Unconventional and funny stories of insurance business

11.04.2017

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Unforeseen, emergency and crisis situations are most often overtaken by excessive curiosity, craving for animals, alcohol and ordinary carelessness.

Even in the most serious area of human activity, there is a place for something "frivolous". So, in their work, insurers are constantly faced with curiosities, and with absurd requests from "star" clients, and with incredible coincidences. This is one of the few professions that gives the opportunity to fully get acquainted with the oddities of human behavior.

There is even an anecdote: a client looks at an insurance policy with distrust: "If my house burns down, will you pay me this amount?". Insurance agent: "Yes, provided that you don't set it on fire yourself." Client: "I felt it! There is a trick here!"< /p>

"I can note that the humor of insurers is somewhat similar to the humor of doctors. The essence of our work is in resolving unforeseen, emergency, crisis situations. This is a serious psychological burden. Humor is a protective mechanism for us," says the Chairman of the Board of ERV Ukraine Myroslav Boychyn. As they say, "dying is most profitable with our insurance policy!". So, armed with a wish from the deputy chairman of the board of the British auto club, Asya Trubitskaya - "so that all the sorrows in your life are within the franchise", - let's go to get acquainted with funny cases of insurance.

Protection for the buttocks and legs, or how not to forget about talent

Every news about how much another star of show business or sports has insured some part of their body always arouses the interest of the layman - although most understand that this is just another link in the star's PR campaign. At the same time, information in the media is not always reliable and unambiguous. For example, is part of Jennifer Lopez's fillet insured for $ 300 million, as follows from the most "loud" version of this event, or "only" for $ 27 million, as indicated in other sources? Mariah Carey insured her legs for an unimaginable $1 billion or "a much more modest $70 million" - and that includes her voice? No one shows the public close-up of insurance policies, so you have to take the news at its word.

Insuring a show star or athlete is investment protection.

IN US. Domestic stars do not yet reach the world level in terms of their insurance coverage. Among the most high-profile cases, we can mention Taisiya Povaliy's voice for UAH 1 million, insurance coverage for Svetlana Loboda's voice and knees for UAH 3 million, and a policy for USD 0.5 million for Natalia Mogilevskaya's legs. But it seems that the palm tree belongs to the opera singer Yuri Godo: he, as reported, insured his voice for 1 million euros.

"Unusual insurance is often written about in the press as a joke. But insurance is not a joke. It is a tool to minimize the risk of losing large investments," says Oleksandr Melnychuk, a representative of the PZU insurance company in Ukraine. Although truly pragmatic insurance does not require fantastic sums and hype in the media - everything is modest and ordinary, like apartment insurance. Thus, according to Oleksandr Melnychuk, there are insurance programs for several Ukrainian singers: they were designed specifically for the treatment of throat diseases.

CONCERTS. Closer to practical needs is the insurance of professional activity as such. "In 2005, ASKA Insurance Company acted as the general insurer of the only concert of the great Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti in Ukraine. This insurance contract entered not only the history of the company, but also the history of the insurance market of Ukraine in general, since at that time it had no analogues/examples," says Andriy Yermochenko, Deputy General Director for Claims Settlement and Service of ASKA Insurance Company.

Our Smaller Brothers, or "Animal" Cases

Animals often become co-authors of insured events.

"For example, from recently: a man in New York was bitten on the finger by a squirrel," recalls Konstantin Shustorovich, General Director of the KORIS Ukraine Assistant Company. - The costs of first aid and the administration of anti-tetanus serum amounted to $ +1928. Often, our tourists suffer from bites from dogs, monkeys and even donkeys. The usual reason is the desire to feed or pet a cute animal, so we highly recommend not doing this."

In addition to friendliness and love for our smaller brothers, Ukrainians abroad are overwhelmed by insatiable curiosity.

"Doctors at seaside resorts often joke that our tourists most often injure their index finger," says Kostyantyn Shustorovych. "Another joke, to which our operators are already accustomed, is when a representative of a clinic from Greece calls and says: "Your tourist committed murder!". At first, the employees were surprised, and then they already knew that one of our insured people had stepped on a sea urchin again. By the way, pulling out the needles of a sea urchin stuck in the body is another procedure! "

AT HOME. However, you can suffer "in a brutal way" not only across the seas and oceans. "Many clients smile at the "non-core" risks in CASCO insurance - such as "animal attack". It would seem, what kind of animals are they, where to get them, why do they attack cars? But there are a variety of situations. For example, once a horse in the Kyiv Hydropark got scared, broke away from the hands of its attendant and in a panic trampled the hood of a parked car with its front legs. The horse was not injured. Fortunately, the expensive car was insured, and the repairs were made at the expense of the insurance company," recalls Asya Trubytska.

BRUTALITY. Sometimes the animal element prevails over the human. "In the practice of the ASKA insurance company, there was an insured event - a person's injury from a bite of another person, - gives an example Andriy Yermochenko. - According to the contract of this client, only animal bites were recognized as an insured event. But our company decided to make an exception and make a payment to the injured client. We decided: a person who bites so much can be equated with an animal."

Clients in search of adventure

Our person will come up with anything to get into trouble! "Someone injures their hands with a blender, someone gets severe cuts while peeling potatoes (Thailand, $173 covered by the insurance company). In Germany, a Ukrainian woman burned garbage in the yard of her house, which contained a deodorant canister - an explosion, severe facial burns, and treatment for 320 euros," lists Kostyantyn Shustorovych.

Myroslav Boychyn shares his list of "achievements": "One of our tourists in the Dominican Republic had intestinal torsion - she ate five (!) servings of seafood in a row. A tourist who was vacationing in Turkey came in with a broken leg, and a few days later, already in a cast, went to a local disco, where he was injured again, but this time as a result of a fight. Another of our tourists was beaten in India for refusing to buy drugs from locals. In India, an insured one and a half year old child was hospitalized with signs of drug intoxication. Our settlement department received two applications from the same policy about a child's broken arm in Cyprus. Having received the second one, our employees even assumed duplication. But the child really broke one arm first, and seven days later the other arm."

With a broken leg, he went to a disco and was injured in a fight there.

REVIEWS. "The most instructive mistakes are when a client leaves documents and keys in his car, and in the meantime it is stolen, - says Andriy Yermochenko. - He makes the task of the thief easier, and cannot count on payment. Although there was a case when in Italy a Ukrainian client drove up to his hotel in an expensive car and handed over the keys to the valet, who turned out to be a thief disguised in the hotel uniform. We made a payment to the client as if for a kidnapping.

ALCOHOL. The most expensive way to get into trouble is to get drunk - such cases are not insured. "One of the tourists in Turkey fell from the balcony of the third floor of the hotel and was injured. The medical documents indicated 3 ppm of alcohol in the blood, which is a stage of severe intoxication. Medical expenses amounted to about $ 10 thousand," - says Myroslav Boychyn. "Sometimes clients try to hide the details. One of the tourists wrote: "Dancing on the table. She was sober," - laughs Oleksandr Melnychuk.

Roads are full of surprises

There are usually no jokes on the roads, but sometimes it is difficult to take traffic accidents seriously. "From the victim's explanation: "While driving along the highway, partridges flew across the road, about twenty of them. I hit about seven, six of them did not cause visible damage to the car. But this one left a mark - it knocked out the fog lamp. "Of course, it's a pity for the partridges, but cases are different," says Konstantin Palazov, director of the claims settlement department of the regional network of the insurance company "Arsenal Insurance".

People often act illogically in stressful situations. This was the case with one of the clients of the same company, who left the scene of the accident, having got into a traffic accident, and when he returned - the car was no longer there, it had been stolen: "I left the scene of the accident, leaving the car behind. I was scared to believe what had happened (the car was registered to my mother), and this was the second time I had found myself in an unpleasant situation. I sat down on a bench and scolded myself (I don't really remember how long, about two hours). I arrived at the scene of the accident, and the car I was driving was gone! The next day I called the police." Call center employees often receive ridiculous statements. "Once a girl reported that she had been in an accident involving two cars.

After the operator recorded the event, he asked her to wait for the arrival of the emergency commissioner, to which he received the answer: "Just come quickly, before someone else hits me." And what do you think - a few minutes later the same girl called back again, reporting a second insured event! "They still drove in," shared another story Oleksandr Kostetsky, director of the customer service and call center department of SK "Arsenal Insurance".

Rain and Golf

A good insurance agent certainly knows how to convince: "Last year, a man fell from the 27th floor, and he barely reached the third floor when his wife was already receiving insurance." But often the creators of the unusual are the clients themselves. "Once we insured one of the golf tournaments - in case one of the participants hits the right hole with the first shot," recalls Oleksandr Melnychuk.

It turns out that the organizers promised to give everyone who makes a super shot an expensive car!

"How to calculate the insurance rate, considering that about two dozen professional athletes participate in it? Even our specialists in Poland were not ready to help! We had to contact underwriters in London, who had such insurance practice and statistics. But behind the unusual insurance for us there is the same financial risk as with the usual investments," explains Oleksandr Melnychuk. Myroslav Boychyn gives another example of unusual insurance - against rain: such a contract can be concluded by a tour operator, which allows him to promise customers discounts in case of bad weather.