Online offer 'more than quote and compare'

A new insurance advice firm is promising consumers a more in-depth online service.

Thursday, September 14th 2017, 2:00PM

ClickCover launched this month, with an online “interview” that would cover clients’ personal, health and financial information. This is designed to replace an adviser’s initial meeting with a client.

The information from that was then used to determine what insurance options might suit.

A registered financial adviser from the firm would then finalise the recommendation and explain the benefits and limitations of each option, and help with the application. The site recommends that those with existing cover talk to one of its advisers before staring the process.

The whole process would take about a week.

“This is not just another quote and compare website,” said managing director Jamie Toon, who has been working as an adviser for the past 10 years. He said work had been progressing on the site for the past year.

“We are offering a unique experience for everyday Kiwis to receive quality advice from a registered financial adviser, in the comfort of home and away from the pressure of a broker.

“New Zealand is one of the lowest insured for personal insurance of all OECD countries, so we at ClickCover wanted to create a new platform that made insurance more accessible and easy for everyday Kiwis to use, and to get quality cover.

“Often for people it’s a guessing game as to how much insurance they need and with over 25,000 different variations within personal risk insurance alone, it’s no wonder it can be hard to choose the right cover for you and your family," he said.

He said ClickCover's advisers would help clients when a claim was made.

ClickCover offers life, critical illness, medical, income protection, mortgage protection and travel insurance. It also deals in professional indemnity and liability insurance.

It works with Asteron Life, Sovereign, Partners Life, AIA, Southern Cross, OnePath, nib and Cover-More.

Toon said this was phase one for the site and it would apply for an exemption to offer personalised roboadvice if the Financial Markets Authority opted to make that possible.

Then the site would be able to integrate quoting and other tools to provide an instant statement of advice.

He said ClickCover also saw the potential to offer its product to other risk advisers, to make their lives easier.

Tags: AIA Asteron financial advisers FMA health insurance Income Protection Insurance Advisers Life insurance mortgages OnePath Partners Life professional indemnity RFA roboadvice Southern Cross Sovereign Travel insurance