THREE months into the hurricane season, which has already seen Jamaica impacted by at least one tropical storm, insurers are urging homeowners to get insured.

One such insurer is the Global Insurance Company of Jamaica, whose general manager for marketing, Gordon Arnold, insists that their priority rests with securing the interests of existing and prospective customers.

"We recognise that homeowners are often turned off by what they consider a high-cost item which may not deliver all that is promised. Essentially, many consider insurance more of a luxury than a necessity, and so risk either under-insuring their properties or going completely without insurance," Arnold said in a release to the media.

He recommended against that approach, urging homeowners to, instead, explore the options that are now available to help them protect their properties at lower costs and with far better chances of return on investment. "This is what has been placed on offer with the 'Choices Home Insurance' by Globe product and was really the driving force behind development of this novel product for the Jamaican marketplace," he said

The product is one which allows homeowners to determine the value for which they wish to insure their property and guarantees them that they will be paid the vast majority of the sum for which they have insured. This, he emphasised, is not intended to encourage people to under-insure nor to suggest that they insure a specific section of their property.

"The fact is, however, that most people are aware of what are the most vulnerable areas of their property and they want to know that, if something happens to those areas, they will have sufficient funds to get them fixed or replaced. The Choices product allows them to determine what would be the real cost of replacement and to ensure that their property is covered at least to that extent to permit replacement," Arnold said.

He added that Globe has been able to make the offer by removing the average clause condition from the Choices product - a clause which was introduced after Hurricane Gilbert.

In fact, that clause is one of the main reasons that so many homes go uninsured in the first place, Arnold contends, noting that it effectively limits what the homeowner is able to get back after a loss. For example, a homeowner whose property is valued at $10 million, insures it for $3 million and then suffers damage amounting to $1 million would typically see his or her insurance company paying for only 30 per cent of the damages, once the average clause is applied under a traditional home insurance policy. This would result in a total pay-out of $300,000, less the policy deductible ($60,000 in the event of a catastrophe).
Arnold said Choices, which has no condition of average, the claim for a $1-million loss would see Globe withholding an excess/deductible of $75,000 and handing over a total of $925,000 to the customer to help deal with the losses experienced.

"Essentially, we listened to customers in the marketplace who were saying loud and clear that they were dissatisfied with what they were getting back after paying hefty insurance premiums. It appeared to them that they were already assuming significant risk although they were insured, so we decided to design a product which would allow them to take an informed risk and to get back the majority of what they were insured for," he said.

The policy may also covers out-buildings, swimming pools, and paved areas - and covers them for both catastrophe and non-catastrophe perils.

"Globe Insurance agents will conduct the property valuation to determine whether the value for which the property is being insured is correct, but the company will also accept recent valuations provided by the client," teh release said.

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