At OBI we know you have choices. You have so many choices, whether it be with whom you insure, the level of cover, the type of policy, the amount of excess, how you want to pay, or whether you even take out cover. All those choices are yours. We wont make any decisions for you, but we will make you aware of your options so that you can make informed choices. Do you know what a DOFI is? Or what an aggregate deductible is? How about subrogation, or duty of disclosure? Take a look at one of your insurance policy wordings. Do you understand everything in it? We don't want to bore you but insurance is a legal contract. Are you getting your advice from a qualified insurance professional who not only knows about one companies policies but all of them? Who is legally qualified to give you personal advice, not just general advice? If you are, when was the last time they showed you all of those options and discussed with you your personal needs and the benefits of one policy over the others?

Let us help you through the maze. We are not a bank, nor a car dealership, we aren't real estate agents, nor accountants or financial planners. We are insurance brokers. We specialise in general insurance, that's it and we know it well. We know all the options and can advise you on all of them.

We know you have choices, let us guide you through them to give you the best, informed result.

Full broking service, not just lip service
What is full broking service?
It starts with a visit to your business, doing a full risk analysis and survey of your business. Why? Because we can better represent your business to the insurers and obtain more competitive options for you, if we know you and your business. Insurance is all about risk. What risk your comfortable keeping and which risk your not. Now consider that from the insurers perspective. The more information we can present to them that your business is a good risk, the more comfortable they are at giving more competitive pricing. But full broking service doesn't stop after the quote, or after we have helped you submit your proposals to the insurers. It extends to mid year reviews (where required) and yearly reviews to make sure that your coverage adjusts to the changes in your business. Then when the worst happens and you have a claim, full broking service means we assist you from the start of your claim, until you have your final settlement cheque, you'd be surprised at how often we step in to make sure our clients are paid what they are entitled to, remember, we work for you. We do not charge any fees for our claims service.

What does full service cost?
Initially nothing, except around an hour of your time. To obtain a full review, including competitive quotes from at least 6 companies (and up to 20 depending on your business type) will not cost you a cent. Our quotes are free of charge. Yes there may be a fee charged if you proceed, but this is included in our quote and ranges from $0 up to $50.

How can we give you full service for up to $50?
We receive a commission from the insurers, as does every agent, every broker, just about every insurance policy ever written has a commission being paid to someone. We don't have to charge you a large fee in addition to that commission. For full information on the commissions we receive, please review the Financial Services Guide (FSG) given with every quote or available from our office or our website.

We are good at what we do
Let us show you, remember there is no fee and no obligation for our quotes. So what do you have to lose?

When was the last time your insurer, agent or broker did a free risk analysis on your business or came to you and actually showed you at least 6 different quotes for your business?

Recently on most business quotes, we have seen savings on last year's premiums of at least 10% and up to 40%. Your covers aren't due yet? It doesn't matter, contact us and we will still do a full review now and show you your options, there may be "holes" that no one has ever explained to you, wouldn't you rather know before something goes wrong? At least then you can make an informed choice about what you want to do from there

Try us out, test us, we are confident you'll value our service
Did you know that amongst just 6 companies the premiums for a 2005 Ford Falcon range from $325 to $690. Surprising isn't it, but that's on exactly the same car, same driver, same driving history. Or how about home and contents insurance, say $250,000 building and $50,000 contents, the premiums vary from $420 to $920. Sure the covers are not exactly the same, but do you know the differences? We do.

Now that's just on a simple home or car policy. Imagine the premium range and options that are available on your business cover.

We can give you a 10 plus page comparison between your insurer and just about any other insurer available, if you want it. But more importantly we can give you specific tailored advice and options for your specific needs. OBI - Guiding your choices.

Did you know that for car insurance there can be over 30 factors that influence what you pay? Or home and contents, there are 25 factors? Surprised? For a small business there are more than 50 up to over 200 for a larger business. Do you know what they all are? We do.

Price versus Quality. There can be huge differences in the quality of insurance products available and price is not always the key. We not only give you all the prices, but more importantly we will advise you on the differences in coverage between the quotes.

Some recent examples of options we have presented to clients include:

Motor trade business
After reviewing the clients covers and alternatives in the market, we found his existing insurance programme had been duplicated in many areas. After explaining to the client these duplications and determining what he really needed, we were able not only to replace his existing covers, but give him higher levels of covers and bring his annual costs down from $8,600 to $5375

Retail chain - 5 stores
After a review of the clients covers we sought alternative prices for his insurance programme. Although we were able to find alternative covers for $15,000 rather than his existing $22,000 we negotiated with his existing insurer and managed to have his excess' reduced and their premiums are now $17,700

Engineering - contractor working for a large mining company.
In many instances the local market insurers didn't want to know about this client. We were able to obtain some quotes off shore, via the Lloyds market, but were eventually able to negotiate with a local insurer at a premium less than half of what the client was expecting.

Manufacturer - transport industry
Again a very difficult market to place cover in, however this new small business wasn't going to get off the ground when he was receiving quotes of over $6,500 until we were able to find a local market and place his covers for $1,400

Heavy Transport industry - local deliveries. 9 units
We were able to obtain numerous quotes for this client, who was previously paying $24,000 (with 7 units) the market quotes ranged from $16,500 to $28,000. Not only did the client save over $10,000 but his excesses were reduced on average by over $1,000 on each vehicle.

It's important to stress that not all the above examples are typical of every quote or insurance programme we place. Everything depends on your business, its location, how its run, your claims history etc but the market is very competitive at the moment and even excluding the above examples, we are seeing savings on average of 10-20% on just about all clients, some as high as 40%.

All of the above examples are only from authorised insurers. The Australian government regulates the local insurance industry, with all insurers having to meet strict financial solvency standards, along with subscribing to dispute facilities, for more information click on the legislation link on the left.

Theft
A client had a claim which involved thieves stealing a safe from his premises. The safe contained $23,000 and the insurer promptly settled the claim for the $10,000 limit the client had chosen under his policy. However due to the timing of the theft and extensions under the clients policy wording (it occurred over a long weekend just after Christmas) the client was entitled to claim up to $25,000. Once pointed out to the insurer, the client received another cheque for the remaining $13,000 plus payment for the damage done to his premises.

Motor Vehicle
A client had comprehensive cover on their vehicle and the vehicle was written off after a claim. The vehicle was just under 2 years old and the insurer's assessor arranged for settlement of the claim, based on an agreed value of the vehicle of $24,000. The insurer had a "new car replacement within 2 years" benefit under the policy which the assessor had overlooked. Even though the claim was finalised and a replacement vehicle already purchased, we were able to obtain an extra $4,500 for the client. (this varies with every insurer and in some cases is very restrictive - please ask for more information)

Theft
A client had a burglary at their home, with a number of jewellery items stolen. The assessor incorrectly advised the client that their policy had a limit of $7,500 on jewellery items. This was not correct and we made sure the client received the $12,500 they were entitled to.

We have many examples of claims where insurance companies initially advised clients they were not covered, however after our involvement these legitimate claims were paid. Unfortunately this happens too frequently which is why we want to know when you have a claim, so we can make sure you are dealt with promptly and are paid everything your are entitled to.

Legislation (General Insurance Reform Act 2001) places stringent conditions on general insurance companies so that the prudential 'bar' for general insurers is now set very high. In fact, policyholder safety is now much stronger than it has ever been.

The new prudential standards are much more comprehensive and more discriminating in addressing general insurance risks. General insurance companies are now subject to much more demanding internal risk controls and governance and greater responsibility is now placed on directors, auditors and actuaries. The minimum capital requirements for general insurance companies rose by more than 50 per cent on average across the industry.

Specifically, the three key conditions in the General Insurance Reform Act designed to improve public confidence in the industry are:

• A shift to upgraded, risk-based capital adequacy requirements;
• Checks and balances created by stronger governance standards;
• Universal 'health check' on all companies under the re-authorisation process.

In summary, the two technical standards in the new regime - covering liability valuation and capital adequacy respectively - are intended to prevent under-capitalisation in general insurance. While the two governing standards - covering reinsurance and risk management, respectively - are aimed at discouraging poor management in general insurance.

There are however insurer's that don't have to meet these standards. These are Direct Offshore Foreign Insurers (DOFI's) or sometimes termed Unauthorised Foreign Insurers. Whilst at OBI we have access to these alternative underwriters, we believe they are "underwriters of last resort". There are major risks involved in dealing with DOFI's, the main one being insolvency of the insurer. This not only means you can lose the insurance premiums you may have just paid, but also be responsible for paying any claims that might have occurred. Imagine the impact to your business if all of a sudden you had even a $500,000 liability claim that your insurer is no longer around to pay, let alone a $10,000,000 claim. As such we will not risk our clients insurance programme by placing covers with a DOFI when an authorised market is available. The Australian Government is so concerned about the increase in use of DOFI's that it is currently looking to pass changes in legislation to restrict their use. If you want to see if your insurer is authorised, you can view the current list at:

http://www.apra.gov.au/General/General-Insurers.cfm

Please be aware however that with recent acquisitions, your insurer may not be who they really seem. You will notice on the approved list that many well known names don't appear. This is because they themselves are no longer insurer's. In some cases they are trading names of an authorised insurer, or other times they may be "authorised representatives" of an authorised insurer. If you have any questions regarding any insurer or for that matter any insurance policy, we will be happy to assist you.