March 2006 Archives

When equipment breaks down it often leads a variety of unanticipated expenses. To assess the value of equipment breakdown insurance, total all of the these costs:
* Repair or replacement of the damaged equipment.
* Income for the period you have to shut down because a breakdown interrupts your business.
* Extra expenses to rent spares or rush repairs.
* Loss of perishable goods.

Here are some expamples:

Office Equipment
A consultant's office was down for two-and-a-half days when the file server failed. Employees had to work the weekend to finish a major presentation wich their client expected on Monday morning.
Total loss: $7,003.20

ICBC representatives are on site in Prince Rupert, B.C. to aid ferry passengers and expedite the handling of all vehicle-related claims related to the sinking of the Queen of the North.
According to the Vancouver Sun, a Canadian Coast Guard vessel remained off B.C.'s north coast, scouring the choppy waters for fear there could yet be a missing passenger from a ferry that hit a rock and sank in the dead of night.
ICBC has been in contact with BC Ferries and has agreed to handle all vehicle-related claims. This will include expedited payments for the loss of the vehicle, as well as coverage for a replacement vehicle if required.
ICBC said in a release that its goal "is to have cheques in the customers' hands as soon as possible - immediately, or certainly within 24 hours."
The Sun reported the Queen of the North, sailing south on a 450-km overnight trip from Prince Rupert to Port Hardy along what's known as B.C.'s Inside Passage, hit the rock in choppy seas and high winds. It took about an hour for the boat to sink, allowing those aboard the ferry to get on the lifeboats and giving rescuers time to reach them.
The orderly rescue of dozens of people from the ferry's lifeboats – 42 crew members and 59 passengers – and the fact that no one was seriously injured is nothing short of miraculous, the president of B.C. Ferries, David Hahn, told the Sun.

Marshall and Swift/Boeckh (MS/B) recently initiated a project to augment its IntegriClaim field estimating product with operations, features and finishes customarily found in high-value homes. The continual expansion of the IntegriClaim database gives insurance carriers and adjusters the ability to create more accurate and consistent loss estimates for upscale and custom-built homes, MS/B said.

"Growth in the high-value home marketplace and increased use of MS/B's RCT High Value product, a high-value home valuation application, has amplified the need for the creation of a comprehensive database of high-value features and finishes," Jonathan Kost, vice-president of claims at MS/B, said. "The data will be updated on a quarterly basis to coincide with the delivery of our underwriting building cost updates, allowing our clients to react quickly as new high value areas emerge throughout the country." Kost explained that the data-set is of great importance to insurance carriers who use RCT High Value on the underwriting side: it aids the achievement of true indemnification by helping to generate claims payments from the same "total-component"data.

In Canada, the number of applications for individual life insurance policies decilined by 1.9% in 2005 compared to 2004, according to the MIB Life Index, whereas in the United States, application activity was down by 3.4%.

In total, North American applications were down by 3.3% for all ages compared to 2004. When combined with the downturn in activity in 04/03 (-2.3%) and 03/02 (-3.0%), the industry is experiencing a three-year decline in applications in excess of 8.0%.

However, while application activity is on the decline, aggregate premiums and average face amounts of new individual life policies are increasing industry-wide, notes the MIB Life Index report.

"Our data show that activity in the 60 plus age demographic is slowly crowding out application activity at the younger ages. This is another manifestation that the middle and lower end of the market continues to remain underserved by current distribution and product designs," says Stacy Gill., MIB's chief knowledge officer.