When giant retailer Marks & Spencer announced its full scale assault on the general insurance market with the launch of its branded household cover at the end of September, it claimed it was throwing ...
When giant retailer Marks & Spencer announced its full scale assault on the general insurance market with the launch of its branded household cover at the end of September, it claimed it was throwing away the rulebook. Brokers, however, were not convinced.
M&S said its home and contents product would be the only one on the market not to require customers to specify a cover limit for their household contents.
They would only have to advise it of items that were worth more than £4,000.
In addition, the policy only has one inner limit £500 for personal amounts of money and a zero excess on the policy means customers do not have to contribute to the cost of a claim, unless they opt to do so for a discount on their premium
Peter Longstaff, head of personal lines insurance at M&S Financial Services, said the policy, underwritten by Norwich Union, had been designed in response to concerns from insurance customers who worried about being underinsured.
The problem is that this is exactly why brokers are concerned. The no sum insured clause, they say, is nothing new. They argue that when it has been done before it has failed.
