Briefing: What happened? Hiscox slides on broker service

By Content Director Saxon East

At Hiscox, ‘as good as our word’ is the catchy slogan it delivers to direct customers.

Unfortunately, its word doesn’t mean very much to brokers any more - at least when it comes to personal lines insurance.

The once proud king of broker service has seen standards plummet. 

Five-year decline 

For many years, Hiscox was highly regarded as one of the very best in terms of broker service. 

In 2018, Hiscox led the pack on personal lines broker service, according to Insurance Times’ Five Star Rating Report: Personal Lines. In 2019, however, report findings saw it slip below rivals Chubb and Covea. 

Fast forward to today and Hiscox is near the bottom of the pack in our 2022 personal lines Five Star Rating Report - released today - only propped up by the the perennial laggard RSA.

What has happened? 

It would be easy to blame a spill over from the fallout in commercial lines following rejected Covid-linked business interruption (BI) claims.

The reality is that every area of service at Hiscox - apart from claims - has dropped, based on broker feedback.

In particular, our survey shows that standards in underwriting and policy documentation have both slipped from five stars to two stars.

Some brokers are blaming a restructure in the business. 

One broker wrote: ”Prior to a change in service structure, the service was very good. A change to the process resulted in very poor service - poor quality documentation, taking 25 minutes [or longer] to answer the phones regularly, emails not actioned or taken seven [or more] business days to action and regularly incorrect documentation provided.”

Another broker echoed this sentiment: “It used to be great, but since [its] restructure, the service standards have fallen to an unacceptable level.”

A high net worth broker added: “Everything about Hiscox needs to be improved at present - from documentation to service levels to claims service.”

Chubb and Covea

Hiscox used to be right up there with Chubb and Covea, always coming top of our surveys.

Chubb and Covea have maintained their top rankings in this year’s survey, alongside Zurich - well done to them.

For Hiscox, however, standards have clearly dropped on the broker service front - the insurer has a lot of work to do in fixing it. 

Looks like 2022 is going to be a busy year.