General Insurance Policy Questions

[phl]

Hey Guys

Have a general question about insurance policy's

If you have an existing policy which is up for renewal and no claims were made, can the insurance company change the policy? ie exclude certain things?

From what i researched and know, they CAN NOT.They can increase/decrease the premium, but can they actually change existent policy inclusions?

Have asked them to send me terms and conditions which state they can, and all they can give me is company memo to branches telling branches to exclude

certain things.

Funny enough the premium is the same, actually slightly more.

Another question, if it is indeed a breach(which i am sure it is ) what can i do in Thailand? i know there is The Office of Insurance Commission, but how active is this office?

Thank you in advance

[tonydabbs]

From what i researched and know, they CAN NOT.They can increase/decrease the premium, but can they actually change existent policy inclusions?

You are probably talking about home insurance, but even if you aren't, yes they can. But, they can't make any changes until renewal time. At renewal time, it is up to you to accept or reject the changes. You accept by renewing. You reject by by switching over to another insurance company that provides the coverage the way that you want it. Your insurance company must have experienced some high losses this past year, as did many others.

i know there is The Office of Insurance Commission, but how active is this office?

The OIC is always worth a try if you really think that you have a legitimate complaint. But, in this case I really don't think that you do. No harm in trying, though.

(Note: I am assuming that you are not talking about health insurance, which can come under General Insurance or Life Insurance and has a different set of rules)

[phl]

From what i researched and know, they CAN NOT.They can increase/decrease the premium, but can they actually change existent policy inclusions?

You are probably talking about home insurance, but even if you aren't, yes they can. But, they can't make any changes until renewal time. At renewal time, it is up to you to accept or reject the changes. You accept by renewing. You reject by by switching over to another insurance company that provides the coverage the way that you want it. Your insurance company must have experienced some high losses this past year, as did many others.

i know there is The Office of Insurance Commission, but how active is this office?

The OIC is always worth a try if you really think that you have a legitimate complaint. But, in this case I really don't think that you do. No harm in trying, though.

(Note: I am assuming that you are not talking about health insurance, which can come under General Insurance or Life Insurance and has a different set of rules)

Thank you for your response Tony

It was public liability insurance.

I have spoken to the insurance company and asked them to provide their terms and conditions where it stated they could change the policy even at renewal.

They could not provide that and admitted so,

They did try to say that this is covered in their cancellation policy, though that was also a breach as they did not sent out 15 day notice.

Cut the story short, they offered the same policy, but with slightly less coverage (in terms of money) but with same inclusions.

So i think i was correct, they cannot change the renewal, unless they cancel it and offer a different policy

[madmitch]

An insurance contract is valid for the period of the contract. The terms and conditions of the contract are also only valid for that period. Unless the policy states otherwise. If it is a twelve month policy, for example, with a finite expiry date then the above applies.

Wordings, terms and conditions, premiums, limits etc can change from one year to the next. If it's a Thai and not an overseas policy, wordings do have to be agreed by the OIC so it can take some time for changes to come about.

Remember, insurance policies are generally worded in favour of the insurer.

[phl]

An insurance contract is valid for the period of the contract. The terms and conditions of the contract are also only valid for that period. Unless the policy states otherwise. If it is a twelve month policy, for example, with a finite expiry date then the above applies.

Wordings, terms and conditions, premiums, limits etc can change from one year to the next. If it's a Thai and not an overseas policy, wordings do have to be agreed by the OIC so it can take some time for changes to come about.

Remember, insurance policies are generally worded in favour of the insurer.

as i said, when i asked insurer to send me terms for being able to change an existing policy upon renewal, the answer was "we do not have" and they did agree they can not.

The legal procedure is to cancel the policy by giving client 15 days notice and then offer a new policy with new conditions