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These days, you can get insured for almost anything and the world wide web has in part produced a highly transparent and competitive market place for insurance providers. You are required by law to have certain insurance such as car insurance or medical insurance in many countries. Other insurance although not legally required is viewed by most customers as a ‘must have’ such as travel insurance or insurance for corporate property and business assets. Then there is a third class of insurance aimed with the needs of consumers in mind that is highly specialised such as pet insurance, wedding insurance or certain types of extreme sports insurance. On the high street or online, companies offer varying rates and excesses dependent on many different things. A secondary market also exists for customers to buy the services of insurance brokers who trawl the market for products at the behest of their corporate or consumer clients. Another agency service in the insurance industry is underwriting.

Underwriting is basically where the risk to the insurer and other risks are calculated and the underwriter determines the premium and cost of the insurance or whether or not insurance should be offered at all. An example from car insurance would be to assess the driver’s accident record. Another example might be medical insurance where the patient’s medical records are examined. The internet is certainly helping helps the sector remain competitive and transparent but some customers are even now finding themselves uninsured in times of emergency. Extreme winter sports insurance demonstrates this well. The industry believes that over half of holidaymakers to winter skiing destinations travel without insurance and although the other half do, less than a quarter of them are actually covered for skiing and snowboarding which are classified by almost all insurance firms as ‘extreme sports’ and excluded from their plans. Many European travelers also think that their E111 is adequate to get them treatment but this is untrue at most resorts. Another recent example of how the market is changing is the relentless price war between opposing auto insurance companies that has been mainly facilitated by the introduction of price comparison sites. We have to buy car insurance as a matter of law so It simply must be bought by every individual with a car. This causes pricing to be the chief competitive factor.

A recent negative example in the insurance market was when payment protection insurance policies (PPI’s) were uncovered by the FSA to be completely worthless or having been fraudulently sold to customers. This has led to a huge amount of litigation and firms actually being set up for the single purpose of acting as agents by which customers can claim back any PPI that might have been missold to them. Compare insurance on the web for the best bargain. Another questionable product is identity theft insurance that promises to refund the subject for any loss as a result of cyber fraud or identity theft. However many people are unaware that the bank is more than likely liable for such acts.

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