Published on: 8/25/08.
by LEIGH-ANN WORRELL (Nation Newspaper)
MANY BARBADIANS are faced with the hard decision to pay either their regular bills or their vehicle insurance.
Says Kieran Kelly, managing director of Tradewinds International Insurance Brokers Limited, one of the largest insurance brokerage firms in the island: "The rates of insurance are too high, especially as the cost of living is going up.
"Will people pay insurance and not eat? They are struggling and it is being ignored."
Kelly said motor and home insurance were the two main types of insurance that people were likely to get and motor insurance was creating the bigger problem.
The managing director stated that currently, scores of Barbadians were not paying, or were paying just a small portion of their car insurance, and could not afford to pay the rest. Their policies would then have to be cancelled mid-term.
"Owning and affording a car should not be a luxury in this modern age," Kelly charged.
On home insurance, Kelly noted that a huge percentage of people either underinsure or fail to insure their homes, contents and their property.
"If a hurricane came, there would be a huge deficit between the property insured and that to be repaired," he said.
Kelly believed that Government and local insurance companies should meet in order to create a "proactive approach" that would suit the consumers in these hard economic times.
Jai Jebodhsingh, chairman of the Consumer Protection Committee for Barbados Association of Retired Persons (BARP), also agreed with Tradewinds' managing director.
Big concern
"There is a general concern among BARP members about the price of services in general, including insurance. We would welcome any efforts to regulate the price, such as was done with the bank charges."
H. Malcolm Gibbs-Taitt, director general of the Barbados Consumer Research Organisation Inc. (BARCO), also expressed concern about motor and property insurance rates.
"As far as I'm concerned, insurance rates are a lot higher than they need to be. I am of the view that we need to get reinsurance sorted out so that people can have sensible rates."
However, some insurance companies said they had not raised their rates on motor and home insurance.
"Our rates haven't increased at all. In fact, they have reduced," said a senior representative at Sagicor General. "We are reaching out to customers and we also have a promotion going for motor insurance."
Davis Browne, president of CLICO International General Insurance, said that insurance rates were actually going down. He added that local insurance rates depended on the international reinsurance market, and their rates had "been going down since January".
