The COVID-19 pandemic has caused some systemic changes to the daily lives of Canadians. People are travelling less, they’re working from home (WFH), their cars are parked up on the drive, and they’re spending a lot more time online and connecting with friends and family through virtual channels. In response to this, insurers across Canada have been adapting their offerings and trying to find solutions to meet consumers’ altered needs.
In early December, Intact Financial launched enhancements to its insurance offerings to better serve the needs of homeowners during the pandemic. The property & casualty insurer is giving increased liability and home coverage to customers working from home, while also giving them the option to add identity theft coverage and cyber protection, at a discount, as well as free access to mental health and well-being programs for a limited time.
“What we’ve observed during the COVID-19 pandemic is that our customers are travelling less due to the restrictions in place, and they’re also working from home and spending more time online,” said Yoomi Wynveen (pictured), VP of personal lines - Western Canada, Intact Financial. “Other consumer trends we’ve noticed are that people are focusing more on their wellbeing, and they’re also looking for [insurance products, solutions and partnerships] with more value-adds.
“We wanted to look at our current offering and provide solutions for our customers dealing with these trends. The first thing we did was introduce an expansion to our homeowners’ insurance product so that, if you’re a professional working from home due to the restrictions that have been put in place, you’re now covered for your [WFH-related] contents, such as work equipment like laptops and monitors. We’ve also expanded our coverage for certain WFH-related liability exposures as part of our base wording. Prior to COVID-19, people had to purchase these coverages separately and have an additional premium added to their policy, but we’ve introduced this without any premium impact.”
Existing and new customers can also add identity theft coverage and cyber protection to their home policy by purchasing Intact’s my Identity product, which the insurer is selling at a discounted price of $25 – down from $50 - for a limited time period. This ties into the trend of Canadians spending a lot more time online via their home networks, whether they’re working from home, internet shopping, gaming, or connecting with friends and family.
Intact’s my Identity comes with a 24/7 legal information service phone line where insureds can get assistance for certain personal legal matters, including identity theft, landlord and tenant issues, family law, employment law and cyber events. The package also includes identity theft coverage, cyber protection and consumer dispute coverage, through which homeowners can get reimbursement for things like legal costs, loss of wages, damage remediation, data restoration and so on.
Another area where Intact has seen a significant pandemic-related shift is in personal auto. With more people working from home, many people’s driving habits have changed. The insurer is encouraging customers to sign up for a usage-based auto insurance (UBI) solution called my Drive in order to save money on their premiums while their driving habits take a break.
“We believe that UBI will continue to be a very important part of our strategy moving forward,” Wynveen told Insurance Business. “Our my Drive program not only allows people to control their premium based on how they drive, but it also offers customers personalized feedback and tips to help them improve their safe driving habits. We will continue to advocate for UBI in 2021 and beyond, and it’s our aim to become a leader in the telematics space.”
Intact announced that while these solutions address immediate and emerging customer needs resulting from the pandemic, the firm will continue to develop other innovative and responsive measures to longer-term trends.
