Aviva - Change Management out of control
I don't really care what happens to Aviva, in fact I find it an interesting experiment on brand destruction and it's subsequent consequences in cyberspace. I gave up caring about Aviva a long time ago when it got taken over by Norwich Union!
How did that happen eh?
Two massive GOOD performing companies General Accident and Commercial Union, bastions of British Insurance for a century, allow some little upstart with a bad reputation amongst
insurance brokers - Norwich Union, to come in take them both over, totally change direction, and destroy not just the brands but the ethos and systems of two great companies.
Commercial Union was a mess when GA took it over, in need of new systems and a people cull.
GA managed to absorb what was a good book of general business and the largest Life Insurance account int the UK, into its latest systems with little pain. The merger seem to work well as CGU until the motor bike people came along during the time of large takeovers and stock market profit grabbing.
Those were the days.... I remember the day I was at my city desk when a friend from GA phoned me up from Scotland to say they'd seen CU going into the boardroom at Perth. Oh if only they had Internet day trading facilities in those days......
So recently Insurance blogger has been watching closely and has noticed the following
1 A decision to destroy another brand and move to the megalith status of AVIVA
2. Rationalisation of all distribution outlets - It's well documented in the insurance newspapers, the souring relationships of the large conglommerates of Insurance Broking Networks, consolidators and the Internet aggregators and the withdrawal of NU from many of these product markets.
NU has also almost completely stopped it's external Internet distribution and has discharged the duties of affiliates in favour of centralised and PPC marketing.
3.The online affiliate marketing company OMG from Norwich whose account was founded on NU products, has seen all but the
LIFE INSURANCE products withdrawn. It's now beholden to RBS products to keep it alive in the online insurance arena.
At least there are some sensible people in the Life Dept - which rules the general insurance department anyway, as the Insurance side of the business is incidental in the scheme of things.
4. Rationalisation of labour
From an online marketing point of view, Insurance blogger thinks that NU whoever you are, have totally cocked up, and only time will tell just how badly - not that they care, its not their money, they are just playing with the shareholders money in exactly the same way as those bank employees did.
Still I don't care that they are wasting the shareholders money, they'll just turn around anyway and put it down to the cost of 'brand alignment'.
The sad thing is that they are heading in totally the wrong direction.
To be successful on the Internet today, you must have a strong brand.
All the search engine results are dominated by the big brands, including NorwichUnion.com.
The IT department has probably told the marketing people to say they've got it all under control by using what is known as a 301 redirect to the new Aviva site.
tee hee...
The really sad thinng though is that, they are brand destroyers, acquiring, consuming, and destroying famous british brands that they should be cherishing and maximising market coverage with.
They won't change, they've been doing it a long time - after all they destroyed GA Bonus which was voted for by the readers of
Insurance Times as the third most important Insurance invention ever after Lloyds and Direct Line.
Maybe it is the right time to shrink the book........
No....!
Good job I sold my shares years ago.
Hang on they've still got my pension fund........
Labels: AVIVA, Insurance, norwich union
Thinking of renewing your car insurance policy - read this first!
With the exception of the fairly new practice of issuing pay as you go car insurance policies, when you purchase
car insurance you are entering into, and bound by the conditions of, a fixed term contract with the car insurance company. In the vast majority of cases this fixed term is for exactly one year since the date of the policy's inception or beginning.
As you near the end of the period of cover, your insurance company will invite or tender you to renew the contract. These days the systems employed by large car insurance companies will trigger the renewal procedure which initially means the production and posting of a set of renewal documents to the policyholder. This is usually timed so that the invite to renew pack is produced automatically around fifteen days prior to the termination of the existing car insurance contract, giving the prospective renewal policyholder time to correspond with the car insurance company and inform them of any changes that may have occurred during the term of the contract which are not reflected in the renewal documents.
If you intend to renew with the same
cheap car insurance company you are legally bound to inform this company of any alterations to the statement of fact that you originally made when you first took out the policy.
Likewise you may wish to add or remove elements of cover from the current status of the car insurance policy, as your requirements may well have changed over the previous year.
Because of the compulsory nature of third party car insurance, no 'days of grace' are allowed after the renewal date of the policy. This can cause problems for car insurance companies as for practical purposes renewal documents and certificates have to be produced and dispatched to the prospective renewal policyholder in advance, which will become operative from the first day of the new period of insurance.
The renewal certificate, required by law to tax a motor vehicle, in theory cannot be issued until the renewal premium is paid. If payment was received subsequent to the expiry date of the existing car insurance policy, then the certificate would have to be re-written with the operative time and date matched to the time of payment. This could cause a major problem for the car insurance companies, as to issue an unaltered certificate would be equivalent to ante-dating it, which is a criminal offence, whilst re-writing the renewal documents would result in additional costs and expenditure to the car insurer, and more importantly would leave gaps in cover for the policyholder, which would leave a driver exposed to risks and legal action for driving without car insurance.
In order to overcome these practical difficulties of renewals, car insurers have developed a practice of incorporating into the renewal documents a certificate of insurance that is valid for an extended period of seven to fifteen days. This benefits both the prospective renewal and the insurance company by extending the period during which the insured has time to pay the renewal premium, yet still receive a certificate dated from the first day of the new contract period.
Car Insurers are particularly sensitive to what is known as the 'renewal retention ratio' , the number of renewals expressed as a percentage of the previous years total policies issued, especially since the introduction of online car insurance underwriting which has enabled a prospective renewal to shop around much easier and perhaps to change supplier.
The issue of this temporary certificate of cover in effect and contract law, constitutes an offer by the car insurance company, which the insured must either accept expressly, by paying the renewal premium, or by implication by doing nothing and having the premium taken from the payment source of the previous year's policy.
If however the prospective renewal obtains car insurance cover elsewhere or by some action, such as a telephone call, implies that he does not intend to renew and thereby not accept the offer, then this temporary cover would be deemed invalid. If a policyholder does not for some reason receive the renewal quote and certificate, or was unaware of the wording of the renewal notice, he cannot accept an offer and is therefore entitled to a full refund if the money has been debited from his account.
With the vast amount of choice available with
online car insurance today, ranging from specialist car insurance schemes targeted at a particular group to the aggregator comparison websites, huge savings can be made by a policyholder at renewal if they are prepared to shop around for equivalent cover. It may not be in the best interests of a policyholder to blindly accept an offer to renew a car insurance contract without recourse to other offerings in the market which may be more suitable for their particular circumstances. Car Insurance rates vary immensely and it is not unheard of for companies to match or better a renewal offer from a competitor if you pick up the phone and give them a ring.
Dave Healey is a specialist car insurance underwiter who has been underwriting
Car Insurance polices at Lloyds for over thirty years
Article Source:
http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dave_HealeyLabels: car insurance, specialist car insurance
Specialist Car Insurance Advice
You may be tempted in the current economic climate to cut corners and take risks that maybe you normally wouldn't.
This article by
specialist car insurance expert Dave Healey explains why you should always think about the consequences of your actions:
Car Insurance - Lending Your Car Could Land You in Jail
By Dave Healey
How many times have you said to the wife, children or a friend 'take my car' and not thought any more of it? Even if it's just a short trip down the road to the shops, you and the person you lend your car to, may be breaking the law! Furthermore if the person you lend the car to, in turn lends the car to another, you will be held liable for any damages caused by the other party, whether you were aware of their use or not.
If you own a car and decide to lend it to another person, it is your responsibility to check that the person you lend it to have adequate car insurance and that their cover extends to driving other vehicles. If you fail to make reasonable checks to verify these details you could be liable for subsequent damage that the person you lent it to causes, and indeed, you may find yourself on the end of a police prosecution for allowing an uninsured driver to use a motor vehicle contrary of section 143 of the Road Traffic Act. It is also you responsibility to ensure that the person you lend it to does not permit others to drive it.
In the United Kingdom, this principle was first established in UK law back in 1934 in the case of Monk v Warbey and Others. Mr Warbey owned a car which was insured to permit driving by himself and other members of his family. He lent it to his friend Mr Knowles who in turn lent it to a Mr May to drive. At some time during use of the car Mr May was involved in an accident for which he was deemed responsible, with a car driven by Mr Monk. Neither May nor Mr Knowles had insurance for third party risks and neither had the means or funds to satisfy the judgement in court against them. It was held that Mr Warbey had originally committed a breach of duty of sub section 1 of section 143 of the Road Traffic Act, by parting with the control of the car to a person who was not insured, and he was therefore held liable for all damages and costs.
It was found in court that Mr Warbey had been informed prior to parting with the Vehicle that neither Mr Knowles nor Mr May had adequate car insurance covering third party risks and had taken no steps to remedy this. Counsel for Warbey argued that the car accident involving May was too far removed from Warbey's breach of the statute to make Warbey liable for damages to the third party. The Judge disagreed and Warbey was found liable, and the principle enacted by this case remains in UK law to the current day. Up until this point in time the Act did not extend liability to users of cars to third parties, beyond the requirements of common law, but the decision in this particular case imposes upon the owner of a car, whether they have car insurance or not, an additional duty to injured third parties and enables any third party to recover damages from the car owner who permits his car to be used in such a way, knowingly or not.
The only exception to this rule is in the case of employees using a car owned by their employer, where the person driving the car had reasonable grounds to believe that insurance was in force when the used the car.
It would therefore be very prudent if you checked the levels of cover of your own car insurance policy before agreeing to the use of your vehicle by another, and indeed certify that they are covered by either your own or their current car insurance. Failure to do so could land you in the courts!
Dave Healey is a specialist motor underwiter who has been underwriting car insurance policies and in particular classic car insurance polices at Lloyds for over thirty years
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dave_Healey
http://EzineArticles.com/?Car-Insurance---Lending-Your-Car-Could-Land-You-in-Jail&id=2089333
Labels: specialist car insurance
Aviva flops with the not so happy public
It seems that the UK public have finally had enough of being 'Happy' and want it consigned to the dustbin of bad advertising history along with the Norwich Union brand.
While searching the planet to bring you interesting debate about the state of UK Insurance, we stumbled upon, this amazing post to Aviva's latest advertising campaign at the Online Ad agency distribution site Visit4vista. You can see the ad and read the original post at the link below.
The post is from someone who calls himself Mr Mustard and although damning, Insurance Blogger thinks that it captures the sentiments being heard 'down the pub' regarding this agglomeration of some fine old British Insurance Companies( in Scotland...hmm)under this 'new' (six years old) banner.
I see that Aviva (who used to be Norwich Union) are still ploughing on with their ‘Happy’ campaign. It seems amazingly inappropriate and cack-handed under our present financial circumstances, so either they are genuinely uncaring or really believe that they can cheer us all up with this self-congratulationary nonsense. Hundreds of poor saps have been dragooned into their headquarters to shake hands with ‘Happy’ who is welcoming them back into the Aviva/Norwich Union fold.
I’m sure that quite a number of people have had to come back to Aviva/NU on account of it being one of the few financial institutions that is still solvent, but I really don’t see this as an excuse for boasting.
Furthermore, no doubt completely over-excited at their continued solvency, or perhaps just because they have two names, Aviva/NU seem also to have, at present, two advertising campaigns. There is another one out there which is less silly than ‘Happy’ but is merely dull in an efficiently corporate/moderne sort of way, and drones on about a ‘Company built around individuals’, which is hardly a new thought, but is at least inoffensive.
Personally I believe that a period of quiet reflection would be more appropriate for the whole financial sector, and if they want to advertise at all, they should just make very simple and cheap commercials featuring their chief executives and high flying investment managers issuing grovelling apologies for having lost everyone’s money.More Reasons to question Aviva
1. Call Centres in India when we've got people on the dole.
2. Do you know just how many of the other UK financial Institution's AVIVA has got its hands into and owns a large part of? You'd be very surprised!
3. You tell us - serious comments below please
"Quote Me Happy" We're not so happy easter bunnies!
Labels: AVIVA, norwich union quote me happy
UK Debtors in trouble - credit crunch tightens
reading the following article from ezines at looking at the housing repossession figures it appears that that the courts aren't necessarily taking the Governments advice to be lenient of debtors.
Debit Crunch - Credit Card and Loan Debts May Lead to Mortgage Foreclosures
By Paul Magus
Once upon a time an unsecured loan was exactly that - these days it appears every loan is secured against your property, if not what when you take it out but at anytime in the future, should the creditor wish to pursue an action against you through the UK Courts.
Creditors are using tougher tactics to make debtors pay back their debts - with a recent surge in applications for charging orders. A charging order is a application made to a district judge in a county court. Initially an interim charging order will be granted as soon as the creditor applies to the court for a charge. This will make your property very difficult to sell, even if you were planning to, as a potential buyer will need to negotiate the charge being removed, and would certainly not assist in a quick sale.
You will then be dragged before a district judge a few weeks later to explain why a charge should not be put on your property against for example, your credit card debts. A full charging order will be given in 99.9% of cases and the charge will be registered against your property on the land registry documents.These court orders, enable lenders to secure bad debt on credit cards and on loans against borrowers' properties. This would result in a loss of equity were the borrower to sell.
Much more worrying for the Nation as a whole is that today some lenders are now unwilling to wait, and according to a recent UK BBC Panorama program are bypassing the initial stages of the debt recovery process and now applying for an immediate 'order for sale' from the courts, forcing the property-owner to sell up straight away and pay off their debt from the capital raised against the sale of their house.
The CPS (Crown Prosecution Service) who set the CPR rules for procedure in the county and small claims courts, appear, primae facia, to be assisting Creditors in obtaining these orders, which cannot surely be in the National interest.
Be extremely careful in defaulting on your credit card payments you could lose much more than you bargained for including your home. We may have had the credit crunch which has restricted the flow and liquidity of money but we've yet to see the full force of the 'Debit Crunch' when the Credit Card and Loan companies want their money back, when your home will become at risk of repossession, even though you've always kept up with the mortgage repayments, for the smallest of debts, aided and abetted by the machinery of state through the Civil courts.
Protect your self with
Unemployment Insurance,
Income protection insurance for unemployedArticle Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Paul_Magus
http://EzineArticles.com/?Debit-Crunch---Credit-Card-and-Loan-Debts-May-Lead-to-Mortgage-Foreclosures&id=1697877
Labels: credit crunch, income protection insurance, unemployment insurance
Income Protection Insurance - a lighthouse in the economic gloom
Income Protection Insurance - 5 Things They Don't Tell You About When You Buy
By Paul Magus
If you are afraid of becoming unemployed or are thinking about purchasing Income Protection Insurance in the UK, then take notice of the five things they don't (or may neglect to) tell you about when selling you an income insurance policy.
1. Exclusion Period.
Nearly all policies have a wording which excludes claims for unemployment for 120 days or four months from the inception date when you took out the policy.
This period is to prevent fraudulent claims from people who knew they were going to be made unemployed.
The exclusion period means the period of time that you will need to be unemployed or disabled before you qualify for claim payments.
The qualification period options vary by policy are always detailed on the policy documentation. quite often you can save many pounds by agreeing to a longer period during which you cannot claim.
2. Monthly Premiums.
Income Protection policies are monthly cover with the premiums usually paid monthly in advance by direct debit.
Because they only cover you on a month by month basis as long as you pay the premium, it is now very easy to shop around and get better cover at a much fairer premium.
If you feel that you job is likely to be at risk due to the fallout from the credit crunch and the banking collapse, you should act immediately and purchase some income insurance
Remembering the exclusion period, and say it costs you £30 per month per £1000 worth of monthly income benefit (which is incidentally quite expensive compared to the independent suppliers) a £120 outlay would secure you income benefit each month of £1000 from the New Year this year to Christmas next year, by when you should hopefully be back on your feet.
3. Changing Policy.
If you have previously purchased Income Protection from a bank or building society you should consider changing to an independent supplier, whose premiums may only be half what you are currently paying and whose cover restrictions may be more favourable to your individual circumstances.
Because you pay you premiums monthly if you already have income protection insurance in place, you may need to cover two premiums for the exclusion period if you purchase a new policy, which could prove expensive during the exclusion period.
However many of the independent income protection providers may have in place a premium waiver for this period in order to win your new business.
4. Excess Period.
Not to be confused with the exclusion period, the excess period is a period of time from the day you make your claim until the claim is eligible to be paid out.
It varies considerably by income protection insurance policy and longer excess periods generally mean cheaper premiums.
This may not always be in your best interests, so many of the independent income protection insurance suppliers now offer policies which have 'back-to-day-one cover'.
But what exactly is 'back-to-day-one cover'? It means that claims are paid back to the very first day of your claim for benefit.
For example, if you take out cover and then made a claim on the 1st of May you would wait until the 31st of May before receiving any benefit but the payment would be for the entire period you are unemployed or disabled from the 1st of May.
So effectively you get benefit as soon as you are eligible for a claim and there is no 'excess period' in which you can't claim benefit.
5. Shop around.
Income Protection Insurance is one type of insurance where it really does pay to follow the principle or maxim 'shop around'.
With so many offerings and variances in benefits and premium rates, on the market it can get confusing. A recent report by the Credit Commission in the UK accused the major lenders of anti-competitive practices and mis-selling of PPI and one area for example, legislation was introduced in January this year disallowing loan protection insurance to be sold alongside the loan or within 14 days of having sold a credit service to a customer, allowing that customer to for example surf the net for alternative IPPI products.
However today the better Internet sites, which are generally independent product suppliers, now make the process quick and easy, and should not deter you from purchasing this modern insurance essential in this most turbulent of economic times.
More information on independent UK Income Protection Insurance Read more Paul Magus at Insurance Blog
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Paul_Magus
http://EzineArticles.com/?Income-Protection-Insurance---5-Things-They-Dont-Tell-You-About-When-You-Buy&id=1646945
Labels: income protection insurance
Insurance Blog Announce new Insurance Video Blog
Insurance Blog have launched a new
Insurance Vlog - or video blog to the likes of you and me. The Vlog will have a commercial directory of ads, ordered by product type and video genre.
Most Importantly though....
We've managed to arrange to fly many of the top executives of UK Insurance Companies down to Newquay in Cornwall for the day once a week throughout the Summer.
They'll have lunch at Jamie Olivers 15 in Watergate Bay, and give us a video interview whilst watching the surfers...
Yeah it was dificult to get them to agree.....
Insurance Vlog will be the main vehicle for the snydication and distribution of what we hope will be very hot news!
So if you've got any Insurance questions you'd like answered send them in now!
Labels: Insurance Vlog
Thousands Welomed Ba..
