A Unique Approach to Insuring High-Value Homes Quantum Refreshingly Different
A Refreshingly Different Approach To Insuring High-Value Homes Over the following pages we highlight the 7 most common mistakes made by the affluent when insuring their home and prized possessions. We also present a solution that is independently recognised as market leading. I do hope you will take a little time to read this document and consider how the points we raise might affect you. Quantum Underwriting s Plc provides bespoke risk management solutions for discerning high net worth individuals. Our sole focus is to provide market leading service and best of breed solutions. This unique combination provides our clients with total peace of mind and enables them to simply and efficiently do business with us. Quantum is part of the Wissenbach Group of Companies which has over a decade of experience meeting the needs of high net worth individuals. We have offices in London and Warwickshire, and clients with assets and property throughout the UK and Europe. We work predominantly on a referral basis and are therefore able to be totally focused on providing service to our chosen client group. We meet every client to ensure their proposed risk management solution exactly meets their needs and, through ongoing reviews, can ensure that our clients requirements continue to be understood and met. Our unique holistic approach delivers long-term value and generates excellent client loyalty. If you would like to understand how you would personally benefit, please contact us. Our contact details are below, or there is a response card and business reply envelope in the rear of the brochure. We look forward to demonstrating our refreshingly different approach. Stefan Wissenbach Chairman Quantum Underwriting s plc Quantum The Manor, Warwick, CV35 7LS T 0870 402 1900 F 0870 402 1901 E quantum@quantumplc.com 3
The Seven Most Common Mistakes... As the owner of a high-value home, do you recognise some of these mistakes? MISTAKE No 1 Not insuring property and possessions for the correct amount Substantial financial loss and it s far worse than just losing the difference. Rather than paying up to your level of insurance, most insurers will reduce your claim settlement in proportion to your level of under-insurance! Some may even refuse to pay at all. Here s an example of how it s done for buildings, but the same process is applied to claims for possessions: Actual Property Rebuild cost 500,000 Insured Value 250,000 Under-insurance % 50% Serious fire causes damage of 200,000 Settlement @ 50% of claim 100,000 Client s Loss 100,000 Employ a chartered surveyor, valuer or other competent professional to calculate the correct cost to rebuild your home and replace your possessions. Choose an insurer who guarantees to pay out the right amount, now and in the future. MISTAKE No 2 Buying an Insurance policy which is not warranty free Substantial financial loss most insurers insist on an alarm clause or warranty which invalidates theft cover should you go out and forget to set the alarm. They may also apply a custody warranty which allows them to withdraw cover if an item is not on you, or in your home, at the time of loss. Learn the small print in your policy and organise your life around their rules. Choose a warranty free policy that is designed not to trip you up. MISTAKE No 3 Dealing with an insurer who insists on using its own contractors to repair your damaged property Inconvenience and possible financial loss caused by a poor quality job. Accept that you may have to get in your own contractor after the insurer s has left. Choose an insurer who allows you to choose your own contractor in the first place. 4
MISTAKE No 4 Dealing with an insurer who dictates how you replace lost, stolen or damaged items Inconvenience you may prefer to have cash or to replace a lost item with something slightly different particularly if it had sentimental value. And you may not be able to directly replace items of clothing at all, as most insurers make a substantial deduction for wear and tear. Settle for what you get. Choose an insurer who gives you the option of having your claim settled in cash in full and pays for clothes as new. MISTAKE No 5 Insuring buildings and contents with two different insurers Inconvenience and potential financial loss two claims, two loss adjusters, lots of paperwork. Not to mention those grey areas where nobody accepts responsibility Accept that most claims will be a lengthy three-cornered negotiation. Choose a policy that has the flexibility to cover all your homes, valuables and other assets, such as cars, under a single policy with no awkward gaps. MISTAKE No 6 Purchasing insurance from your mortgage lender Financial loss this type of insurance is often more expensive because your lender is likely to insure your home at its market value rather than its rebuild value. Also, as they are non-specialist insurers, the policy tends to be one size fits all, which is usually inadequate for high-value homes. Hope for the best. Choose a broker and insurer who specialise in dealing with the complex needs of more discerning clients with high value homes. MISTAKE No 7 Dealing with an insurer who loves paperwork Yours! Inconvenience most insurers require proposal forms, valuations, claims forms, etc, etc. They all eat into your precious time. Earmark your own time to do a lot of paperwork. Choose a broker and insurer who do not insist on proposal and claim forms, and ask for valuations only for extremely costly items. 5
What Is Masterpiece And Why Do Quantum Recommend it? Chubb Masterpiece is a specialist insurance policy designed for the affluent with considerable personal assets. Because Chubb only insure high value, quality homes, they understand your needs better than other non-specialist insurers. With Masterpiece you will enjoy coverage that leads the market, the best claim service in the UK and the security of unquestionable financial strength. What Are The Key Benefits of Masterpiece? Chubb Masterpiece offers important benefits not available under most home policies. The Masterpiece Home Appraisal The complimentary home appraisal is at the heart of the Chubb approach. Chubb is the only insurer to visit and appraise every home it insures. Most insurers expect you to calculate the cost of replacing your homes and possessions. When you make a claim, they decide whether this sum is correct. Under-estimate and they will penalise you for being under-insured citing an average clause buried in the small print of the policy, which allows them to reduce your claim settlement in proportion to your under-insurance. Chubb Masterpiece does not contain an average clause. Chubb s experience shows that more than 8 out of 10 homes are inadequately insured. The Masterpiece Home Appraisal helps you to avoid under-insurance. Chubb s Appraisers experts with backgrounds in architecture, surveying and fine art assess your home and possessions to provide you with: An accurate estimate of the cost of rebuilding your home, including any special architectural features. Expert guidance on adequate contents cover, including fine art, antiques and jewellery. Fire, safety and security advice. So when you make a claim you can be confident that you will be adequately compensated. And with Chubb s Extended Replacement Cover guarantee, if your home is insured to its appraised value, Chubb guarantee to rebuild it exactly as it was whatever it costs. 6
A fairer way of being insured An insurer for the 21st Century Chubb s guiding principle is to ensure that, in the event of a claim, you receive the fairest possible compensation with the minimum of fuss. Agreed value approach Chubb believes in total transparency. They agree upfront the amount they will pay in the event of loss, or damage beyond repair, for homes, specified valuables and cars. The sum they agree is the sum they will pay with no quibbles and no deductions. Freedom of choice Chubb believes your insurer should not dictate to you. They allow you to choose whether to replace an item or take the full cash settlement without deduction. For replacement or repairs they allow you to choose your own contractor or supplier. No restrictions or small print Chubb believes you should be free to enjoy your homes and possessions not be limited by them. They automatically cover all your possessions worldwide for all risks. There are no under-insurance penalties or restrictive conditions such as alarm or unoccupancy clauses that could invalidate your claim. Easy to manage Chubb believes insurance should be hassle-free. There are no proposal or claim forms to complete and all your assets even cars are covered on one policy with one premium and one renewal date. Traditionally, insurers only pay claims for lost or damaged possessions. Chubb believe that with 21st century crimes, such as: Aggravated Burglary Car Jacking Road Rage Air Rage Stalking there is now a need to help protect the lifestyle and the physical and emotional well-being of their policyholders, as well as their possessions. Chubb Masterpiece is unique as the only home policy to provide comprehensive cover for the physical and emotional trauma of such modern day crimes. It also offers unique protection against Identity Fraud, the UK s fastest growing white-collar crime, paying the expenses to regain your good name and reinstate your credit status. An award-winning claims service Chubb has earned a worldwide reputation for superb claims handling. Brokers have voted Chubb Best Claims Service for an unprecedented four years in succession at the prestigious UK Insurance Times Awards. It is not surprising as their Agreed Value approach, lack of average clauses and restrictions, and policy of issuing payment within 48 hours of agreeing the amount makes their claims service fairer and faster. Masterpiece Highlights Specialist insurance for discerning homeowners on one policy with one premium and one renewal date. Complimentary Home Appraisal service. Agreed Value approach, helping to settle your claim before it happens. Your choice of replacement or full cash settlement. Worldwide all risks cover for all your possessions. No restrictive clauses, warranties or small print. Cover for all types of homes including second homes. Award-winning claim service. From one of the world s most respected and financially stable insurers. 7
Notes from the diary of a Chubb Insurance Appraiser. Do you own a home that s special? Have a second home abroad? Collect antiques or paintings? Wear expensive jewellery? hen you probably need specialist T insurance cover. Cover that isn t questioned after the event. In my experience as an appraiser, more than 8 out of 10 homes are under-insured. It s staggering. Astute people are unwittingly putting themselves at considerable financial risk. Chubb Masterpiece ensures you have exactly the right cover. What is the right level of cover? How much to rebuild your house exactly as it was? How much to replace lost possessions? Standard insurance companies leave that calculation to you. Underestimate, and they can penalise you by reducing your settlement. Chubb Masterpiece eliminates this uncertainty. Chubb appraisers, like myself, assess most homes we insure to determine an accurate rebuilding cost and provide guidance on adequate contents and valuables cover. Effectively, this settles any loss before it occurs. The nightmare of listed buildings. A listed 17th century house I inspected was underinsured by nearly 1 2 million. Why? Someone didn t realise the real cost of restoring the oak panelling, the hand-carved fireplaces and the intricate brickwork. Beware! Under-insuring a listed building can lead to legal proceedings. At best, it is a potential financial nightmare as the council s conservation officer will force the owners to pay for any shortfall themselves. The solution is to use a specialist insurer, like Chubb, with experience in valuing listed buildings. Often, one needs less insurance. I also see many cases where people are expensively over-insured. For example, a beautiful farmhouse in the Home Counties, insured at its market value of 650,000. Yet, it would only cost 390,000 to rebuild. The difference? Simply the price of land. The owners were delighted. They could reduce their insurance premiums. with more cover. And, with our unique Extended Replacement Cost cover, we guaranteed to rebuild their home exactly as it was with like-for-like quality and craftsmanship even if it cost more than the agreed buildings sum insured. Why is the Chubb appraisal service so special? Chubb appraisers are highly experienced with backgrounds in architecture, surveying and fine art. Our complimentary appraisal is unique. It involves a complete evaluation of your home, together with guidance on the replacement cost of your contents and valuables, including antiques and fine art. With this detailed record, you can be adequately covered so there are no nasty surprises. Each year Chubb appraises over 30,000 prestigious and period homes world-wide which makes it the leader in its field. No restrictive conditions that could invalidate your insurance. Chubb insures your home on a warranty free basis. There are no restrictive conditions about occupancy or setting burglar alarms that other insurers impose. Chubb prefers to rely on your natural concern to protect your own possessions. Two homes on one policy with no occupancy clauses. Our approach to second homes is revolutionary. We will usually include second homes on the same policy as your main home - on exactly the same terms. With no irksome occupancy clauses. And the second home can be outside the UK. Many of my clients have homes in France or Spain or Italy. No deductions. A customer recently had a necklace stolen. It had an agreed value of 27,000 under our Valuable Articles cover. She was amazed. The cheque arrived within 48 hours of Chubb agreeing the claim, and it was for the full 27,000 - with no deductions. But Chubb is not like other insurance companies. We do not force you to replace an item through a preferred supplier, with us taking a hefty, hidden discount. Nor do we insist on a reduced settlement if you choose not to replace the item. We pay you exactly what the item is insured for. Perhaps this is why Chubb is the world s largest insurer of privately-owned jewellery and fine art. is designed for owners of fine homes, valuables and collections. For 120 years Chubb has provided exceptional cover, first class service and legendary claims handling, underpinned by consistently high ratings for financial strength. For more information about Chubb Masterpiece please contact James Wasdell at Quantum Underwriting s T: 0870 402 1900 E: james@quantumplc.com COVERAGE IS UNDERWRITTEN BY CHUBB INSURANCE COMPANY OF EUROPE S. A. THE PRECISE COVERAGE AFFORDED IS SUBJECT TO THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THE POLICY AS ISSUED. CHUBB REFERS TO THE INSURERS OF THE CHUBB GROUP OF INSURANCE COMPANIES. INSURANCE FOR: HOMES JEWELLERY FINE ART MOTOR COVER BEYOND YOUR EXPECTATIONS 8
Don t Just Take Our Word For It! Over the next four pages we show in a variety of ways and from a variety of sources the experience of Chubb Masterpiece policyholders. What Chubb Clients Say Comments from Chubb clients about the Masterpiece Home Appraisal Service. What Quantum Clients Say A letter from a Quantum client following their claim through Chubb. Chubb Recent Independent Worldwide Recognition High acclaim and industry awards from international financial services experts. Chubb Claims Feedback. Probably the single strongest reason to insure with Chubb! A summary of nearly 10,000 questionnaires, returned by Chubb policyholders who have made a claim and experienced their remarkable claim service. 9
What Chubb Clients Say "We live in a grade II listed 17th century timber framed farmhouse. The Chubb appraiser determined the rebuild cost to be 500,000, which meant that we had been under-insured by 150,000! As the owners of a listed building, we would have to cover the difference to build something similar. We sleep a little easier knowing that we have the right cover and even if Chubb was wrong and we should have insured for more,with their Extended Replacement Cover they will pay the difference." "We recently bought a three-storey Georgian style house. We had insured all our previous homes based on their purchase price. After meeting the Chubb appraiser and receiving the useful report, we learned that all these years we had been overpaying premiums. We re grateful to Chubb for finally getting it right." "I had no idea how much all my things were worth, especially my wardrobe. The Chubb appraiser was so knowledgeable and provided valuable guidance to help me determine the necessary amount of cover. I am most impressed." Comments made by Chubb clients following their complimentary Home Appraisal 10
What Quantum Clients Say Further to our recent telephone conversation, I would be grateful if you could pass my thanks on to Chubb for the manner in which they dealt with my recent claim. As you are aware this is not the first time we have had to make a claim on a Chubb Masterpiece policy. A number of years ago, when dealing with another broker, we were insured with Chubb and had to make a claim when the flooring of our conservatory became badly damaged due to flooding. Chubb were magnificent in their handling of the claim and we had a cheque for a replacement floor within the week. We were extremely disappointed when this broker switched its policies from Chubb to another company, who we considered to offer an inferior product. However, we were delighted when becoming clients of the Wissenbach group that we could again be insured through Chubb. This also, in our view, underlined the quality of the products you were recommending. Unfortunately, as luck (or otherwise) would have it, we put them to the test yet again when my watch was lost on a recent holiday. We suspect our 10-month-old baby took the watch from the safety our beach bag and it was never seen again. Yet again, Chubb were fantastic. My style of watch had been discontinued so they agreed a similar replacement with the manufacturer, checked that I agreed with this, and again sent a cheque in just over a week. Whilst I would be grateful if you could pass on my thanks to them, I will be more than relieved if we do not have to call upon their excellent services again for some time to come. A letter received from a Quantum client, dated 3rd February 2004 11
Chubb Recent Independent Worldwide Recognition Personal Lines Insurer of the Year Insurance Times Awards, UK 2000 and 2003 (Runner-up 2001, 2002) Best Claims Service Insurance Times Awards, UK 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003 Third Most Respected Financial Company In The World Financial Times Global Survey 2001 Best Insurer Forbes FYI Magazine, 2001 Best Homeowners Insurance Worth Magazine, 2000, 2001 Editor s Choice Home & Motor 2002 Best Quality of Service Goldman Sachs Financial Services Survey, USA 2002, 2003 Best Householder Insurer J P Morgan Survey, Australia 2001 Best Overall Service ADECOSE Biannual Survey, Spain 2001, 2003 Who are Chubb? The Chubb Group of Insurance Companies was founded in North America in 1882 and has built an enviable reputation as one of the world s leading insurance organisations. Today Chubb has over 130 offices on five continents and over 30 billion in assets. Chubb consistently earns high ratings for financial strength and claims paying ability from the leading credit-rating agencies, reflecting its ability to pay claims now, and in the future. Masterpiece is acknowledged as the world s leading specialist policy for protecting fine homes, valuables, art, jewellery, motor vehicles and more. Through Masterpiece, Chubb insures more privately owned fine art, antiques and jewellery than any other insurer. There are one million Masterpiece policyholders worldwide. 12
Chubb Claims Feedback The number of insurers and products aimed at high net worth individuals continues to grow, but few have Chubb s pedigree when it comes to the moment of truth the claim. Below are the results from nearly 10,000 feedback questionnaires, received from UK & Ireland policy holders, compiled over the last few years. We hope you ll agree that they make remarkable reading and provide you with peace of mind that should the unexpected happen, you will receive the best claims service in the UK from Chubb. It s no surprise that Chubb have won the Best Claims Service award at the prestigious Insurance Times Awards for the last FOUR years running. Chubb Masterpiece Claim Feedback 1998 to Present Total Number of responses 9,728 Yes No Was the response to you 9,583 98.5% 145 1.5% claim prompt? Was the Chubb representative 9,696 99.7% 32 0.3% courteous and professional? Were you satisfied with the 9,544 98.1% 184 1.9% amount you received? Were you satisfied with the 9,489 97.5% 239 2.5% speed of payment? Excellent Good Average Poor Overall, how would you rate the 8,306 1,220 141 61 Chubb claim service? 85.4% 12.5% 1.5% 0.6% Total responses rating 'Excellent' or 'Good' 97.9% 13
Contact Us, For Total Peace Of Mind Thank you for taking the time to read this brochure. For total peace of mind and to find out more about how you would personally benefit from the refreshingly different Quantum and Chubb Masterpiece approach, please get in touch with us. Our contact details are below or you can use the response card and business reply envelope in the back pocket of this brochure. Quantum Underwriting s plc The Manor Warwick CV35 7LS T 0870 402 1900 F 0870 402 1901 E quantum@quantumplc.com 14