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August 14th, 2009

Second Home Insurance

The Importance of Second Home Insurance

If you own a second home then insurance is no less necessary than it is for your primary residence. It is highly likely that your second or holiday home is going to be the second-largest investment you make in your entire life, if we consider this facts then it is clear to see that second home insurance is an absolute necessity. If we further consider the fact that this property, in all likelihood will be used as a commercial venture, to generate income via short-term holiday lettings, which will involve renting your property to complete strangers, then making sure it is protected by second home insurance should be considered absolutely mandatory.

Second home insurance of this type differs from a normal residential buildings and contents policy in several ways. The biggest difference is in the fact that second home insurance used for the protection of vacation property will ensure you are against loss of earnings, should your property become unfit to rent. For many people, the income stream generated by the holiday property is an integral part of their monthly budget, if this income dries up some reason it can cause severe financial problems. Second home insurance goes a long way to avoiding this potential problem.

Another way in which second home insurance differs from a standard building and contents policy, is in the fact that the building itself along with its contents will be protected from loss or damage, at the times in which your property is inhabited by your clients, this means that should one of your customers damage or destroy either the property itself, or part of the contents whilst they are renting it for use as vacation accommodation, your insurers will reimburse you.

A further way in which second home insurance can be used to protect those who are renting their vacation property to holidaymakers, is in the fact that your policy will often contain provision of funds to cover the costs of having to visit your property at short notice, either to assess loss and damage or to arrange for repair or replacement of either the building or some of its contents. For some people, especially those who own second property in a place that is a significant distance from the place of residence, this can represent a major saving.

Finally, many second home insurance providers are fully aware that their clients will be operating their second home as a commercial venture, typically making it available for short-term rental to holidaymakers, and will provide such features as a 24-hour helpline to ensure that all queries and claims are handled quickly and efficiently.

Second home insurance should be deemed to be absolutely necessary for anyone who is using their holiday property as part of a business venture, especially if the income from this business venture is an important and critical percentage of their monthly budget. Contact your insurance broker for more information about second home insurance, and how it can protect you and your property.

August 3rd, 2009

Insurance In Tort Laws

The policy of insurance constitutes a contract of insurance between Life Insurance Corporation or a subsidiary of General Insurance Company of India, as the case may be, such services such has been undertaken to render under the contract of insurance. Mere execution of the discharge voucher would not deprive the consumer of his claim in deficiency of service.

DELAY IN SETTLEMENT OF CLAIM
In Sarveshwar Rao v. National Insurance Company Ltd. , it was held that the delay of two or more years in settling the insurance claim would result in inadequacy in the quality, nature and manner of the service which the insurance company has undertaken to render, and amounts to deficiency in service. The Oriental Insurance Company Ltd. . SUICIDE BY THE ASSURED
In Life Insurance Corporation v Dharma Vir Anand, the national commission refused to hold the insurance commission liable as the insured committed suicide before the expiry of three years from the date of the policy.

BREACH OF TERMS
In B.V.Nagarjuna v Oriental Insurance Company Ltd., the terms of insurance contract permitted the insured vehicle to carry six passengers at a time but the driver allowed two more persons to get in. NOMINEE’S RIGHTS
In Jagdish Prakash Dagar v. Life Insurance Corporation , it was held that a nominee under a policy of life insurance will be a consumer within the meaning of section 2(1) (d) of the Consumer Protection Act. Repudiation of such claim can never amount to deficiency in service.
Insurance agent is not entitled to collect premium on behalf of the corporation. BASIC PRINCIPLES OF INSURANCE

There are some basic principles concerning the topic of Consumer Protection Law and Insurance. - Unilateral reduction in the insurance amount.
The national commission overruled the objection of the insurance company that merely because the insurer had totally repudiated its liability in respect of the claim, no proceedings could validly be initiated by the insured under the consumer protection act.
The national commission repelled the objection and observed as under:
“Ordinarily a remedy is available to a consumer in Civil Court but mere repudiation of claim arising out of policy of insurance under section 45 of the insurance act, 1938, cannot take away the jurisdiction of the redressal forum constituted under the act.
Insurance is a very sensitive issue in the modern times.