Mid-year relaunch to focus on cheaper products
Churchill is relaunching its travel and pet policies this year in a bid to improve value for money.
Churchill travel underwriter and claims manager Andy Juggins said the insurer started to review its travel policies a month ago and was looking to relaunch mid-year. "The review is a work in progress and we have lots of ideas, but none we can talk about at the moment," Juggins said.
A Churchill spokeswoman confirmed pet policies were also under review.
It is understood that both the pet and travel policies will be cheaper than the products that they replace. However, Churchill representatives were unable to comment on pricing ahead of release.
A leading travel expert suggested that Churchill had become one of the largest writers of travel business and because of the amount of people it covered, it could analyse statistics from a large database and be more in touch with customer needs. He said the insurer would be issuing new wordings and was currently in talks to put the policies together. He said Churchill-owned Indemnity Insurance would underwrite the policies.
Last month, Insurance Times reported Churchill had announced three new travel insurance contracts. Churchill director David Hiddleston said he saw travel insurance as a growing market and was looking for market leadership.
Indemnity Insurance now underwrites Asda's travel insurance and as of 1 January, Indemnity Insurance started underwriting for MyTravel-owned travel agencies Direct Holidays and Holiday Line. Intergroup Insurance Services (IGIS), also owned by Churchill, deals with claims and assistance.
