All motorists know the pain of having to shop around for car insurance. However, the new Belgian owner of Esure believes we can avoid that.
Hans De Cuyper, the chief executive of Ageas, pledged to put a new focus on keeping customers happy after completing the £1.3 billion takeover of Esure from private equity owners Bain Capital.
“It will become wider than just collecting premiums and settling a claim,” he said. The takeover means that Ageas, listed in Brussels, is the third-largest UK insurer for cars and homes behind FTSE 100 giants Aviva and Admiral.
De Cuyper pointed to the differences in the markets. In Britain, he said, customers stayed with an insurer for one to three years “jumping from company to company” for the best price. In Belgium customers tend to stick with the same company for life.
He said this did not mean Ageas would stop competing on price but “we need to find a fair balance. I will look at how to improve customer retention”.
He also suggested that other Belgian practices could make car insurance better. De Cuyper cited its centralised system to pay claims, by which customers receive payments before insurers agree on blame. In Britain, insurers do not pay out until they agree with each other.
Ageas already sells insurance under its own name and now owns the stable of Esure brands, which includes Sheila’s Wheels and First Alternative. It also owns the Saga insurance business.
Esure brands include Sheila’s Wheels, First Alternative and Saga insurance
ALAMY
De Cuyper said no decision had been made about jobs after the chief executive and finance director of Esure left last week.
Esure employs more than 1,100 people while Ageas employs 2,500 across four offices in the UK, including its head office in Eastleigh, Hampshire. It has seven million customers in the UK.
De Cuyper hinted that Esure could review its working from home arrangements for staff.
He said Britain was the only one of 14 countries where it operates that some staff could work from home all the time.
“The question I have put on the table: will we continue that way? It is very sensitive, we do that carefully and listen to all our employees,” he said.
Ageas bought Esure after failing to take over Direct Line, which is now owned by Aviva.
Based in New York, Stephen Freeman is a Senior Editor at Trending Insurance News. Previously he has worked for Forbes and The Huffington Post. Steven is a graduate of Risk Management at the University of New York.