General (Non-Life) Insurance
Non-life insurance covers property, liability, motor, marine, engineering and miscellaneous risks. Candidates must understand the main classes and their typical cover and exclusions. Property policies cover fire, lightning, explosion, storm, flood, theft and impact, subject to perils listed in the policy; liability policies cover legal liability to third parties (public, products, employers') and typically exclude contractual liability and deliberate acts. Motor insurance has compulsory third-party liability plus optional own-damage cover, with excesses and no-claim discounts.
Understand sum insured versus sum assured, reinstatement versus indemnity value, and the role of average/underinsurance clauses. Know the structure of a policy: schedule, operative clause, exclusions, conditions, definitions. Exclusions commonly include wear and tear, inherent vice, war, nuclear risks and gradual deterioration.
Traps: assuming 'all risks' means every risk (it still has exclusions); confusing public liability (third-party injury/damage) with employers' liability (employees); forgetting that business interruption cover requires a material damage trigger and a defined indemnity period; and overlooking that liability policies respond to legal liability, not voluntary payments.
Worked rule of thumb: When reading a claim scenario, first identify the peril, then check whether it is an insured peril, then apply exclusions, then apply conditions (average, excess, limits). This sequence prevents the common error of ignoring an exclusion that defeats an otherwise valid claim.