Gore Mutual : Everything you need to know

Gore Mutual: Everything you need to know

Headquarters address	252 Dundas St. N, P.O. Box 70, Cambridge, Ontario N1R 5T3
Year established	1839
Number of employees	500+
Gross written premiums	$670 million (2022)
Combined operating ratio (adjusted)	102% (2022)
Underwriting expertise	Property, auto, business insurance
Key people	Andy Taylor (chief executive officer), Paul Jackson (chief operating officer), Lyndsay Monk (chief financial officer), Sonia Boyle (chief people officer), James Warburton (chief information officer)

Common coverage types

House insurance (Ontario)
Coverage type	What it pays for
Buildings	Damage to the home and other structures on your property, including shed, gazebo, or detached garage
Contents	Lost or damaged belongings, including clothes, furniture, and appliances
Additional living expenses	Temporary accommodations if the policyholder needs to leave their home to ensure safety after a covered claim, or if they are under a mandatory evacuation order
Personal liability	Legal costs for accidentally hurting someone physically, or damage someone else’s property, anywhere in the world
Identity theft	Legal costs to restore identity for victims of identity theft
Water protection	Loss or damage caused by water
Home-based business	Business and business property for home-based operations
Claim-free discount protector	Retain claim-free discount after the first covered claim
Disappearing deductible	Deductible decreases by 20% each claim-free year you until reaches zero
Course of construction	Building a new house or making major renovations to your current home

Auto insurance (Ontario)
Coverage type	What it pays for
Third-party legal liability	Legal costs for a lawsuit if the policyholder injures someone or damages someone’s property as a result of an accident
Accident benefits	Financial support to help the policyholder recover from injuries as a result of a motor vehicle accident, regardless of who was at-fault
Direct compensation property damage	Damage to the vehicle, including rental vehicles, where the policyholder was not at-fault
Uninsured motorist	Damage to the vehicle and bodily injury resulting from an accident caused by an uninsured or hit-and-run driver
Collision or upset	Damage to the vehicle if the policyholder hits another vehicle or object, or if they are the victim of a hit and run
Comprehensive	Combines specified perils coverage and damage caused by flying objects or vandalism
All perils	Combines collision or upset and comprehensive coverage, plus theft by a person who lives in the policyholder’s home
Specified perils	Damage to the vehicle caused by specific perils, including fire, lightning, theft, and hail
Optional accidental benefits	Increased standard accident benefits coverage for additional protection
Increased third-party legal liability	Up to $2 million coverage available for private passenger vehicles and up to $5 million coverage for individually rated commercial automobiles is to increase liability coverage
Driving record protection	Maintains clean driving record after the first at-fault claim
Rental vehicle	Cost of a rental car up to a specified limit if the vehicle is being repaired or replaced after a covered claim
Removing deprecation deduction	For brand new vehicles, removes depreciation in the event of a total loss within a defined period

Business insurance

Gore Mutual offers business protection to the following:
Business professionals and consultants
Contractors
Manufacturing companies
Wholesale services
Commercial auto companies, including fleets and garages

Coverages that may be available include:

Fleet and garage
Equipment breakdown
Hacking and data breach protection
Legal and public relations assistance
Legal liability
Building and property

About
Property and casualty insurance company Gore Mutual has been serving Canadians and their businesses since 1839, making it one of the first P&C insurers in the country.

In personal lines, Gore Mutual offers auto, home, and leisure and lifestyle coverage for valuables like classic cars, cottages, and snowmobiles, among others. In its commercial insurance division, Gore Mutual provides coverage for businesses of all shapes and sizes, including small and mid-sized enterprises.

Commercial auto, as well as out-of-the-box products and custom solutions tailored to each business, are on the menu, including optional coverages and unique features, such as equipment breakdown, legal expense insurance, cyber and data breach coverage, and errors and omissions liability insurance.

Plugging in brokers

Brokers are, after all, at the centre of Gore Mutual’s business.

“We’re 100% [in] broker distribution and we’ve made the decision that this is the path we’re going to take, but I think the challenge for us is that while we’re focused on brokers, we also recognize that the broker distribution channel needs to change, and a lot of it has to do with adoption of technology and simplification of the workflow,” said Paul Jackson, chief operating officer at Gore Mutual Insurance Company. “We actually don’t think that it’s within our DNA to launch a direct channel. What we do think is that there is significant change that needs to happen within the broker channel so that it continues to be relevant and grows its relevance.”

Looking back
The history of Gore Mutual dates back to pre-Confederation times, when the first meeting and subsequent founding of the Gore Mutual Fire Insurance Company took place at a schoolhouse in Brantford, Ontario in 1839. The growth of the company paralleled the buildout of the Grand Trunk Railway, as Gore Mutual used the rail system to expand its network across Ontario in the mid-19th century.

Gore Mutual later also expanded out west, becoming licensed in British Columbia in 1935, and began offering automobile insurance for the first time during its 100th year in business. Whether it was pledging $50,000 to support Canada’s efforts during the First World War, lending a hand in the building of a new hospital in 1952, or helping victims of the Grand River Flood in 1974, Gore Mutual has played a key role in promoting the success of its communities throughout its history.

In 2016, Gore Mutual decided to remain a mutual company, even after legislation allowing for demutualization was introduced. According to the company, it did so “to continue delivering stability, trust and innovation to customers and brokers alike for decades to come.”

Next Horizon
In October 2019, Gore Mutual launched a bold new strategy called Next Horizon, signalling its ambition to be a purpose driven, digitally-led national insurer. The end goal is to transform the company in just a few short years from a mid-size, regional carrier to a national scale insurer that is underpinned by best-in-class technology and operating models.

Less than two years after it was unveiled, the company announced that its strategic transformation was almost complete.

“In less than two years, we’ve remodelled 80% of our business and look forward to completing the transformation in 2022 as we move our commercial insurance business under the same operating model,” said CEO Andy Taylor. “We continue to work towards creating a high-performance, scalable business model centred around innovative broker and customer experiences.”

By implementing a national contact centre, Gore Mutual has already expanded its operating model beyond providing Ontarians with auto insurance to include personal property insurance services for Ontario and British Columbia. The insurer has also extended its personal insurance product suite into Guidewire InsuranceSuite in Guidewire Cloud to include policy, billing, and claims, which meant brokers and customers now have access to more Gore Mutual staff.

As part of the transformation, the company is also offering a simplified suite of personal property insurance products, providing customers with enhanced coverage for homes, condominiums, tenants, and seasonal homes. The products benefit from real-time, sophisticated pricing systems, which use advanced data analytics to respond to market dynamics and provide more customized pricing for customers.

“In increasingly competitive markets, these enhancements allow us to be more agile and provide brokers with a simplified workflow that enables transactions that take just minutes to complete,” said Jackson. “At this point, more than 80% of business is flowing through our systems without intervention and more than 90% of brokers tell us they’re happy with our national contact centre. Overall, we’re just faster and easier to deal with than ever before, which unlocks our unique ability to scale our business in partnership with our brokers.”

Russia-Ukraine conflict
Gore Mutual is also doing part to aid those who are impacted by the conflict in Ukraine. The company said that will donate $50,000 to the Canadian Red Cross Ukraine Humanitarian Crisis Appeal, joining other Canadian insurers that have contributed to relief efforts.

“[W]e recognize the impact that the increasingly dire situation in Ukraine is having on many individuals and communities locally, nationally and globally,” said Taylor. “As we always have, we stand by our employees, customers, broker partners and communities in their time of need, and this is one such example. Our thoughts and hearts are with everyone who is experiencing loss and pain during this very difficult time.”