Consumer Information

Overseas travel insureance

Insurance situation arising from travel
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Buying insurance

Cover your property losses
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Guidelines for resolving disputes

This is how member companies resolve disputes.
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Commercial insurance

Insure against businessesdisruption
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Motor insurance

Motor vehicle insurance can cover you against accidental loss or damage to your vehicle,
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Personal insurance

The types of cover available under personal insurance
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Marine insurance

Cover for commercial vessels and personal pleasurecraft
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Insurance fraud

An insurance claim is considered fraudulent when it is based on facts that are simply untrue
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Introduction

An insurance claim is considered fraudulent when it is based on:

• Facts that are simply untrue, such as an incident which never took place, or was orchestrated (ie. arson),
• A genuine loss but is grossly exaggerated.

Non-disclosure

One of the most common forms of insurance fraud is non-disclosure at the time a policy is taken out.

This causes the insurer to accept business which would otherwise be rejected, or to underrate the risk.

Examples include:

• A policyholder may say he/she has security installed but has none
• A policyholder fails to reveal his/her full claims history
• A policyholder fails to disclose past convictions

Non-disclosure may either be innocent (an oversight) or fraudulent. It is usually detected at the time of a claim and may lead to the claim being rejected.

The Insurance Council of Australia estimates that non-disclosure is represented in 20% of policies underwritten. This figure is probably indicative of the New Zealand level.

Key Facts

Facts on insurance fraud
More than 15 percent of all claims probably have an element of fraud associated with them
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Insurance claims register

The Insurance Claims Register (ICR) was established in February 1999
How insurers check the accuracy of the policy applications and claims
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