German consumers are having more and more problems with their insurers and they are complaining about this. The “Handelsblatt” found that the consumer arbitration board received more complaints in the first quarter than at any time since 2017. The financial regulator Bafin is also registering more and more cases.
As early as 2023, the number of complaints from insured people had increased by 13.4 percent to more than 18,000 cases, as the General Association of the German Insurance Industry (GDV) had to admit recently. Insurance customer dissatisfaction extends to almost every sector.
Complaints have already risen to 5,479 in the first quarter of this year
The former judge of the Federal Constitutional Court Dr. Sibylle Kessal-Wulf, The Insurance Ombudsman from April 1, 2024, had to fulfill a less pleasant duty as soon as she took office: She had to report that consumer complaints about their insurers had continued up to 5,479 in the first quarter of this year.
For comparison: In 2023, complaints reached 4,834 in the same period and 4,077 in the first three months of 2022. For the whole of 2023, the insurer’s arbitration board was under Keasal-Wulfs before Wilhelm Schlebebier 18,037 complaints from insurance customers to be processed after 15,907 in the previous year.
Schwebier attributed last year’s increase to the end of the corona pandemic. In the post-pandemic period there is more activity again and movement is at the same level as before, he explained in an interview with the GDV. This is usually seen in private accident insurance, travel insurance or vehicle insurance. In this regard, the increase in conflict cases with insurance companies is quite normal.
Slow processing, delayed management
But the greater movement of people is not the only reason for the above-average increase in the number of complaints, for example in motor vehicle insurance, as Gulebier admits in the interview. He also mentions a part that the arbitration board noticed: customers were increasingly complaining that insurers were delaying in handling their concerns, and in particular that they were delaying settling claims, said the former ombudsman. He sees this as “not a large scale in terms of numbers”, but “a trend that is becoming apparent”.
Germany’s largest car insurer, Huk-Coburg, recently had to admit that there were many more angry customers than in previous years. The Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) reported under the headline “How HUK-COBURG is ruining its good reputation” about “waiting hours on the phone” and “no response to e-mails for weeks”. Germany’s largest car insurer cannot keep up with claims processing, the SZ summarized the type of “damage report”. Despite this, Huk board member Klaus-Jürgen Heitmann assured that the situation is under control again at the insurer.
Various reasons for which users may contact the configuration board
But it is not just about deficiencies in service when consumers turn to the insurance ombudsman – or the ombudsman, as it should be called by Dr. Kessal-Wulf at the head of the arbitration board. Even if insurers do not want to payV$V. new tariff, in all such conflict cases consumers can turn to the arbitration board outside the court. .
Complaints are easy
No legal knowledge is required for this. It is sufficient to complete an appropriate complaint form and send it to the arbitration board. This will then check the legal situation based on the documents presented. If necessary, the adjusters will request further documentation from the relevant insurance company. If the arbitration board decides that the insurer acted wrongly, the decision is binding on the insurance company – as long as the dispute does not exceed 10,000 euros. If the decision is in favor of the insurer, the customer still has legal recourse, ie a lawsuit in court. If the dispute involves more than 100,000 euros, the arbitrators can investigate and evaluate, but they cannot make a binding decision.
A complaint is also possible in relation to the breach or conclusion of an insurance contract, as Stiftung Warentest explains: for example, if customers discover that an insurance agent or broker has not identified certain gaps in the contract or that they have not fulfilled their obligations to provide information.
Get a competent examination of the facts as well as justification
However, the decision of the Insurance Ombudsman is not binding on intermediaries. Consumer advisors suggest that a complaint can still be valuable because it means that the insurer will get a competent investigation of the truth with reasons. The experts advise that you can then consider taking legal action against the intermediary.
You can find more information on the subject here.
Source: Goslar Institute
2024-08-09 18:22:02
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