Welcome to our August issue of Insurance Specialists – we hope you’re keeping warm and safe during these cold months. We have some interesting updates for you and we hope you find them useful so read on!

Motor Vehicle Claims

We just want to remind Auckland clients that we would recommend using one of the Capital SMART Centres for vehicles that have sustained low to medium collision damage that meet the following criteria:

The vehicle is safe to drive
The airbags are intact
There is no fluid leaking from the vehicle

One of the advantages of using a Capital SMART facility is the provision for a courtesy car provided free of charge for the duration of the repair. Therefore, Capital SMART will require the insureds driver licence details when the vehicle is taken in the facility.

If the insured would like to use one or the Capital SMART centre’s then please contact us to arrange a booking.

Reminder:

Motor Vehicle Insurance

We just would like to remind clients that if comprehensive motor vehicle insurance is already in place and if a replacement vehicle or additional vehicle is purchased that vehicle is automatically covered, you have up to 30 days to advise us of the full details, payment of additional premium and as long as the vehicle is valued at no more than $100,000.00.

Changes to Business Plan/Commercial cover

The Material Damage, Business Interruption, Commercial Motor, and Broad form Liability sections of our policy wording have all been enhanced. With too many to list, we have outlined a few highlights here:

Material Damage

New cover:

Burglary cover has been extended to now cover shipping containers, portable sheds and non-portable containers on vehicles.
Landscaping: where we have accepted a claim, we will cover up to 5% of the individual building sum insured or $20,000 whichever is lesser

Change to limits:

Transit limit increases to $25,000
Gradual damage – within an insured building to $5,000

Commercial Motor

Change to limits:

Additions and deletions – the limit has increased to $300,000

Difference in conditions will apply, meaning for all customers that use the Business Plan policy wording we will take a best of both approach, until they renew onto the new wording, starting with policies that have a renewal date of 16 August 2020.

An important update from AMP Life

We would like to advise that AMP Life is now owned by Resolution Life, a global life insurance group focusing on the acquisition and management of portfolios of in-force life insurance policies, such as AMP Life.

The AMP Life team remains committed to working with you

The AMP Life team is highly confident about the future of this business. They are committed to you and look forward to continuing to work with you. We thank you for your continued support.

The NZ leadership, Adviser Relationship and Customer Service teams within AMP Life are known to many of you and these long-lasting support relationships will continue. The experience that these teams have across the AMP Life business, products, claims management process and needs of advisers will carry forward. These teams will continue to focus on how best to work with you to support you and your customers.

What this means for you

AMP Life is committed to delivering on customer promises and services. This does not change under Resolution Life. Resolution Life has a strong track record in providing policyholders with a high level of customer service and its investment in AMP Life will enable us to focus on further customer enhancing initiatives.

Importantly, the terms and conditions of your plans will not change due to the sale. We remain well capitalised and paying your claims and managing your investments will always be a priority.

While AMP Life has a new owner, they will continue to operate under the AMP Life name for the time being for customers and AMP Limited will retain a minority economic interest in Resolution Life Australia going forward.

About Resolution Life

Resolution Life is a global manager of in-force life insurance businesses who provide policyholders with peace of mind that their insurance is in safe and trusted hands for the long term.

Since 2003, various Resolution entities have committed over US$16 billion of equity in the acquisition, reinsurance, consolidation and management of 28 life insurance companies. Together, these companies have served the needs of over 10 million policyholders while managing over US$320 billion of assets.
By joining Resolution Life, they are now part of a business focused on existing customers rather than seeking to attract new ones.

Special events increase for AMP’s life insurance policies

Special events increase feature: Getting married, having a baby, buying a home or experiencing certain other life-changing events may give you the opportunity to increase your cover to match your new needs without providing new health evidence (provided you get in touch with us within 12 months). You can only increase your cover once in a 12-month period and certain minimum and maximum cover increases apply. You cannot increase cover if you are over age 60 or your premiums are being waived under the Premium cover option.

Private Motor cover for off-roading

As you may’ve seen in the news recently, insurance cover for off-roading is sometimes excluded from a policy. At Vero, we take a different approach.
Our Private Motor policies do not exclude cover for off-roading, but there's the usual expectation that a claim wouldn’t be covered if reasonable care was not taken.

Important areas of the policy wording relevant to off-roading are:

The definition - of ‘Accident’ and ‘Accidental’: a sudden and unforeseen event that is not intended or expected by you
The policy condition - ‘Care of Motor Vehicle’: all reasonable steps must be taken to prevent loss or damage and maintain your vehicle in good repair.

With this approach, we are open to covering genuine losses that result from off-roading.

Have you thought about Health Insurance?

If you would like a quote for Health Insurance today, give the team a call on 09 984 2860 or email info@insurancespecialists.co.nz

“Sometimes, the best roads to walk are the ones unknown.”

– Unknown

That’s all for now. Until next time…

Kind regards

The Insurance Specialists Team

Winter 2020 Issue