Since ship owners bartered with insurers in the City in the 17th Century, how insurance premiums are calculated have been somewhat a mystery. Many factors are taken into consideration – it’s important for insurers to be transparent to help you get the best deal.
Can you control your insurance premium?
Each type of insurance has its own list of rules for setting insurance premiums. In fact, each insurer will set prices slightly differently. Premiums are fixed based on a number of factors, including carefully collected and analysed data from insurance policies and claims. These highlight differing risk factors.
For example, car insurance will often take into account personal criteria such as job title and age, as well as location.
But did you know that adding an additional driver could in fact reduce your premium as their information is also taken into account?
Professional insurance takes all the information you provide into account, just the same as personal insurance – which will include things like your profession, level of experience or the risk profile of your practice. However, it can be hard to get a full answer from your insurer about exactly what is included and how it affects your premium.
“In reality, there is such a long list of factors affecting your policy, it would take several hours at your renewal to compare relevant options in order to choose what most fits your scenario and gives you the lowest price.” Tom Chaston, Director
“The best advice is to be completely open and honest with your broker in order to give you the best chance of getting the right insurance policy at the right price.” Adam O’Keeffe, Director
Watch out for hidden fees
Always ask your broker, and check the small print, for hidden fees. These might be charges for paying monthly, or to change something on your policy.
In some cases, you can be charged an administration fee just to roll over a policy.
Other things that will affect your insurance price include:
- Level of cover – A more comprehensive policy with additional benefits will usually cost more than basic cover. It is best to check the small print before choosing a policy based purely on price.
- Excess – Your policy price will usually reduce if you up the amount you would be willing to pay upfront in the event of a claim. You should set this at a level you are comfortable to pay.
- Number of claims – If you have made a claim in the past, your insurer will often consider you to be a higher risk and this can affect your premium. It is best to speak to your broker or shop around in these instances.
Useful ti
- Shop around rather than just accepting your renewal
- Read our blog articles to stay informed about insurance news
- Read reviews – All Med Pro use Feefo for Independent reviews
- Use a broker – speak to us at All Med Pro
While the exact methods of how insurance premiums are calculated are a bit of a minefield, at All Med Pro we aim to be as transparent as possible.
Not only have we have built up good relationships with our insurance partners, but in some cases we have designed specialist insurance policies specifically for medical and dental professionals.
This enables us to understand what risk factors insurers take into account and this means we can give our customers a much better and informed service.
We know what questions to ask and in some cases can negotiate with our partners in order to provide you with a policy that is right for you, at the right price.