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Material Facts

Posted by Andrew on 27 October 2011 | 3 Comments

Tags: material facts, relevant facts, utmost good faith, insurance problems, proposal forms, fraud, insurance fraud, unintentional omission, motor insurance claims, motor insurance problems

If you are offering an insurance company some business, it is essential that you tell the insurer all the relevant facts. This will enable the insurer to quote the correct premium. This does not mean that the premium will be one that you will like but it does mean that the premium will meet their criteria bearing in mind their portfolio requirements.

Holding back an essential fact is a potential fraud. This can have serious consequences.

The general rule is that it is best to give too much information. The insurer can then decide what is relevant.

There is a regular problem with the exact phrasing of the questions that the insurer gives you. For example, for motor insurance compare...(a) Have you made a claim on your motor insurance in the last 3 years against....(b) have you ever made a claim or suffered an incident that may have led to a claim? A massive difference between the two. We have seen similar extremes on forms for private medical insurance and travel insurance. If type of question is causing you a problem, call Northwood!