Inspecting and impressing in the gadget insurance market

Vipul Chhabra, chief data and underwriting officer of Domestic & General, explains the way devices are used, as well as made, is an increasing focus of insurers when it comes to underwriting and claims.

Chhabra said: “When we think about underwriting you have to think about accidental damage, which is much more likely to happen with these brand new, slippery devices than with a washing machine or a dish washer.

“We have different models that predict risk for what we refer to as brown goods, smart phones, tablets, TVs.

“Within brown goods, as well, there are devices that once they are up and running they don’t move around much, like the television, and then there are smart phones that are much  more likely to face accidental damage.

“Because we have a number of devices with a customer, we can underwrite at a customer level as we know their claims history and see early claims coming after a policy is bought.”

When asked about the role use could play in gadget insurance in the future, James Brown, director of Protect Your Bubble, said: “Gadget insurance is still really simple for customers to buy and understand.

“We have thought recently around is there a way we could make underwriting data a bit more complex and tailored to certain groups of customer without making that buy journey unduly complicated.

“There is a heap of stuff we could think about. At the moment it is difficult to work out what the best thing would be.

“Biggest risk factors in device insurance tend to be where people take it and how they handle it. How you get that within the customer journey, in a really succinct way, is a bit of a challenge at the moment but there are definitely options there.”

Andy Watts business development director of Instanda, said he is seeing telematics used to detect if devices have been dropped accidentally.

Watts said: “The use of telematics is going to rise, especially if you look at the more complex forms of propositions, so it is not just about the device but maybe cyber attacks.”  

The trio also tackle how gadget insurance is transforming to recognise environmentally conscious consumers are willing to repair rather than replace devices plus how support against cyber-attacks is increasingly a consideration for individuals.

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