Short-term Insurance Annual Report 2014 released

5 Jun 2015

The Ombudsman for Short-Term Insurance (OSTI), an independent body to which clients can complain if they believe they have been treated unfairly by a short-term insurer, has released his report for the 2014 calendar year detailing the work his office has completed for this period. The report details the referral rate - which is the number of complaints received by the OSTI per 1,000 claims handled by an insurer, as well as the percentage of complaints where the OSTI finalised the complaint with some benefit to the complainant (the overturn rate).

OUTsurance views its responsibility to pay claims equitably and fairly as a non-negotiable fundamental aspect of the business, with the philosophy that equity and fairness prevail at all times regardless of what the insurance contract provisions might dictate. Their approach goes far beyond simply discharging its contractual insurance obligations.

The statistics contained by the OSTI report confirm OUTsurance's success in beating the industry average for both the referral rate and the overturn rate. When the net effect of the referral and overturn rates are considered, only 2.4 claims per 10,000 processed by OUTsurance were overturned by the OSTI resulting in the short-term insurer achieving the position of best performer above all the large typical short-term insurers for this measure.

Following the release of the report, CEO of OUTsurance Ernst Gouws proudly affirmed; "This is a superb achievement. I am extremely proud of each and every member of our claims staff. To have once again delivered such low referral and overturn rates is proof that we have the right culture and approach in dealing with claims and looking after our clients. At OUTsurance, giving people great value-for-money insurance products does not mean sub-standard service or claim settlements."