Zurich UK paid 99% of claims in 2018

The total value of all claims paid to Zurich UK general insurance customers last year reached more than £1.6 billion.

More than 99% of general insurance customer claims were paid, Zurich said recently, with 140 of these valued at more than £1 million.

The majority of motor and home claims were paid (99% and 95%). Where a small percentage of home claims weren’t paid out, customers had claimed for wear and tear not covered by their policies.

Similarly, claims for accidental damage were not accepted for customers who didn’t have the specific cover in place.

Zurich paid 96% of all retail protection claims, including life, critical illness and income protection insurance during 2018.

A small number of claims were not covered due to non-disclosure of medical information on applications (such as a history of smoking or alcohol misuse) and where an income protection customer may have returned to work before the policy’s payment period started.

Commenting on these figures, Zurich UK chief claims officer David Nichols said: “We’re proud to report again that we’ve paid the vast majority of claims across all products. We hope that this will help to reassure our customers that we’re here to do the right thing by them when they need us most.”

“Over the last year, we’ve made a huge investment into new technology and systems to make the claim journey as smooth as possible. This includes the launch of our chabot Zara, enabling customers to report claims 24 hours a day with most enquiries responded to within a matter of hours. We’ve also introduced image and video submission to help support customers report their losses.”

He continued: “This investment in innovation and the steadfast professionalism of our all our claims teams has been acknowledged with numerous industry awards, while Zurich has been recognised as one of the best brands in the UK, ranking 12th in the latest UK Customer Satisfaction Index published by the Institute of Customer Service.”

Mark Dugdale