Syllabus

• Week 1

  Introduction to insurance.

  • What is insurance?

    In this activity we start our look at what personal lines insurance is and why we need it. To do this we will also show why insurance began and its global scope. We will also begin to think about how insurance works.

  • The meaning of risk.

    In this activity we look at what we mean by risk, how it is managed and its different components. We will see how these fit into the setting of personal lines insurance and what makes a risk insurable or uninsurable.

• Week 2

  Insurance: the why, how and who.

  • The how and the why of insurance.

    In this activity we think about why people bother to buy insurance - what does it do for them? We also ask, ‘how does it work?’ and ‘who provides it for them to buy?’

  • Who’s who in the insurance market.

    Step 2.4 introduced the different types of insurer. In this activity we move on to look at the insurance market and who else is part of it.

• Week 3

  Personal lines insurance: products and distribution.

  • The products and the policy.

    When we buy insurance, how do we know what it covers, who it provides cover to, and for how long? These are questions answered by the policy documents, which we look at in this activity.

  • Main types of personal lines insurance.

    In this activity we look at the main types of insurance product for sale in the insurance market.

  • What is insurance distribution?

    Insurance distribution is the mechanism that allows buyers and sellers of insurance to come together. It is the methods insurance sellers use to get their products out into the market place for potential customers to buy.

• Week 4

  Job roles and customer service

  • Key people in insurance.

    We know what insurance is and how it is sold. But who actually decides what to sell, at what cost? And who decides what claims to pay and for how much?

  • Serving the insurance customer.

    An insurer without customers would fail. A good way to keep customers is to give them good service. But what is good customer service? Why does it matter? And how do we know if this is what we’re offering?

  • Getting the message across.

    We can divide the experience the customer has with a firm under two headings. We have looked at the ‘what’ (that is, what customer service is) and we will now review the ‘how’ (how do we do it).