NU boss says other insurers will follow, and urges brokers to "adapt to change"
All motor insurers will eventually drop the 'driving other cars' (DOC) facility from fully comprehensive policies, Norwich Union (NU) has predicted.
According to NU managing director of general insurance Mark Hodges, the issue is market-wide and other insurers will follow NU's lead.
"It will happen. The whole industry is committed to the Greenaway proposals to eradicate uninsured driving. I understand brokers are not happy, but it is about adapting to change," Hodges said.
He added that the challenge will be to "offer alternatives to the customer" and said that his meetings with the ABI and Biba "show they are committed to making changes too".
Hodges said that there were no plans for any further NU staff cuts following the merger with the RAC - though last week the RAC said it was moving a further 200 call centre jobs to India.
Responding to brokers' concerns that NU's service has suffered because of the use of Indian call centres, he said: "The feedback from customers concerning our Indian call centres has been impressive. We have found that Indian operations perform as well as UK quotas.
"Aviva has implemented extensive risk management exercises to make sure quality service is upheld."
Hodges said he was optimistic that the specialist SME insurance pilot, 4Tune, in conjunction with broker Alexander Forbes, would be successful.
"We are waiting to see the final results from the pilot but so far we are happy with the operation. We will then decide whether we take this concept further with other brokers."
Internally NU is hoping for "a soft landing" from the cycle and Hodges believes the current cycle is about "over-corrections".
"My mission is quite boring - to sustain our growth, keep things consistent and keep the continuity," Hodges said.
