Innovative New Product Incorporates PIAM Building Cost Calculator and

Offers up to 30% Premium Discount To Customers

 

KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA, RIAUONE.COM, - 15 November 2018 - MSIG Insurance (Malaysia) Bhd (MSIG Malaysia) has launched Home SafeGuard, a new home protection policy.

 

As the 2nd largest Fire Insurer* in Malaysia, MSIG's Home SafeGuard is a home insurance product that encourages the use of Persatuan Insurans Am Malaysia's (PIAM's) online Building Cost Calculator (BCC) tool. 

Homeowners can obtain an estimated rebuilding cost for their property based on the current market rates for labour and materials.  PIAM has engaged a Professional Quantity surveying company to provide credible building cost index data into the BCC on an annual basis.

 

Previously, homeowners could only obtain a rebuilding estimate through a Registered Valuer and, as a result, many homeowners did not regularly update their property's 'insured value' as engaging a Registered Valuer can be both costly and/or time consuming. This is a problem because the costs of rebuilding may rise every year due to increased cost of building materials and labour charges. As a result, some homeowners, when struck by misfortune, could find that their home insurance pay-out would not adequately cover the increased costs, particularly if enhancements and renovations had been made to the property.

 

By using the PIAM's BCC tool to value their own properties, MSIG hopes to simplify the renewal task, making it much easier for customers to review their property sum insured and thereby having certainty of adequacy and avoid underinsurance especially when a home is usually the single biggest investment for most Malaysians.

 

To encourage consumers to use PIAM's BCC tool, MSIG is providing Home SafeGuard customers a significant up to 30% discount on their premiums, as well as other new benefits.

 

These include:

Constructive Total Loss

If the cost of rebuilding exceeds 75% of the sum insured (Agreed Value) in the event of a loss, MSIG will pay the full agreed amount, even if the full rebuilding cost is not 100% of the sum insured.

 

Enhanced Coverage For Bursting or Overflowing of Water Tanks, Apparatus or Pipes

MSIG's Home SafeGuard includes additional coverage (up to RM5,000) in the event of an incident caused by burst water pipes, damaged water tanks. Standard home owner insurance only covers the resulting damage (i.e. replacement of damaged cabinets, etc.), but Home Safeguard will also cover the complete cost of repair, including the cost of any wall hacking, replastering, and painting required.

 

Automatic Increase in Sum Insured of Contents (applicable to Full Value Basis)

Purchasers of Home SafeGuard also have the option to insure their home contents at the same time. If customers opt to add-on home contents insurance, MSIG will automatically increase the value of the contents sum insured by 10% during the period of insurance. Everyone tends to purchase new items throughout the year and may forget to declare these items to the insurer, but with Home SafeGuard, customers are still covered additionally up to 10% of the sum insured. However, MSIG does advise that customers still report any purchases that may exceed the 10% value in order to avoid underinsurance.

 

MSIG Home Assist

Home SafeGuard policyholders will also be able to use the MSIG Home Assist app which provides customers with our value-added services including referrals to qualified contractors as well as easy claims submission and tracking.

 

Mr Chua Seck Guan, MSIG Malaysia Chief Executive Officer explains why MSIG introduced Home SafeGuard, "A fire or a flood can be really devastating for homeowners, and sadly many are under-protected. Even those who have had the foresight to take out insurance can discover that their insurance pay-out does not adequately cover the rebuilding cost, especially if they do not review the sum insured of their house. That is why we are delighted that PIAM developed the Building Cost Calculator tool which makes it much easier for home owners to calculate the current rebuilding cost for their homes. 

 

Our Home SafeGuard insurance leverages on PIAM's tool capabilities and we are offering up to 30% premium discount in order to encourage home owners to use it and ensure they are properly covered in the event of misfortune."

 

"We want to educate consumers about the importance of regularly reviewing their home insurance and the sum insured, which is why we developed the Building Cost Calculator to make it much easier for people to get a realistic idea of the current cost of rebuilding their homes. And we are delighted that MSIG Malaysia has decided to promote the usage of the tool in their new product", said Mr Mark Lim, Chief Executive Officer of PIAM.

 

Mr Chua, concluded, "MSIG is one of the largest fire insurers in the country and we have been protecting Malaysians for over 100 years. We are very happy that the insurance detariffication, which took place last year, has allowed us to develop new innovative products such as Home SafeGuard, which we believe offers Malaysians even more choice and peace of mind than ever before."

 

If you are interested in learning more about MSIG's Home SafeGuard Insurance, please contact a MSIG Insurance Adviser or visit MSIG website at www.msig.com.my for further details. (roc/zar).