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Is there life after PPI and is there harmony in Europe? In the first of two articles earlier this year in Leasing World magazine, James Read, European Sales Manager at Lease & Loan Insurance Services Ltd, discussed the benefits of alternatives to payment protection insurance, such as Early Termination Insurance. This issue we take a look at his article in the March 2009 edition, which covers the Insurance Mediation Directive and it's impact in Europe.
 Marketing Coordinator
Harmony in Europe...
How does the Insurance Mediation Directive (IMD), in the drive for a single market for Financial Services in Europe, affect companies that are selling insurance in different European countries?
Surprisingly, despite the move towards harmonisation through
the IMD and minimum authorisation standards for insurance
intermediaries, there are still pitfalls for companies wishing to
operate cross-border within the EU. Financial services regulators in several countries have decided to review the regulations and implemented standards that are “nice to have”, over and above what was “mandatory”, and as a result “gold plating” has become commonplace, leaving more confusion than clarity for would-be intermediaries.
A large part of the Directive also concerns consumer protection and treating the customer fairly. If you are providing advice as an intermediary, the customer has to be informed why you are recommending one insurance product over another and they should be offered a range of available products or contracts to consider. Naturally, there is a need for technical expertise in this area, and the Directive reinforces this. Even those companies that are not actually transacting insurance, but just preparing data, for example, have not escaped. According to the IMD: “carrying out other work preparatory to the conclusion of contracts of insurance”, could mean that, in doing so, you may well have intermediated yourself.
The beauty of a fully outsourced asset insurance programme...such as AInsurance, is that it enables lessors to offer a pan-European insurance programme as part of their portfolio, whilst reducing the amount of regulatory compliance effort required in most countries.
 Visit LLISL Website to find out more about AInsurance
In his recently published book, “Managing Your Company Cars – Expert Opinion”, Colin Tourick has assembled some of the foremost experts in the fleet sector and asked them: What do we mean by best practice in car fleet management?
Forty three chapters cover every imaginable aspect of car fleet management: selecting a leasing company; reducing costs; vehicle maintenance; road safety environmental issues; tax and legal issues – to name a few. Colin invited John Chadwick, Business Development Director at Lease & Loan Insurance Services Ltd, to answer questions from fleet managers on specialist insurance products. John calls on his 20 years experience in the insurance sector to describe the benefits of a range of insurance cover available to lessees, including GAP, excess wear & tear protection/return conditions insurance, early termination Insurance and deposit protection insurance.
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Holidaying at home this year?
Quite simply ridiculous - These are some of the complaints received by travel companies from discerning British holidaymakers and recently reported by Telegraph Travel. Just as well that there is an expected increase in “Brits” staying at home for the holiday season this year…
- "The beach was too sandy."
- “We bought 'Ray-Ban' sunglasses for €5 from a
street trader, only to find out they were fake."
- "No-one told us there would be fish in the sea.
The children were startled."
Some travellers claimed, they had to queue
outside with no air conditioning. Whilst, others
said it took them nine hours to fly home from
Jamaica to England "and it only took the
Americans three hours to get home."
“The dog ate my driving license, officer”
Tempted to use the odd white lie to smooth over an awkward situation? According to AA Insurance, being economical with the truth when taking out an insurance policy can land you in real trouble. They have found that the number of claims refused by insurers, which were due to people giving either incorrect or false details when they took out an insurance policy, rose by nearly a third in the 6 months to March 2009. They estimate that fraud adds approximately £30 to every private car insurance policy in the UK.
Main reasons given for this increase in refused claims include: not disclosing convictions; misleading the insurer over who the main driver is; forgetting to tell the insurer about previous claims; failing to inform the insurer about modifications they have made to the car which might affect the car’s safety or value; and providing a false address for where the car is kept.
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