Insurance

Over 80% of consumers cited positive claims experience during COVID-19 outbreak


By Ahmad Zaki

Despite the spike in travel insurance claims during the initial COVID-19 outbreak in December 2019 to February 2020, over 80% of Singapore policyholders had a positive claims experience, revealed GoBear’s 2020 Singapore Travel Claims Survey.

“Even when faced with an uptick in claims activity brought about by COVID-19, Singapore’s travel insurers have remained dedicated to customers. The results of this survey show that insurance service standards have remained resilient and this will ultimately help to build industry trust in the long-term,” said GoBear Singapore country director Mr ?Winston Ng.

COVID-19 has had a significant influence on driving travel insurance claims in Singapore. Based on the survey findings, 83% of respondents had made claims on their travel insurance policies from December 2019 to March 2020 and, by April, this had risen to 93%. Cancelled (40%) and delayed trips (26%) were cited by respondents as the top reasons for filing claims.

Despite the high volumes of claims, over half (55%) of all claims were processed within seven days. Only 5% of claims made were submitted via a mobile app, indicating that there is room for insurers to encourage further adoption of this platform.

Insurers with the best reported digital claims experience include AIG, Aviva, AXA, DirectAsia, and NTUC Income. Each of these insurers had the highest proportion of very satisfied respondents who submitted claims through a mobile app, email, or website.

The results of the survey indicated that a positive claims experience drives loyalty, with 88% of respondents feeling that their claims experience was important or very important when purchasing travel insurance in the future. Eighty-five per cent of respondents said they were likely to purchase a policy from the same insurer based on their COVID-19 claims experience.

The survey also found that:

Insurers with the highest proportion of claims completed within seven days: ?AIG, Allianz, Aviva, AXA, and DirectAsia
The claims process was straightforward and efficient: ?More than half (56%) of respondents were not required to submit additional documents
Few policyholders who made claims were unhappy with the process: ? No respondent segment had more than 6% dissatisfied or very dissatisfied
A higher claim amount did not mean a longer process time: ?More than 75% of all claims were handled within two weeks. Only if the customer made a claim of more than S$10,000per person insured did it take longer. However, there were less than 10 instances of these claims made

Asia Insurance Review

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