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“Insurance should be good value and useful for all.”
Those were the words of Charlotte Halkett (pictured), managing director of insurance product at industry disruptor buzzvault. Her statement comes after it was revealed that some six million UK households, or one in every four, have no home contents insurance.
According to the Association of British Insurers (ABI), only 55% of London households have their belongings covered while 82% of those in Northern Ireland are insured. In addition, the trade body’s Home Insurance Premium Tracker found that the cost of home contents insurance now stands at £127 a year – a record annual low – or £2.40 a week.
“The ABI’s figures come at a time when sadly the absence of home contents insurance is really felt through flood and escape of water resulting from our winter weather,” commented Halkett. “While it is good news that the cost of contents cover is at a record low, the sector should not be slapping itself on the back.
“The fact that one in four homes has no protection in place for their possessions is shocking and incumbent operators in this market should be embarrassed by this revelation.”
The MD is of the view that the latest numbers must serve as a wake-up call to improve access to coverage by shortening the application process and cutting out complexity, as well as not asking questions that might push householders to guess in order to answer.
For buzzvault’s part, Halkett said the goal is to deliver hyper-personalised home insurance using mobile video and digitised contents data. Through its app, policyholders are able to digitally catalogue and securely store details of their possessions.
This ‘updatable’ digital inventory acts as the basis of homeowners’ tailor-made cover.
“We’re at the start of this journey, so we’re not perfect yet and we know we need to prove ourselves,” noted the buzzvault executive. “But we’re removing the barriers and providing a solution that responds to the way we all live today – from generation rent to households with boomerang kids.
“We hope we inspire others in the sector to look to us as an example of how home contents insurance can change so that we can better serve our society as a whole.”
