Insurance covers almost everything these days and the internet has created a highly transparent and competitive market place for domestic and global insurers. The law requires that customers purchase certain types of insurance such as car insurance or medical insurance in some countries. Other insurance not required by law is seen by most as a ‘must have’ such as travel insurance or insurance for a person’s business interests or property belonging to their business. Then there is a third class of insurance aimed with the needs of consumers in mind that is highly specialised such as pet insurance, wedding insurance or Insurance for adventure holidays or extreme sports. Either in the high street or on the internet, companies set their policy prices and excesses at varying rates depending on various factors. There is also a secondary market where insurance brokers sell their services who act as agents buying products at the behest of their consumer or corporate clients. Underwriters are another group of agents operating in the insurance industry.

This is where the insurance venture’s risks are calculated and the underwriter determines the correct pricing arrangement for the insurance services or whether to insure at all. To take the example of car insurance, the underwriter would take a detailed look at a drivers accident record. Another example might be medical insurance where the patient’s medical records are examined. The introduction of the internet greatly helps the insurance market maintain its competitiveness and transparency but some customers are still finding themselves without cover when it really matters. A good example of this is winter sports insurance. The industry believes that more than 50% of holidaymakers to winter skiing destinations travel without insurance and although the other half do, only a quarter of them are in fact covered for skiing and snowboarding which are classified by many providers as ‘extreme sports’ and excluded from their plans. Most travelers to Europe also think that their E111 is adequate to get them treatment but this is not true in most resorts. Another recent example of The way the insurance market is adapting is the furious competition on price between rival auto insurance brokers that has been largely facilitated by the introduction of price comparison sites. In this country, we are legally obliged to have car insurance so It simply must be bought by every individual with a car. This causes pricing to be the primary competitive factor.

A recent negative example in the insurance sector was when payment protection insurance policies (PPI’s) were uncovered by the FSA to be negligent drafted or having been fraudulently marketed. This has caused a storm of litigation from customers and firms being created for the single purpose of acting as legal assistants so that customers can claim back any PPI that is covered by the FSA’s investigations. Compare insurance online to give the greatest bargain. Another questionable product is internet security insurance that promises to reimburse the customer for any loss as a result of cyber fraud or identity theft. However most customers do not realise that the bank is in most sets of circumstances liable for such acts.