The New Personal Auto Marketplace

Hello folks!

The Commissioner spoke at our board of directors meeting the other day, and it got me thinking about a whole bunch of personal auto issues. Commissioner Burnes said 2008 won't be anything like 1977. I sure hope she's right.

The first thing that struck me is that there are things that independent agents need to do NOW to be sure they are ready to compete in the new marketplace. Even though the competitive regulations are still in draft form, agents should be talking about and influencing how their companies will distribute their rates in a new competitive marketplace.

Picture this ... on April 1, 2008, a new applicant comes into your office.  You have four personal auto companies in your office. One company has set up a slick website where you log in to get a quote. The second company has provided you with its own proprietary rating software package. The remaining companies have provided their rates and underwriting criteria to your auto rating software vendor or agency management system.

Will you visit Company A's website, enter all of the client information, and get a quote; then boot up Company B's proprietary software, enter all of the client information, and get a quote; or will you enter the information once into your rating software or agency management system to get a comparative quote from Companies C & D and store that data directly into your agency management system?

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out which option an independent agent will choose. One message that needs to come through LOUD AND CLEAR is that independent agents will do business with the companies that make it easy to do business with them. After all, your CSRs barely have enough time to do things once … never mind three or four times!

The need for ease of doing business doesn’t end with the quote. You need to make your companies understand that they need to make EVERYTHING easy if they want to get or keep your business. That means that quoting, billing inquiries, endorsements, claims reporting and policy inquiries must be seamless, smooth … EASY!

But, don’t wait until March 31st to discuss this with your companies. DO IT TODAY! Companies are determining how they will do business in a new competitive marketplace, and they need your input NOW.

Donna M. McKenna
MAIA Vice President of Communications