Managing
Director
Hans-Hermann Lüschen
Tasks
The activities of an insurance consultant include providing advice and out-of-court representation in dealings with insurers during the agreement, alteration and checking of insurance agreements as well as during the claiming of payments due from the insurance agreement in case of occurrence of the event insured against.
Depending on the order, this can include:
Analysis of financial risks
Viewing and checking existing insurance policies
Suggestions for avoiding and minimising losses (fire protection strategy, quality assurance etc.)
Calculation of advisable own risk to reduce premiums
Compiling optimal insurance strategies, closing insurance gaps, avoiding duplicate insurance cover
Negotiating with insurance companies or clients’ brokers on terms and premiums
Support in correspondence with insurers, e.g. in case of termination, contract changes etc.
Legal support and representation in case of loss as well as in case of disputes arising from the insurance contract.
Active throughout Germany:
Invitations to tender: procedures for awarding public services contracts in the area of insurance policies (92/50 EEG Directive of 18 June 1992)
Insurance
consultants hold a licence from the Presiding Judge of the relevant Local or
District Court. In April 1996, Managing Director Hans-Hermann Lüschen was
awarded a licence by the Presiding Judge of Oldenburg (Oldb) Regional Court, and
in April 1999 by the Presiding Judge of Berlin Local Court for a Berlin branch.
VERS
Versicherungsberater – Gesellschaft mbH,
based in Berlin (trade register No. 73802, Charlottenburg Local Court) was
founded as a local branch. This licence (article 1 § 1 para. 1) in accordance
with the Legal Consulting Law (RBerG) gives you, as a commercial or private
customer, the assurance that you are consulting a specialist who has passed a
rigorous examination of his competence, both in theory and practice.
Licence
text (article 1 § 1 para. 1 sentence 2 No. 2 of RBerG) by the Presiding Judge
of Berlin Local Court: “Dealing with
external legal matters including legal advice as an insurance consultant”
Apart
from extensive specialist knowledge, the insurance consultant must give evidence
of his personal aptitude and reliability. The granting of the professional
licence comes with a ban on selling insurance policies or brokering them for a
commission. This is how the consultant guarantees the necessary neutrality and
independence from both insurance companies and clients.
Summary
The experience of the insurance consultant shows that commercial and private consumers are far too unaware of the nature of insurance policies. Many insurance policies taken out by companies have nothing to do with risk transfer, i.e. transferring risks that can endanger the company’s existence to third parties. A systematic risk analysis that makes it possible to recognise and evaluate financial risks is the exception. Instead, insurance policies are taken out and high premiums paid without covering an existential risk. Often these are little more than money-exchanging schemes, where the premium costs and claims payments are equal.
Company managers – often through lack of knowledge – not only put up with high premiums for unnecessary insurance policies, but they are also frequently too willing to accept the insurance terms proposed. Contrary to popular belief, these terms are not specified by law but determined by the insurer according to its own interests. What is more, since 1.7.1993 they are no longer checked by the German Monitoring Office for Insurance. The “better” the conditions for the client, the more extensive the insurance cover and simpler the settlement. So high insurance premiums have nothing to do with good insurance cover. The performance of an insurer is revealed first in the written terms of the contract (conditions) and second in the settlement of claims. The insurance consultant also explains to you what conditions are and are not important for you.