Insurance is fundamental in our lives: it gives us support, security and efficiency. We all know them and make use of them, whether to protect our heritage, our health or the future that awaits us.
Despite its recognition and employment in society, not many know the basic documents that accredit and specify, what conditions include their insurance or policies contracted.
That is why we want to provide you with a simple explanation of which are the two most important insurance documents that you should consider when you hire or are a user of a certain type of insurance.
So, below, we explain what the policy and the insurance certificate consist of, and their differences.
Insurance Policy: What is it?
The insurance policy is the document in which the bases of the insurance contract are specified. In this way, the rules that make it up in a general, particular or special way are recorded. With its issuance, the formal relationship between the insurer and the insured is established, establishing their rights and obligations.
Through it, the contracting party has the obligation to pay a premium, and the insurer must repair the damages or pay the stipulated amounts in case something of what is established in it occurs.
The policy has several types of clauses, which regulate different aspects of the relationship between insurer and insured. Below, we explain them to you:
->General conditions of insurance
They are the basic aspects determined by the insurer within the modality of the insurance contracted; which implies that these conditions will be the same for the contracted product, regardless of the client.
The insurer has the obligation to include and draft them as clearly as possible, and in no case, they can be harmful to the contracting parties.
These include:
- The terms used in the policy.
- Nature of the risk covered and designation of the objects insured and their location.
- Situations not covered by the policy.
- The limits or maximum values covered by the company; that is, the maximum total amount that will be paid by the insurance company (in case of any damage that affects what is protected by the contract).
- The responsibilities of both parties.
- In relation to the obligations of the insurance company, the main one is to pay the compensation according to the conditions agreed in the insurance policy.
- Arbitration, which is a clause of the policy that establishes how to solve the possible differences between the insurer and the insured, in the interpretation of the terms included in the policy.
->Particular conditions of insurance
They include what is related to the specific conditions of risk for the person or insured, which implies the singularization of a specific policy. In this way, they expand what is established in the previous section.
Some of the data collected here are:
- Name and address of the contracting parties.
- Insurance modality.
- Nature of the insured property or person to be insured.
- Beneficiaries, that is, those who receive compensation in the cases established in the policy.
- Contracted coverage.
- Exclusions or situations not covered by the policy.
- Amount of the premium, indicating the periodicity and method of payment of the same.
- Duration of the insurance, determining the period of validity of the same.
->Special insurance conditions
Finally, the policy includes special conditions. In this case, the rules contained in the particular and general conditions will be detailed here, qualifying the provisions thereof.
Examples of special conditions can be: the removal of some exclusions or the introduction of different ones.
Certificate of Insurance: What is it?
On the other hand, the insurance certificate is the document that is used as a receipt and that certifies the subscription of insurance; as well as that a policy has been constituted.
In this sense, it confirms that the person has insurance and, normally, only includes some of the particular conditions of the contract (the particular conditions and specific coverages are detailed in the particular conditions of the policy).