While B.C. residents are the Canadians most likely to closely scrutinize their insurance policies, they also have one of the highest national rates of omitting and lying about facts when filling out an insurance application, according to a TD Insurance survey.
TD Insurance’s 2011 State of Insurance Report Part One, conducted by Environics Research Group, indicated that, while 77% of British Columbians thoroughly review or at least skim the fine print of their insurance policies, 16% purposely lie or omit important facts when filling out applications.
Typical fact fudging includes lying or omitting facts about previous losses, the operation of a day care in a home or the total number of inhabitants in a home, said TD Insurance vice-president and chief underwriter Henry Blumenthal.
“We’ve seen situations, for example, boarders and roommates in an apartment building or condo or in a house that was occupied by four families, but when the insurer asked the question, they said ‘No, no, it’s only a single-family home - we’re two adults and two kids.”
Blumenthal added that fear of high premiums or of not qualifying for insurance tend to drive the lies and omissions, he said. But the consequences of that kind of omission could include having your insurance policy cancelled outright.
“At a moment of a fire, you don’t want to find out that that non-disclosure of information jeopardizes your protection.”