At J2Ski's extensive news offices we receive press releases every day from PR companies hoping we'll just use their pieces verbatim – as indeed some lesser ski publications who do not benefit from our years of expertise will do.
One press release arrived last week from a travel insurance company's PR scandalised that despite the injuries to Michael Schumacher, they has run a survey and found some people still weren't bothered about wearing helmets on the slopes. It was clear that the writer didn't realise that Mr Schumacher had been wearing a helmet when he was injured.
Then yesterday another travel insurance company's PR outfit sent a release in which they had listed ski resorts according to the number of claims for broken limbs they had received. This was mildly interesting until you realised that had no measurement as to how many of their insurance policy holders were in each resort, so there was no context to the figures rendering them fairly meaningless, never mind.
But at last there was light at the end of the PR tunnel when Allianz Global Assistance sent us their latest press release, at last something credible and worthy of a J2Ski news coverage,
"As we enter the 'Year of the Goat' on 19th February, Allianz Global Assistance analysis reveals the most common claims made by the Chinese zodiac signs."
The company looked at 13,000 past claims ad found that the 'calm and gentle' goat makes the most travel insurance claims with 'cancellation' accounting for 31% of claims.
However the 'brave and powerful' tiger makes the least claims, but the average claims cost is the highest of all 12 Chinese Zodiac signs at £471 – 'accidental damage excess' to hire cars is the most common reason for Tigers to claim.
Interestingly, Allianz Global Assistance found that rats make the highest number of claims in relation to 'accidental damage excess' to hire cars of all the zodiac signs, totalling more than 30% all their claims, "a case of their spirit and vitality perhaps getting the better of the," the company surmised.
Barry Smith, UK Underwriting Manager for Allianz Global Assistance UK, comments, "Whilst we would never draw upon the conclusions of our analysis when underwriting insurance premiums for customers, the findings do reveal some interesting trends. That said, across all twelve Chinese Zodiac signs, either 'cancellation' (25%) or 'accidental damage excess' to hire cars' (22%) was the most common reason people were making a claim. With this in mind, it is vital that travellers consider protecting themselves against the unforeseeable when booking their holiday, as an unexpected change of plan or misfortune abroad could force them to miss out on their holiday or leave them financially out of pocket."