保险公司并不以行动敏捷闻名，但这个行业不得不跟上这样一个形势：在一个租用而非拥有商品的经济中，客户往往不再需要长期的保障。
Three years ago, executives from the industry were called into 10 Downing Street to see David Cameron, then UK prime minister, who was concerned that a lack of insurance cover was holding back new rental-based business models.
3年前，保险业高管们被时任英国首相戴维•卡梅隆(David Cameron)召入唐宁街10号，后者担心缺乏保险保障正在阻碍基于租赁的新商业模式。
Graeme Trudgill, chief executive of the British Insurance Brokers’ Association, which chaired the meeting, said that from an insurance perspective there were very different risks attached to renting compared with ownership — and that insurers did not have much data about these.
英国保险经纪协会(British Insurance Brokers’ Association)首席执行官格雷姆•特鲁吉尔(Graeme Trudgill)表示，从保险的角度来看，租赁所附带的风险与所有权所附带的风险截然不同——而保险公司关于前一种情况的数据并不多。
Humphrey Bowles, an entrepreneur who used to work for accommodation website onefinestay, says: “Insurance was my bugbear. Seeing hosts try to get access to insurance was ridiculous.”
曾经为住宿网站onefinestay工作的创业者汉弗莱•鲍尔斯(Humphrey Bowles)表示：“保险让我很头疼。看到业主怎样试图上保险，感觉很荒谬。”
Some of the industry’s bigger companies are now taking an interest in the move towards rental. Allianz organises insurance for Drivy, which allows people to hire their own cars out to others. UK insurer Admiral, meanwhile, has just launched Veygo, which allows people who do not own a car to insure themselves on other people’s cars.
一些较大的保险公司现在有意进军租赁业务。安联(Allianz)为Drivy提供保险，后者让人们将自己的汽车出租给其他人。同时，英国保险公司Admiral刚刚推出了Veygo，后者让使用汽车的非车主能够为自己投保。
For Mr Bowles, however, the problem was residential home insurance policies, which were all designed for long-term residents or landlords. None of them was designed for properties that were sometimes lived in, and sometimes rented out.
然而，对鲍尔斯来说，问题在于住宅保险条款，这些条款本来都是为长期居民或房东设计的。它们没有一个是为那些有时自住、有时出租的房产设计的。
Mr Bowles now runs Guardhog, one of a number of companies trying to fill that gap. Guardhog’s home insurance is an add-on to traditional policies, covering the homeowner during periods when the property is let out.
鲍尔斯现在经营着Guardhog，后者是试图填补这一市场空白的众多公司之一。Guardhog推出的住宅保险是对传统保单的补充，对房主的保障涵盖房屋出租期间。
“The idea is that we offer on-demand cover to take the uncertainty out of people [renting out] their homes. Insurance has been a big barrier that puts people off,” he said.
他说：“基本思路是，我们按需提供保障，消灭(出租)房屋所蕴含的不确定性。保险一直是阻碍人们出租的一大因素。”
Property and car hire are not the only areas insurers are targeting. Others have developed policies for people who want to rent out their possessions or even their pets, or for people who want to earn some extra income with freelance jobs.
保险公司的目标不只是房产和汽车租赁。其他保险公司为那些想出租自己物品(甚至是宠物)的人，或者为那些希望通过自由职业赚取额外收入的人设计了保单。
Tapoly, a start-up, is about to start offering insurance for freelance workers. Founder Janthana Kaenprakhamroy says: “They only work part-time, or only need work-related insurance for a subset of their contracts, yet the only products available to them are annual policies.”
初创企业Tapoly即将开始为自由职业者提供保险。其创始人简瑟娜•卡恩普拉克哈姆罗伊(Janthana Kaenprakhamroy)表示：“他们只是兼职工作，或者只需要作为用工合同一部分的与工作有关的保险，但市面上可以买到的只有年度保单。”
