NOW, ROADSIDE SERVICES FROM MOTOR INSURERS

Insurance companies will soon be able to offer value-added services such as roadside assistance to motor insurance policyholders. Spain’s Mapfre Group, which provides infrastructure support to insurers providing motor assist programmes worldwide, is setting up shop in India. Mapfre is seeing a big opportunity in India after insurers get complete freedom to design insurance policies from April ‘09. At present, insurers cannot provide wider than the standard motor insurance cover although they are free to set prices. “We are in advanced stages of talks with various insurers and corporates, and will be announcing our partnerships within the next two weeks,” said Mapfre Asistencia chairman Rafael Senen Garcia.Globally, the firm has tie-ups with insurance firms like Allianz, AIG, AXA, Royal & Sunalliance and Genrali, all of which have non-life insurance operations in India. At present, Mapfre Asistencia is present in the country in the form of a fully-owned subsidiary — India Assistance. “We have already developed a network of more than 1,000 service points in 36 major cities,” remarked India Assistance general manager Jose Luis Ortiz Castello. The company has invested $3 million to set up its operations here. India Assistance will launch itself with roadside assistance services, under which they will provide services for any kind of breakdown or accident. Customers need to dial the call centre numbers and report the problem, following which a suitable vendor will be notified and sent to the spot, to either fix it or to tow the car away. In case of a serious problem, the company will even provide the customer with a replacement car.The company will take care of all the relevant processes while the claims will be taken care of by the concerned insurer, Mr Garcia explained. India Assistance aims to tie up with more than 3,000 service providers for its roadside assistance services. The company will offer these services to insurers, who have the option of coupling it with their motor-insurance products as a value add. The services will also be offered to other corporates who wish to offer it to their employees as well as automobile companies. “As we are entering the detariffed and deregulated environment, insurance companies will be able to offer more value adds to their customers, apart from a wider range of cover,” added Mr Garcia. According to him, such services will enable the insurer to stay in touch with the client on a more regular basis while the customer will profit from round-the-clock assistance. Though Mr Garcia made it clear that Mapfre had no plans of entering India as an insurer just yet, he did not rule out the possibility of setting up shop here at a later date. “Mapfre has always worked as a majority partner, and the regulatory environments in India does not help much,” he said – www.economictimes.com