Insurance Expert Advises Customers On Policies

The Chief Executive Of
ficer, LIB Insurance Brokers Limited,  Mr Wale Oluwade, has stressed the need for customers to obtain detailed information about insurance policies to avoid being cheated .
Oluwade said this in an interview  in Abuja last week.
He said that it was important for people to know their rights, adding that it would stop inconsequential fights on the road whenever an accident occurs.
“Insurance is a risk transfer mechanism by which the resources of many are pooled together and used to mitigate the losses of a few.
“In insurance, you identify certain risks that you are exposed to and you insure yourself against risks such as accidents, theft, fire, death and so many other natural disasters or those caused by human errors.
“A lot of issues that people fight about on the roads regarding accidents are actually damages insurance companies should pay for but because people don’t know, they end up fighting and eventually bearing the costs themselves,’’ .
Oluwade, citing the third-party motor vehicle insurance which was mandated by the Federal Government for car owners, reiterated the need for people to know their rights based on this policy.
“In motor vehicle insurance, if for the first year you did not make a claim, no accident, no theft, nothing. When you come the next year, there is what we call no claim discount.
So if you are meant to pay N20,000 the first year, when you come next year, we will say okay, we are going to give you 20 per cent discount on the N20,000 because you did not have a claim.
“So we give you 20 per cent discount on N20, 000 which is N2,000, so you pay N18,000 instead of paying 20,000.
The next year, second , third year, if you don’t make a claim again, we give you up to 25 per cent discount, up until 5 years, you will be paying 50 per cent discount maximum, so that is it.
Oluwade said that the insurance does not give room for refund because, a single incident could wipe out an entire premium paid for a long time by a customer.
“ One single incident can wipe out all the money you have paid for 15 to 20 years and even the one you are supposed to pay in 100 years.
He said for example, a premium of N20,000 paid on a car of N5 million would take many years to pay up.
Oluwade called on customers to understand all the clauses in an insurance policy or seek the expertise of a professional broker to avoid problems when recovering claims.