Aviva combines multiple business segments into one commercial policy
March 6, 2018 by Jason Contant
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Aviva Canada has launched a new commercial product that allows a company’s different business operations to be included on one policy.
This consolidation is intended to make it easier for brokers to offer limits and extensions for different segments.
In the past, individual product offerings for different business segments could not be combined onto a single policy, Mazdak Moini, vice president of commercial lines and reinsurance at Aviva Canada, told Canadian Underwriter. If a customer had more than one type of operation at different locations, for example, a Composite Mercantile Policy would have to be used to provide coverage; this did not allow enhancements specific to customized products to be offered to a client.
Aviva Enterprise, launched Monday, is designed to give brokers the flexibility to customize a policy for any business in any segment, including:
- Automotive
- Builders’ risk and contractors
- Business and professional services
- Education and educational organizations
- Hospitality and lodging
- Manufacturing and wholesaling
- Realty
- Retail
- Transportation and logistics.
“Aviva Enterprise makes it easier for our brokers and customers to customize coverage for their needs, in an easy-to-navigate policy,” Moini said. He added that product pricing “reflects territorial and segment-specific differences.”
Aviva’s claims and risk management experts have evaluated common claims and loss exposures for all types of businesses in every market, allowing for industry-specific enhancements that are designed to protect from unique industry exposures. Policyholders can go to the summary page at the front of the policy document to view all locations and business operations. They can quickly reference coverage, limits and deductibles.
The property coverage includes offerings for:
- environmental, and building equipment and premises upgrades
- renewable energy equipment and sewers, utilities and equipment above and below ground to the property lines;
- expanding the liability territory to worldwide
- mental injury.
According to Aviva, the policy language is “transparent and provides clarity of the coverage included. This simplified policy language will allow brokers to explain coverages and limits to their customers with ease.”
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The topic speaks of “coverages and limits”. But what about the wordings for each segment of the combined policy? Are they included? While it is a generally accepted theory that policy wordings are not read by the policyholder, they nonetheless constitute the insurance contract. As the specious rhetoric today is all about the insured going online to read about their policy from the insurer’s portal, one would hope that would be sufficient to defend a Broker’s E&O in court. Any chance the broker could get a revised contract with the carrier – I don’t know – a limited hold harmless and indemnity agreement, say, – to place more responsibility on the party of the second part of the insurance – the insurer – to take some of the unreasonable heat off the broker? I guess there’s no harm in asking.
The wordings are still included in the insured’s printed policy documents. They moved the limits, ect scattered throughout to the summary page so it stands out and is easier to find.
That said, the broker has a responsibility to understand the customer’s needs, the products they’re selling, match the best coverage (instead of the current focus on PRICE) and have the ability to explain. They own/maintain the book and sold the policy, hence the commission.