A game of chance Ford Car insurance?
Fundamentally, that’s how the insurance business operates to day. It doesn’t matter what type of insurance it is, there are a whole bunch of people paying small sums to a company that will pay for the repairs or replacement of the insured item. That company, the insurer, will always be trying to minimise its payments going out and maximise the income it is taking in.
It was all very unscientific from what we can gather and rather like a game of dice: somebody pays a sum considerably less than the value of the ship and its cargo to a wealthy man who will then pay for repairs or a new ship if your vessel is lost at sea. As long as the man of wealth was getting sufficient money in, (more than he was paying out), he was a happy merchant!
Insurance, particularly on things like house contents and buildings cover is today a very accurate practice – no longer a matter of chance. Insurers have built up masses of data from records over decades that indicate the likelihood of accidents or loss occurring. This takes away the luck element completely.