No. 129, March 26th, 2009
Click here to subscribe!
Click here to unsubscribe!
|
|
XPRIMM
News - THE ROMANIAN INSURANCE MARKET NEWSLETTER No. 129, March 26th, 2009 Click here to subscribe! Click here to unsubscribe! |
| Powered by Media XPRIMM | |
| MENU: EDITORIAL | INTERVIEW | TOP PRESS | CEE, RUSSIA&CIS | FINANCIAL NEWS | EVENTS | |
| |
|
| EDITORIAL |
|
In the spring of 2004, Ploiesti became the first destination outside the Capital for the "Where Do I Insure Myself?" National Programme. Today, every county in the country has been visited at least twice, and the "Insurance Day" Conferences reached their 30th edition. We are still in spring, but in 2009, and Media XPRIMM's trust in the potential of the insurance markets outside Bucharest will acquire a new dimension - that of granting the first Regional Awards for insurers and brokers in the country. Along with the already traditional trophies, they will reward performance, efficiency and quality in the Romanian insurance industry - county level. The thousands of kilometers we have traveled during these five years and the hundreds of meetings have helped us appreciate and know you better. That is why, at the Palace of Parliament, we have prepared a brand new show by XPRIMM, in which YOU will be the stars, you - the insurers and brokers from all across the country! On the 26th of March you are our guests at the Insurance Market Awards Gala! For details, visit www.xprimm.ro/premii2009. by alex.rosca@mxp.ro |
Insurance
PROFILE Review Click here to order! 
 
 |
 
|
|
|
| INTERVIEW |
|
Gheorghe AXINTE: Since we entered the market in October 2005, we managed to integrate ourselves in Romania because we started in an environment with a great potential where, through the collaboration with ALLIANZ-TIRIAC and with the DACIA Renault Nissan Group, we were able to inform other insurers and the repair shops how the AUDATEX application functions and what are the advantages of using it. Despite a great resistance from repairers and a lack of confidence in the success of the project shown by some insurers, our market position has considerably improved in the second year of our existence, by signing contracts with ASIBAN, BCR Asigurari and GENERALI on one hand, and with nearly 100 repair shops, on the other hand. We are currently collaborating with eight of the top ten Romanian insurers and, also, with many of the other ones present on the market. We have collaborations with a number of minimum 10 to 15 repair shops in each county and there are even some areas where we collaborate with over 30 of them. In Bucharest we have over 200 contracts. It is important for us that we receive daily support requests from the repairers, and that is due to the continuing growth in the number of insurers who become our customers, as well as to the better and better reputation our company has on the Romanian market. XPRIMM: What does the AUDATEX system consist of and how does it come between an insurance company and the repair shops? G.A.: AUDATEX holds an on-line database that can be accessed both from the office and from the field, and with its help the user can simulate and estimate a repair. Firstly, the type of vehicle that is damaged is identified, manually or automatically, depending on the number of the chassis, the latter service being available primarily for vehicles manufactured in Germany and, by extension, for the time being, for the producers in France. Secondly, the claims inspector or the service representative marks the car parts that were damaged, chooses the technical solutions and he obtains, as an answer from the system, an estimation of the repair that contains the parts that are to be replaced. Also, the original codes, their prices that are recommended by the producer or the importer of the brand (with coverage for over 80% of the vehicles in Romania), the necessary repair time recommended by the producer, the correspondent codes of operations and, of course, the costs of painting are obtained. Thus, one can prepare an estimated invoice, before the start of the repair, or even the final estimate, after the completion, which is set as a common standard and which represents the actual essence of our existence. XPRIMM: What is the main difference between the old way of collaborating between companies and repair shops and the one available through the AUDATEX system? G.A.: Firstly, when we entered the market, the times for repair were arbitrarily defined, often negotiated between insurers and repairer, regardless of the correspondent codes of operations from the producers' documentation. By mediating the relationship between insurers and services, we had the opportunity to standardize the process and to get a correct sum paid as compensation. As an immediate consequence, independent services became very receptive to our system, and large networks have started to use more often the AUDATEX calculations. Last but not least, we are trying to use, as much as possible the electronic transfer of information between partners, including the one of the records of claims, with the declaired purpose to reduce financial data blockage due to bureaucracy and to excessive use of paper as a data support. XPRIMM: Which is the most significant problem that you are facing at this moment? G.A.: The most important problem is the repair estimate itself, where its three components (labor, spare parts and painting) are a continuing topic of dispute. Some of the repair units use the original software of the producers, but those are permisive, in the sense that operations can be mentioned several times in the repair estimate. Thus, it is all about the fairness of the person writing the estimate. The AUDATEX way of making the estimates eliminates common times and it does not allow the duplication of operations. Also, there is a dispute between repairers and insurers because of the price of spare parts, sometimes not justified, and the AUDATEX solution is a reference in instrumenting compensations by promoting the maximum price recommended by importers for the Romanian market. The third component of the estimate, the painting part, creates disputes mainly due to accounting regulations in force, by which the repair units are required to have quantitative justification for each material used, unlike the AUDATEX way of calculation, used all around the world, based on a price of materials per surface unit, which leads to total costs without details. XPRIMM: Which are, at this time, your main competitors on the Romanian market and which are the differentiating elements for the services you provide? G.A.: The competitors on the Romanian market are those traditionally present on the foreign markets: EUROTAX and D.A.T. The main difference between the systems is given by the fact that the solutions offered by us are represented by an on-line program, which gives us speed in terms of updates, short time for usage and a high degree of accessibility. It is very important that it can be accessed from anywhere, with a username and a password. Another advantage is that all the data is stored on our servers, they do not occupy the space of the companies and reports can be generated directly from the system. The models of vehicles are frequently updated, with all necessary details to fully instrument any type of claim. With the electronic communication program, the repairers and the insurers can transmit the information in real time, the number of mistakes is minimized and the internal flow of information of each of the parties becomes more efficient. By using such a service, you can, at least theoretically, pay the compensation on the same day. Another difference between us and the competitors (consequence of the on-line character of the application and of the availability of the history at any time) is given by the possibility of simulating and estimating possible future claims to be paid and average claims. This way, the system comes to meet the demands of the actuarial departments of the insurance companies. Last but not least, the database of AUDATEX contains the lists of prices for spare parts, provided by importers, for over 80% of the cars sold in Romania, as I have mentioned earlier. XPRIMM: It is clear that Romania is a market with a very large number of models of vehicles in circulation. How well is this range covered by the AUDATEX system? G.A.: At this time, our database contains nearly all the models on the Romanian market, except some types of trucks and motorcycles that are not found in the international database, either. The latest dynamics of the motor market makes it more and more difficult for us to maintain the database, but we can say that we are fast in this matter, because the update is done at least once a month for all models that are released, including facelifts for the existing models. Although costs for procuring the technical data and the original documentation for repair are relatively high, and despite the fact that the time of implementation of each new model in the program is considerable, we still register a real improvement in the relationship between AUDATEX and the car producers, in the sense that the number of contracts has increased and the producers will provide us all necessary data as soon as possible. XPRIMM: Referring to the current economic context, do you consider that poor sales of new vehicles in this period may influence the activity of AUDATEX? G.A.: I don't expect a decline of the turnover in Romania, as long as there still are potential clients, both insurers and repairers. We are likely to be affected by the amount of claims that will diminish in the conditions in which people no longer buy cars, but we will try to maintain the current level of development through the implementation of new products that will contribute to the increasing of the customer satisfaction level. Likewise, it mustn't be ignored the fact that the decreasing sales of new vehicles cause existing car fleet to age and it is possible that both individuals and companies that own car parks no longer consider opportune to insure them. XPRIMM: How would you describe the initiative of some companies on the market to launch Motor Hull policies which imply that, in case of damage, with the client's approval, second-hand spare parts will be used for the repair? G.A.: If the policy is transparent to both parties, this initiative is welcome, because it leads to reducing claims costs, but the client must be made aware of the risks. Abroad, these solutions are accepted, but difficulties arise when transparency is not promoted. For example, sustaining the repair on the clients' own behalf, which was tested and implemented in Romania for a period of time, based on the foreign experience, especially for older vehicles, was followed by the hilarious situations in which the client was trying to make savings from the amount received, that was not very big anyway. The consequences in such situations are immediately to be seen in the quality of repairs and in the safety of the traffic participants. But I must, once again, specify that it is highly important that the representative of the insurer explain to the client all the terms of the insurance, including the one in discussion, because, in fact, this does not really happen due to lack of time or even due to intended omissions. XPRIMM: What are the main objectives of AUDATEX Romania for 2009? G.A.: For the current year, we aim to strengthen the existing portfolio of clients, with a minimum retention rate of 90% and, why not, to increase it, as long as there is still uncovered potential. As I said, a lot of people looked at this business with suspicion because of the infrastructure, but I can say that all services that are working with AUDATEX have Internet connection and some of them have a network that works even better than the one of the insurers. Because our product has evolved significantly, the staff is and it will be periodically trained. We want to train the team, to make it able to face our expansion plan and to respond as soon as possible to all requests for technical support that we receive daily. It is more and more difficult to find the right people, whose preparation involves thorough motor and IT knowledge, as well as experience in insurance. I consider AUDATEX to be a very well structured system of information, that makes the repair process more efficient and that provides transparency for the collaboration between the two entities. |
|
  |
|
|
| TOP PRESS |
|
MUNICH Re, Strategic Partner of FIAR 2009 ASTRA-UNIQA, Main Partner of FIAR 2009 Insurers-brokers partnerships of EUR 650 million worth, in 2008 Tax incentives - an important stimulus for health insurance BCR Asigurari: Anti-crisis measures for "the year of renewals" BCR Asigurari de Viata changes name and logo and it discusses the
transfer of BCR Prudent pension fund ALICO's appeal to PZU and AXA sets the target on AIG Life CERTASIG continues its development, despite the effects of the
crisis ASTRA-UNIQA sees the beneficial effects of the crisis UNIQA wants to fully take over AGRAS CERTASIG has a new Reinsurance Manager UNIQA Asigurari, the new name of UNITA ASTRA discusses giving up the UNIQA logo
|
 |
|
|
|
|
| CEE, RUSSIA&CIS |
|
ALLIANZ Results in New Europe 5% growth for PZU in 2008; treasury and EUREKO negotiation failed UNIQA reports 16% premium growth for 2008 in Czech Republic Russian Travel Industry supports the compulsory travel insurance PZU interested in AIG assets |
|
|
|
|
| FINANCIAL NEWS |
|
Day 8: Explosive growth on the Stock Exchange. BRD sets a record Constructions in Romania hike 26% last year y/y to EUR 14.3 billion BPO industry recruiting at 10% of last year's business German carmaker AUDI pumps EUR 25 million this year to expand in
Romania |
|
|
|
| EVENTS | ||
|
|
|
THE EDITORIAL STAFF: |
 |
|
| XPRIMM
News - The Romanian Insurance Market Newsletter is best viewed with
an active Internet connection. Click here to subscribe! Click here to unsubscribe! |
|
| |
