Time for a word about complex policy jargon
IF YOU are bright enough to read Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History Of Time or Dostoevsky’s Crime And Punishment, then you might be able to understand your motor insurance policy document too.
Research by Which? found insurance policy documents are harder to understand than those meaty tomes. Motor, travel, home and pet policies are so complex and full of jargon that customers need university-level reading skills and even experts struggle.
It asked 24 people, including a retired insurance professional, civil servants and software engineers, to read home and travel policy documents from industry giants such as Axa, Aviva, Direct Line and the Post Office. Afterwards, they answered just five out of 16 travel insurance questions correctly, and just three out of 12 for home insurance.
Which? money editor Ceri Stanaway said customers who fail to fathom their insurance documents could end up thousands of pounds out of pocket if they think incorrectly that they are covered: “Unclear insurance policies can have devastating consequences as customers could see their cover invalidated due to a misunderstanding.”
She urged customers to ring insurers if something is unclear: “We want them to cut out jargon to make documents easier.”
Research from KPMG UK found some policies can take 146 minutes to read. Insurance partner Paul Merrey said: “Most wouldn’t opt to spend two hours of their life reading an insurance policy if they could avoid it.”