These days, you can get insured for almost anything and the internet has helped fashion a highly transparent and competitive market place for insurance providers. The law requires that customers purchase certain types of insurance such as car insurance or medical insurance in certain jurisdictions. Other insurance although not legally required is viewed by most people as a ‘must have’ such as travel insurance or insurance for a person’s business interests or property belonging to their business. Then there is a third class of insurance aimed with the needs of consumers in mind that is highly specialised such as pet policies, wedding insurance or Insurance for adventure holidays or extreme sports. On the high street or online, companies set their policy prices and excesses at varying rates depending on various factors. A secondary market also exists for the services of insurance brokers who act as agents buying products at the request of their consumer or corporate clients. Another service offered primarily through agents is underwriting.

This is where the insurance venture’s risks are calculated and the underwriter decides what the insurer should charge for their services or whether the agreement is viable at all. To take the example of car insurance, the underwriter would take a detailed look at a drivers accident record. Another example might be medical insurance where the patients sickness record is examined. The internet certainly helps the sector remain competitive and transparent but many customers are still finding themselves without cover when it really matters. Extreme winter sports insurance demonstrates this well. It is reported that more than half of travelers to ski resorts travel without insurance and although the other half do, only a quarter of them are in fact insured for skiing and snowboarding which are categorised by most insurers as ‘extreme sports’ and not included in their basic cover. Most travelers to Europe also think that their E111 will cover them for treatment but this is untrue in most resorts. A very recent example of how the market is changing is the relentless price war between rival auto insurance brokers that has been in the main facilitated by the introduction of price comparison sites. Car insurance is required by law so everyone must purchase it. This puts price up there as the primary competitive factor.

A recent negative example in the sector was when payment protection insurance policies (PPI’s) were uncovered by the FSA to be negligent drafted or having been fraudulently sold to customers. This has caused a storm of litigation from customers and firms actually being set up for the single purpose of acting as legal assistants so that customers can claim back any PPI that might have been missold to them. Compare travel insurance online to give the greatest deal. A further dubious insurance product is identity theft insurance that claims to reimburse the customer 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.