In just a single year, Rickmansworth insurance broker, Christopher Trigg’s private motor book has moved from a loss making burden into a highly profitable concern.
The dramatic transformation was achieved simply by passing full responsibility for administering its motor business to Equity Insurance Partnerships’ transfer facility.
The story begins at a BIBA conference in 2010, when Christopher Trigg director, Dominic Trigg, met with EIP’s broker transfers manager, Steve Young. They had arranged to discuss transferring Christopher Trigg’s 500 motor policies, following the realisation that escalating administration costs would further exacerbate the £5,000 loss the motor business had experienced in the previous financial year.
Founded in 1973, Christopher Trigg Insurance Brokers has expanded steadily by offering its clients a mixture of commercial and personal lines cover backed up by quality service delivered by a team of specialists. Since transferring its motor book to EIP, the company has seen its household business increase by 40%.
Christopher Trigg’s commercial clients – accounting for approximately 80% of its business, are predominantly from the property, engineering and construction sectors. It is also well known as one of the UK’s leading specialists in the provision of insurance for Chinese restaurants.
Dominic Trigg has overseen its expansion during recent times, having joined the family business his father established some 20 years ago.
“We realised running our private motor book was taking a lot of time and effort for no return,” says Dominic, adding: “it was abundantly clear something needed to be done, but we couldn’t simply refuse to insure our loyal clients’ cars; some of them had been with us for more than 20 years.”
Steve Young suggested Christopher Trigg consider transferring its entire motor insurance business into EIP’s care, effectively passing the book into the hands of a specialist that would handle the entire process. Christopher Trigg transferred 500 motor policies worth around £360,000 into EIP’s charge. A year later the move has saved £25,000 in staff costs and a further £4,000 in IT-related expenditure, converting the previous £5,000 loss in to a £29,000 profit.
The transfer process itself was straightforward and created breathing space for a team under pressure from a backlog of administrative tasks which had built up over time.
“Our initial concern about transferring the motor book was it might change the ethos of our business,” continues Dominic, “Also, would we upset our commercial and household customers?
“In fact the opposite was true. From an administration point of view, the transfer was seamless and painless. It allows the brokerage to concentrate on what it does best – develop successful new commercial business. I think we only lost one customer at the time.
“From a cultural point of view, employee motivation is improving which leads to greater efficiency, renewed enthusiasm and heightened productivity, so we can service and grow our customers more successfully. In fact the staff thought it was Christmas Day when I discussed the potential benefits of transferring our motor book. They knew what we weren’t making, in terms of profit and were delighted at the prospect of having the drudge removed from the work.
“Once we’d made the decision to transfer our private motor book to EIP, we knew it was the obvious one to make. It’s fully geared up to handle any size of transfer, taking great pains to maintain the personality of our business, and I like that. EIP is a unique combination of fine traditional principles and modern day technology.”
Christopher Trigg’s commercial business has expanded as a direct consequence of transferring its personal motor book to EIP. Since the transfer, its broking team has been able to place added focus on launching a unique product for the Chinese restaurant sector, through establishing a close relationship with a consortium of specialist brokers and accountants with more than 1,400 restaurants on cover.
“The benefits gained from transferring our motor book to EIP are directly improving our bottom line and are expected to have a significant impact on future profitability,” adds Dominic. “Moreover, we have generated a vigorous attitude toward growing this business and no longer feel the squeeze in a highly competitive market where many brokers are struggling.
“Today we enjoy a great dialogue with EIP’s transfers team; they take a real hands on approach to running our book which is very important to everyone at Christopher Trigg. All our clients were notified of the changes with a minimum of 24 days notice prior to renewal and EIP quoted every transfer customer with similar cover and at a lower premium.
“Not only are we maintaining motor insurance premium income with the whole cost element taken out of the process, we’ve gone from a £5,000 loss to a nice £29,000 profit without having to do any extra work.”