News & Views

From applications received from the 1st September 2010, we've changed our legal expenses provider to offer an enhanced product which includes twice as much cover, new cover options and a cheaper price.

The new policy has all the benefits of the previous policy but now includes (a) a new cover level of £50,000 per claim, up from £25,000 (b) identity fraud protection included free of charge, previously an optional extra and (c) cover for schools admissions disputes.

In addition, Arc also provide access to other discounted legal services where the event is not covered by the legal expenses insurance.

The policy is now provided by Arc Legal Assistance but remains underwritten by Inter Partner Assistance, part of the AXA group of companies.

The new cost of cover is 70p per month, previously £1.20 including the optional ID Fraud extension.

For existing customers, we'll be rolling out the new extension at their next renewal date with the exercise completed in 12 months time.

Our offices will be closed on Monday 30th August for the Bank Holiday break and will re-open at 9am on Tuesday 31st August.

During this time emergency assistance will be available for customer who have an emergency situation and need to make a new claim.  The number to call depends on your insurer and is shown on your policy documents.

We're delighted to announce further improvements to our Premium Beating Guarantee which includes increasing the discount you can apply when matching Select & Protect prices - so you can now discount the premiums by £2 per month.

In addition, we've increased the levels of cover for customers when matching other providers to ensure that 3XD always offer the best cover options for the price.  For more information about the changes please visit the Premium Beating information shown in the main site.

From 1st August 2010 we're delighted to announce that Excess Waiver Insurance is available as a further extension to our home insurance contract.  This insurance refunds excess payments which are paid by the customer for claims on home insurance, motor insurance and pet insurance policies.

The policy is available as a separate annual policy at a flat premium of £60 per annum and covers excess payments up to £300 in any one year.

If the customer is willing to take the risk of smaller claims, you can use the policy to discount the home insurance policy.  For example switching from a £50 excess to a £250 excess would save our average customer around £90 a year - more than the cost of this policy extension.

The new excess waiver insurance is underwritten by Inter Partner Assistance, part of the global AXA group of companies.

In addition, we"ve changed our procedures so that intermediaries can receive quotations for high net worth buildings and contents insurance rather than Sterling always contacting the customer - this is following feedback from our intermediaries.  The new quotation request form is available in the documentation area and on the product details page.

On 9th July 2010 we're making two new products available on our website.  This includes a high net worth buildings and contents product offered by Sterling Insurance and a stand alone version of our Keycare product.

The high net worth buildings and contents cover is suitable for customers where the standard 3XD policy does not provide sufficient cover for their requirements.  It can also be used for some unusually contructed properties.  For more information, please see the product information section of the site.

A stand alone version of the Keycare product will also be available.  This is suitable when you wish to add Keycare for an existing customer or where a customer does not require a 3XD home insurance policy.  For customers who already have another 3XD product we are offering the stand alone product at the same price as the extension to home insurance.

As part of our Renewal Commitment, 3XD have undertaken to publish the annual premium increases our customers are seeing at the policy renewal.  We have now prepared our renewal notices for June and the result is available.

The average renewal increase for June 2010 is just 0.13% which equates to an average of £0.02 per month.

The price of our cover extensions which include legal expenses, ID fraud and home emergency cover have not seen an annual increase.

We're delighted to confirm that Catlin Insurance (UK) Ltd have now joined our home insurance panel of insurers, effective from applications received on the 1st June 2010.

Catlin are a fantastic addition to our panel.  In the UK they operate the largest Lloyd's syndicate and a separate UK underwriting company who is supporting our product.  They offer fantastic security, being rated A by Standard & Poors, and capacity as 3XD continues to grow.

Catlin will replace Jubilee on the quotation engine and have adopted their rates, making only minor adjustments many of which are in favour of the customer.  Any existing customers will remain with Jubilee until the next renewal date.

In addition, we have launched our new Keycare extension to home insurance.  This is the first in a series of new product additions, allowing you to offer greater security to your customer and develop you general insurance book.  This addition extends the key cover under the policy to £1,500 and includes all keys attached to a keyfob provided by 3XD.  For more information, please visit the Keycare pages in the Product Information section of the website.

From the 24th May 2010, we're delighted to announce that customers can select from three different payment dates for their monthly premium collections.

The available dates are the 1st, 10th and 20th of each calendar month and you will be given the option to provide us with the preferred date when you set up the Direct Debit arrangements.  If your customer does not select a preferred date, we'll choose the date that best matches the policy start date.

As part of this change, we're also moving the collection of Direct Debits from our administrator to our head office team in Clitheroe.  Direct Debit payments will also now show as being paid to 3XD Limited (previously Plus One-3XD) which we know will be less confusing for your customers.

The different payment dates also mean that we can be more flexible with the first premium on new policies.  Where appropriate, we'll now collect the first premium on a different date to stop the need for two collections in the following month. 

For existing customers, we'll be switching them over to premiums being collected by 3XD at their next renewal notice and offering them a chance to choose a different payment date.  However, if you have customers who specifically want to change the date now, please let us know by calling the Intermediary Support Team on 0845 519 4966 and we'll make the change from the next premium due.

As part of our Renewal Commitment, 3XD have undertaken to publish the annual premium increases our customers are seeing at the policy renewal.  We have now prepared our renewal notices for May and the result is available.

The average renewal increase for May 2010 is 2.07% which equates to £0.52 per month.

The price of our cover extensions which include legal expenses, ID fraud and home emergency cover have not seen an annual increase.

Our offices will close for the Bank Holiday break from 6pm on Friday 30th April and will re-open at 9am on Tuesday 4th May.

There is emergency assistance available for customers who wish to make a new home insurance claim, the telephone number to shown on the policy documents.

As part of our Renewal Commitment, 3XD have undertaken to publish the annual premium increases our customers are seeing at the policy renewal.  We have now prepared our renewal notices for April and the result is available.

The average renewal increase for April 2010 is 1.8% which equates to £0.41 per month.

The price of our cover extensions which include legal expenses, ID fraud and home emergency cover have not seen an annual increase.

Our offices will close at 6pm on Thursday 1st April for the Easter Break and will re-open at 9am on Tuesday 6th April 2010.

During this time, 24 hour emergency claims assistance for customers wishing to make a new home insurance claim by dialing the normal claims helpline numbers as shown on the policy documents.

As part of our Renewal Commitment, 3XD have undertaken to publish the average premium increases our customers are seeing at the policy renewal.  We have now prepared our renewal notices for March and the result is available.

The average renewal increase for March 2010 is 2.65% which equates to £0.58 per month.

In addition, we're delighted to confirm that DAS have not imposed any price increases on the home emergency element of cover and the price will continue to be £2.10 per month over the next 12 months.

As part of our Renewal Commitment, we have undertaken to publish the average premium increases our customers are seeing at the policy renewal.  We have now prepared our renewal notices for February and the result is available.

The average renewal increase for February 2010 is 1.94% which equates to £0.44 per month.

Don't forget, as part of renewal commitment we will not increase your customer's premium by more than 5% at their annual review including those customers who have been premium matched to other providers.

We're delighted to welcome Lemma Europe Insurance Company to our panel of home insurance providers from the 8th January 2010.

Whilst Lemma will be replacing AXA as the third provider of home insurance for new business, any existing quotations provided by Jubilee on the AXA rates will remain with Jubilee so that existing customers are not affected.

The new Lemma quotations are available on the quotation engine now.

All 3XD underwriters write policies on the same terms and conditions with all claims handled by 3XD - this means that you can select the best price for your customer without affecting the level of cover the customer will receive.

We'd like to thank all our intermediaries who have supported up during 2009 - it's been our pleasure to be of service to you and the thousands of customers you've introduced to us this year.

We've got some exciting plans for 2010 including new products, new insurers and new services initiatives.

The first of these kicks off at the beginning of January when we transfer our intermediary support from Southend to our head office in Clitheroe - which we hope will allow you to get through to the people who make decisions quickly and easily.  We know many of you have a great relationship with the team in Southend and they will continue to look after our customer and claims helplines.  We'd like to thank everyone involved in the team for all of their hard work assisting our intermediary partners over the last two years.

You can check out details of our opening hours over Christmas and the New Year by clicking here.

We wish you all a very happy Christmas and best wishes for a successful 2010.

As part of our Renewal Commitment, we have undertaken to publish the average premium increases our customers are seeing at their policy renewal.  We have now prepared all our renewal notices for January 2010 and the result is available.

The average renewal increase for January 2010 is 3.91% which equates to £0.82 per month.

Don't forget we've extended our renewal commitment to match Paymentshield's commitment not to increase premiums in 2010.  Any policy previously matched to a Paymentshield product will also not see a price increase this year.

As we continue to see price increases the market, we're getting enquiries about what price increase 3XD customers will see when their policies fall for renewal so we've decided to let you know how we're doing by publishing the increase rate on our website.

We're delighted that our insurers share our commitment to long term customer satisfaction by maintaining prices - and protecting your long term renewal income into the bargain.

To see how we've done over the last six months, click here.

3XD opened for business on the 1st November 2007 and we'd like to thank all our intermediaries and customers for their support over the last 2 years.  We've always believed in sharing success so we're delighted to announce that 3XD is now offering 6 months indemnity commission on our Lloyd's home insurance product.

We're making this option available for any new business submissions, backdated to the 1st October 2009.

If you're already receiving indemnity commission for the other insurers you do not need to do anything and you will receive the new 6 month indemnity commission automatically.  If you have opted for monthly commission you can change your commission preference at any time by emailing commissions@3xd.co.uk to make the change.

From 1st October 2009, our Lloyd's underwriter is changing from Heritage to Jubilee. This change involves only minor changes to the ratings including a reduction of the charge for accidental damage cover and also provides a continuation of our valuable premium beating guarantee.

Any quotations provided by Heritage will be honoured with any cases submitted after 1st October automatically switching to Jubilee when the case is submitted. There is no need to provide new documentation to your customer as both insurers trade under the Lloyd's name.

Commenting, David Fulluck, Managing Director says "We are delighted that we have secured underwriting with Jubilee which includes the continuation of the Premium Beating Guarantee. We would also like to extend our thanks to Heritage for the support they have given 3XD over the last two years."

Existing customers underwritten by Heritage will continue to be underwritten by Heritage until their next renewal date when their policies will switch automatically.

Lloyd's enjoys a rating of A+/Stable from Standard and Poors and has an international unblemished reputation for paying claims.  In addition to the protection offered by the FSCS, all Lloyd's members contribute to a central fund, offering a extra level of protection for your customer.