BIBA urges insurance industry never to turn consumers away

In his opening address at BIBA’s annual conference in Manchester, Steve White, BIBA’s Chief Executive, has called for consumer bodies, Government and the industry to help consumers access suitable insurance more readily.

Steve called for “total signposting”, where the industry looks to create new agreements similar to the one with the Government’s Equality Office which ensures that older holidaymakers and motorists are ‘signposted’ to other insurance solutions rather than turned away.

He urged the industry to work together as part of the Insurance Growth Action Plan on this important reputational issue, saying:

“Let’s not simply turn away consumers if we cannot insure them – lets point them in the direction of someone who can help…. Why wouldn’t you do this? We can help facilitate it.”

He outlined that the primary aim of insurance brokers is to find suitable insurance protection for their customers. But for a variety of reasons there are many customers who struggle to find appropriate insurance and are left without important insurance protection.

Graeme Trudgill, BIBA’s Executive Director, said:

“A system is needed to help all consumers more easily access insurance protection. The current agreement with Government has been extremely successful. Our ‘Find a Broker’ service has helped facilitate more than 100,000 enquiries from older holidaymakers and motorists looking for insurance, who otherwise may not have found cover.

“But we want to go further. Insurance brokers can provide most types of insurance so we need to ensure that everyone can access the insurance protection that they need.”