Home Insurance - In defence of readability: Contracts that consumers can read and understand (in French only)

Author

Stéphanie Poulin

Organization

Option consommateurs

Published

2006

Summary

The language of law and insurance can be very difficult for consumers to understand. As a result, they are less likely to read their contracts and consequently are unaware of their rights and obligations.
The purpose of this research is to develop the Association’s expertise in the area of clear writing, to participate in the process of revising home insurance forms initiated by the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) and to make recommendations to this organization and to insurance companies aimed at making insurance forms easier to understand. The report finds that since insurance contracts are written by experts, they are easy to understand only for initiates who possess the appropriate legal/linguistic culture and knowledge of the insurance field. This situation has adverse effects, both on consumers and on the insurance industry. First of all, obscure formulations prevent the transmission of information. This has an effect on access to justice; our newsgroup made us realize how hard it is for consumers to know when they are covered or not. Finally, in the opinion of certain participants in the group, these factors tend to harm the image of the insurance industry and undermine their confidence in it.

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French only

• English (PDF document)
• French (PDF document)

OCA Funded Research
This research received funding support through the Office of Consumer Affairs' Contributions Program.

Contact information

Source: Consumer Policy Research Database