July 18th is Insurance Nerd Day.
Think of any subject under the sun and chances are there’ll be a national day to celebrate it. Some are well known: few will be oblivious that May 4th is Star Wars Day or that we wear our Christmas jumpers for charity early every December. Yet, the days we earmark to recognise specific people, causes or circumstances are proliferating wildly and becoming ever more bizarre…
Those toe-curling occasions you’re desperate to avoid? National Awkward Moments Day’s just the thing. How about showing appreciation for the handy person who’s fixed your leaking tap? You need National Hug a Plumber Day. And, here at First Central July 18th is a date close to our hearts because it marks Insurance Nerd Day. Now, we don’t need to set aside one, solitary day to recognise the amazing brainiacs the insurance world’s brimming with. We’re grateful for our colleagues’ superpowers every day and know they’re behind every goal we achieve and every success we enjoy. All the same, it’s fun to be given the chance to celebrate insurance boffins on a bigger scale.
The story goes that Insurance Nerd Day was first observed in 2016. Facing a talent gap, a US insurance company promoted the occasion to big up its people and attract more inspirational talent to join it. The company wanted to shout about the rewarding careers on offer in insurance and convince prospective employees the industry’s not boring. We’re confident our colleagues would struggle to put First Central and boring in the same sentence. We’re constantly seeking their feedback and they tell us their experience is positive. Career development, independence, ambition. They get so much more than a job here.
There’s no harm in sharing some weird and wonderful titbits of insurance info to get your mind boggling though so here goes:
- On average people currently pay around £650 for comprehensive car insurance annually in the UK and the average claim costs £3,500. Protecting luxury vehicles is way more expensive due to the higher risks involved. Mr Bean actor Rowan Atkinson holds the dubious accolade of submitting the UK’s biggest ever car insurance claim. When he crashed his super rare £3.5M McLaren F1 in 2011, the damage cost his insurers an eye-watering £910,000.
- Yes, you can insure body parts and cover’s been around for many years. Famous actors, singers and musicians protect their livelihoods by taking out policies on their most valuable assets. At $40M Taylor Swift’s legs seem a bargain next to the $810M Mariah Carey’s are insured for.
- When whisky producer Cutty Sark offered a bumper cash prize for finding definitive proof of the Loch Ness Monster, they laid the risk off at Lloyds of London. At first Lloyds got cold feet over the £1M at stake but eventually agreed as long as they could keep the monster if it were ever found. It wasn’t.
- A Devon farmer was using his phone’s torch as he helped one of his cows to calf on a dark and stormy night. Guess where it got lost… The phone eventually reappeared but failed to work after its rear-end experience and his claim was fully settled
- A company selling socks promises to replace any single lost footwear within a year of purchase. No lengthy claims forms are asked for – simply a photo posted to social media of the lonely garment without its mate
So, that’s one National Day we can scrap then. Who needs Lost Sock Memorial Day? We think these snippets should be enough to convince even the biggest sceptic insurance is far from dull. After all, there may be a national day for all sorts of offbeat, crazy situations but there’s no National Boring Insurance Day.
