Research conducted for the British Insurance Brokers’ Association (BIBA) found that leaders of British small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) do not always read their insurance documents, with over one quarter (29 percent) admitting that they never read the entire policy. This is slightly higher for SMEs based outside of London and the South East, where 32 percent never read their entire insurance policy.
The poll, carried out by the insurance broker body and conducted by Populus*, also found females are more likely (30 percent) to always read their full insurance policy, than males (16 percent). The research also demonstrated that less than one in five (19 percent) always read their entire insurance policy and under half (47 percent) always read the full insurance policy summary, compared to 8 percent who never do.
Steve White, chief executive of BIBA commented on the research saying: “As SMEs are the backbone of the British economy, it is essential that their leaders are fully aware of the insurance cover that their business has and the easiest way to do this is to use an insurance broker. Brokers can help SMEs save time and take the guesswork out of insurance documentation and fully explain the business’ cover.”
Christian Poulsen, managing director of Canterbury-based insurance brokers, E.C. Parker & Co. Ltd. said: “As insurance brokers, it is our job to read the fine print and find the best insurance cover for our clients. This does not mean, however that SME leaders are off the hook when it comes to reading their insurance documentation. We always encourage business leaders to be fully aware of these documents.”
This failure to read the fine print is not just the case for insurance documentation, according to the research. Of those surveyed, just over one-quarter (26 percent) of SME leaders always read their bank account terms and conditions, followed by 23 percent who read their hire car contract. One out of ten always read their event ticket terms and conditions (11 percent) and software terms and conditions (10 percent).
*Populus interviewed 500 directors, senior managers and owners of British businesses with between 10 and 249 employees online between February 5 and 8, 2015.
Source: British Insurance Brokers’ Association (BIBA)
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