almost 195,000 of which were from general insurance products), with 120 of those claims being worth £1m or more.
For those not in the know, the line between insurer and broker can seem a little blurry. It’s actually quite simple. Kingsbridge are insurance brokers, meaning that our role is to represent the customer when putting forward a claim. We will always fight your corner as hard as possible but, given Zurich’s 99% success rate on claims made, the battle isn’t always that tough.
Liam Green, Director of Underwriting at Kingsbridge, noted: “Most people worry that their insurance won’t be there for them when they’re in need. That couldn’t be further from the truth.”
“We take each and every claim we receive here very seriously, and have no qualms whatsoever about encouraging our insurer to pay out if we need to do so. We take pride in representing the claims of our customers to Zurich, and do everything we can to make sure they get the financial recompense they are due.”
As Zurich’s UK Chief Claims Officer David Nichols said: “While the numbers of claims and amounts paid to our customers fluctuate year on year, we’re proud to report again that we’ve paid out over 99% of claims across all product areas. We hope this helps to dispel the myth that insurance claims don’t get paid.”
It’s always better to have protection in place but not use it, rather than find out it’s missing when you need it most. Want to know more about getting the right cover in place? Give one of our expert team a call on 01242 808740, or email us at info@kingsbridge.co.uk.
