Highlighting underinsurance during the quote journey on Fast Trade
Recent global events have impacted supply chains, the cost of materials and the availability of skilled workers. This is leading to a greater risk of underinsurance, especially for policies that haven’t been reviewed in over 12 months.
Insurance valuation experts, Barrett Corp & Harrington (BCH), found underinsurance in 76% of valuations carried out for Aviva insured properties last year. However, 66% of SMES believe they have the right level of cover in place2, suggesting their confidence could be misplaced.
Identifying underinsurance on Fast Trade
To help understand which of your clients may be at risk of underinsurance, we’ve made a change to the quote journey for Property Owners on Fast Trade, which you’ll notice from 30 January 2023.
By plugging our Commercial Intelligence Tool (CIT) into Fast Trade, we can now tell you instantly if we believe a Sum Insured is at risk of being too low. If this happens, you’ll see a notification pop up called ‘Building Sum Insured – Risk of Underinsurance’, which will do one of two things:
1. Recommend a Sum Insured* – if based on our data we’re confident enough to do so, we’ll recommend a suitable Sum Insured limit for the client.
2. Inadequate Sum Insured – if we believe the Sum Insured limit isn’t quite right, but we don’t have enough data to recommend a limit, you’ll be able to download a document at the end of the journey. This document can be shared with the client to offer a discounted professional desk-based e-Valuation via Barrett Corp & Harrington for £85+ VAT.
The underinsurance check will run across new business, renewals and mid-term adjustments (MTAs):
- New business – for all premises.
- MTAs – if a change is made to the address and Sum Insured for an existing premises.
- Renewals – all existing premises will be checked. If underinsurance is identified, this will be displayed on the ‘Premium Summary’ page.
What if I don’t see a flag?
This doesn’t mean that your client isn’t at risk of underinsurance. While it could mean the Sum Insured entered is perfectly adequate, it may be that for this particular business we don’t have enough data to say either way.
Though this functionality will help to identify potential cases of underinsurance, it shouldn’t be wholly relied upon. Where we can’t recommend a Sum Insured, we recommend that formal valuations for buildings, plant, machinery and contents are regularly undertaken to understand the level of cover a client would need.
How does it work?
CIT is already helping to identify underinsurance for Commercial business written through our regional branch network. By modelling our own data with that of trusted third-party valuation experts, we can estimate the costs of rebuilding most properties, including the cost of demolition and professional fees – and how these may vary regionally.
By taking this existing capability and using it for our digital Property Owners solution, you’ll be able to strengthen your relationships and protect more of your clients by presenting data-led information so they can make an informed decision about their level of cover.
For more support and guidance on underinsurance, including the services that BCH can provide, visit our dedicated page on Aviva Broker here.
Though launching for Property Owners initially, we hope to be able to expand this capability out to more of our Fast Trade products in the near future.
Join us at the Broker Roadshows to find out more
Broker Roadshows are back for 2023. Throughout February and March, you and your teams can take part in the series of 'in person' and online events – including a webinar on 23 February spotlighting our digital and Mid-Market business.
Find out more, view the full schedule of events and register on Aviva Broker here.
* The suggestion regarding the adequacy of your sum insured is provided to you on an as-is basis without any warranties or indemnities. We do not accept responsibility and will not be liable for any inaccuracy or incompleteness of information. You should always satisfy yourself that any action you take or advise others to take meets your or their needs.
1 Based on 2022 survey data from Barrett Corp & Harrington (BCH) across commercial and residential properties insured by Aviva
2 From Aviva Risk Insights Report 2023. See page 14.