If faced with a brush with death, many consumers would sooner jump on the next plane to a sun-kissed getaway than contemplate getting life insurance, according to research commissioned by CommInsure.  Not that it doesn’t sound appealling, I guess.  But then, I’ve got all my personal insurances sorted.
Tim Browne, General Manager Retail Advice at CommInsure, recently revealed that large challenges remain for insurers when it comes to the priorities of their potential customer base.
“We have been working to convince the broader community that insurance is something which is important and worthwhile,” Browne told the conference delegates.
“In the last couple of years we have spent a great deal of energy working with the government, regulators and the media to help them understand how important insurance is. Our big challenge now is to further our efforts by focusing on consumers.
Browne stated that their research into consumer views of insurance revealed both “rational and surprising responses”.
“When we asked consumers how they would respond to a brush with death, more than half of them said their first reaction would be to fly overseas and recuperate! The response we want to hear is that in the event of something like that happening, they would sit down and carefully contemplate their insurance and take proactive action to ensure their financial details are covered. However, most people think of the Greek Islands instead! We need to change that,” said Browne.
What I believe is even trickier to help consumers understand is to take out the cover while you’re still healthy.  Once you’ve had the scare, or the brush with death or that twitch in your eye that just won’t go away – you’re much more likely to be hit with higher premiums for some cover, or exclusions for others.
The process to reverse this trend is pressing home that people need to contemplate how they or their family, would survive in the event of job loss, serious illnesses or injuries or worst case, a death in the family.
“Consumers often feel that they will just have to dip into their savings, but that is only going to look after things for a short amount of time,” added Browne.  Added to that, with most families living week to week, there’s not always a lot of savings on hand.
“Consumers next fall back is to rely on the government and social security, but no government in the world can tailor a safety net to meet everybody’s individual circumstances. This leads us down the path of why insurance is so important.”
 
Source: insurancenews.com.au article – Clients Pick Holidays Over Insurance – 24/5/2012