Tip from Mutual & Federal the more you say, the less you pay

LEADING short-term insurer Mutual & Federal has a money-saving tip for prudent policyholders - the more you say, the less you pay.

The company says number-crunching trends in the short-term industry have quietly moved personal cover into the 'bespoke insurance era', creating disguised discount opportunities for those in lower risk categories.

The fuller the profile, the greater the potential for savings on policy premiums, says Merrick Oeschger, Executive General Manager, Personal Business, at Mutual & Federal.

"A pricing swing of 70% is not unknown," he notes. "On occasion it can reach 100%."

Unfortunately, the revolution in individual risk modelling and pricing has been so quiet, most consumers have yet to take full advantage of it.
 
'The one-price-fits-all era will soon become history," says Oeschger. "We're moving toward the risk 'pool' of one. The process is driven by data, reams of it that we process through extremely sophisticated software.

"Favourable detail on the individual can therefore translate into favourable pricing. For the low-risk consumer, the devil is not in the details; the discount is in the details."

Details that can affect pricing include:

Age, gender, lifestyle, marital status, occupation
Home location, residence in a secure estate, home security provisions
Type of car, its power-to-weight ratio, locally manufactured vehicle or an import, the marques theft or hijack propensity, length of time with a drivers licence
Claims experience.
 
Consumer behaviour may have to change if individuals wish to exploit savings implicit in the emerging era of customised personal insurance.

Merrick Oeschger explains: "Prudent individuals should be eager to put themselves into the optimum risk category. Therefore, dont give grudging details of your lifestyle, sell yourself instead.