APCestate and letting agentproduct


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ommercial insurance underwriting agency APC has rolled out specialist cover for estate agents and letting agents to its entire agency base.


Initially developed as a scheme, the product gives letting and estate agents a policy combining property, liability, legal expenses and professional indemnity cover. It is APC’s first online package with a PI extension and is now available on the company’s online trading platform QuoteMac.


APC Underwriting Director Ian Russell says, “Owners of letting agents and estate agents are very busy people as the credit crunch has both increased demand for flats and houses to rent and made it difficult to sell properties. By rolling out this specialised product to our entire network, we intend to work with our brokers to provide these time- poor businesses with the flexible and hassle-free cover they need.”


Details from www.apcinsure.co.uk.


IBA has appointed Millennium Insurance, the distribution arm of Direct Group and an association member, as the exclusive provider of its new members’ scheme for protection insurance, underwritten by Jubilee.


BIBA“Committed PaymentsProtection” B


fixed sum insured of £2,400 to £24,000


● Back to work — confidential and independent advice programme


The PPI scheme product will be sold on a “stand-alone” basis, with or without a mortgage or loan. It will be flexible and enable customers to cover regular bill payments that they are committed to, in the event of unemployment or inability to work due to accident, unemployment or sickness. Among the Committed


Payments Protection features and benefits are:


● Payments protection — ability to protect regular bill payments of £200 to £2,000 per month


● Life cover (optional extra) —


● Legal protection — help in appealing or defending employment or contract disputes and negotiating settlement for bodily injury or death


● Helpline — 24/7 advice on personal tax matters, general health and medical issues


Steve Foulsham, BIBA Technical Services Manager, says, “ We are delighted to be able to offer our members a broker delivered solution to payment protection, utilising the fresh approach of protecting regular monthly payments. This will enable brokers to extend added value to a range of personal lines clients.”


“Proceed with care” onmotor claims


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n the light of the Ministry of Justice reforms, Bluefin Insurance Services has called on motor insurers to proceed with care when resolving road traffic accident claims.


The MoJ reforms, which came into effect at the end of April, will mean motor insurers have only 15 days to accept or deny liability for road traffic accident claims up to £10,000, which account for around 80% of all claims submitted in the UK, says Bluefin. Failure to do so risks the claims falling outside the new process and, therefore, no longer subject to fixed legal costs.


“The reforms are friend and foe to insurers,” says Peter Castle, Head of Customer Proposition at Bluefin Insurance Services. He goes on to comment, “Meeting the timescale will add a great deal of pressure to insurers, as they will need to work doubly hard to check cases and resolve them within the 15 days. Suspect cases will all too often be allowed to proceed unless counter-fraud initiatives are put in place and tight measures adhered to. The ever changing face of fraud will no doubt attempt to take advantage so the motor insurance industry must keep a watchful eye out.”


JUNE 2010 insurancepeople 25


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