Qantam Risk Assessment celebrated 25 years in the short term insurance environment in the company of esteemed guests at a special function held at the Michelangelo Hotel on Thursday evening, 1 November 2012.
During the evening Qantam honoured risk valuator Eddie O’Sullivan on 10,000 valuations ("Qantam’s") and Mr O’Sullivan told everyone some of his many outrageous risk assessment stories before Cynthia McLoughlin, MD of Qantam presented a Special Achievement Award to him to recognise this outstanding achievement.
During his guest speech, Mr. Dennis Jooste, the Ombudsman for the short-term insurance industry congratulated Qantam on reaching such an important milestone and explained Qantam’s contribution in the industry toward eradicating unfair claim payouts based on the Average clause.
"The market has clearly decided that Qantam has been deserving of support and I would like to congratulate them and in particular, Eddie O’Sullivan, on their past success and to encourage them to continue to provide such a useful service to consumers and insurers alike.
There can be little doubt that the application of Average at claims stage causes a great deal of dissatisfaction amongst consumers. Although the concept has been established as part of the insurance scene for centuries, it remains contentious amongst consumers, partly because of a lack of understanding on the part of such consumers. Many clients are disappointed with their insurers at claim stage, resulting in the consumer changing to
another insurer. However, until the consumer is educated to understand what lies behind the application of average, it is probable that the consumer will remain under-insured causing more damage to the image of the insurance industry at the time of the next claim. Furthermore, as the Rand continues to weaken, inflation is inevitably fuelled with the obvious result that the likelihood of assets being under-insured increases.
Needless to say, the Ombudsman’s office regularly receives complaints regarding the application of Average. As I have already alluded to, the problem seems to arise largely as a consequence of consumer ignorance and also the failure of insurers to comply with the Policyholder Protection Rules which requires a certain level of explanation being given to the consumer at underwriting stage. I have not lost sight of the fact that the Policyholder Protection Rules apply only in regard to personal line policies but nevertheless the standard set out in the Policyholder Protection Rules should be complied with under all circumstances.
Having an accurate evaluation on file obviously provides many advantages. It assists with proof of ownership, Quantifying the loss and saves the insurer money and time. It creates a smoother process for all parties including that of the Ombudsman’s office when considering complaints based on the application of Average. While the internet and its powerful search engines can be used by consumers for self-valuation of assets, this is really no substitute for a professional valuer seeing, and if necessary touching, the item to be valued.
In a perfect world where all risks are assessed to perfection and values accurately calculated, there would be no need to find an Average clause in an insurance policy. However, until that stage of perfection is reached, if ever, I can only call upon insurers to pay particular heed to the requirements of the Policyholder Protection Rules at underwriting stage in order to eliminate problems subsequently arising by the application of an average clause," says the Ombudsman, Jooste.
Cynthia expressed that "Qantam is registered with the Financial Services Board, and We believe in Treating Clients Fairly."
Clients who have had a "Qantam" (valuation) done now know that all their home contents are valued and listed on the policy schedule which does away with the need to prove ownership and insurers who have Qantam’s on their client records have seen remarkable increases in premium income and an improvement in loss ratios.