The reveal

Ashley Cole is not one to shirk challenges. While most of us are comfortable at the back of the room in the crowd, he is willing to be there up on stage and under the spotlight – literally.

Ashley has entertained audiences of 1,000 playing trumpet in a Beautiful South and Housemartins tribute band. Today, however, he is playing a different tune as the composer of Hiscox’s long-awaited entry into the higher net worth (HNW) motor arena.

Ashley was recruited last summer to become Head of Motor, joining from Chubb where he held a similar role. His brief has been to develop a compelling package to entice brokers into the motor market. The cover he devised is being rolled out with a test group of 30 brokers, before a full launch in July.

While most of the target market will own at least one prestige vehicle, Ashley stresses that this is not only insurance for high-value luxury marques and performance vehicles. He says: “It’s a product for those who value quality over price, want peace of mind and the ultimate protection for their vehicles and their family. That is why we’re opening this up to all our existing 506 and 606 household customers, as well as new customers who wish to insure two or more vehicles.” He is keen to bring all household vehicles under the same umbrella, including motorbikes, horseboxes and motor homes.

The Hiscox policy contains features that brokers have come to expect with HNW motor insurance, such as agreed values for vehicles and comprehensive cover for driving any vehicle. But Ashley has tried to take the concept further by introducing new ‘lifestyle’ features such as cover for ID fraud. “That’s usually associated with household cover, but what happens if you get your bags stolen from the car and your household policy doesn’t respond?” he says. “There is also cover for loss of driving licence, which would be of use when the number of penalty points is exceeded.”

The policy has been run through the Defaqto scoring process and has come out with the top score in the HNW market. “If a broker can comfortably say to the client: ‘It has the highest score; it is the best policy’, then we’re halfway there,” says Ashley.

Great cover, however, counts for little if it’s not delivered effectively when a customer has a claim. Ashley says: “We’ve spoken to brokers a lot about our ideas and the message was: ‘We’ve had floods and Hiscox has been absolutely phenomenal. The challenge is to replicate that kind of claims service on motor.’ They have laid down the gauntlet to us.”

This means taking the lead in handling the claim from the start. “Our customers don’t have time to sit on the phone worrying about a claim,” says Ashley. “We want to be proactive, to be the ones phoning to tell them how quickly their car is being repaired.”

He also wants Hiscox to have a flexible approach to claims. “A lot of companies think the best way to settle a claim is to throw money at the customer. We’re looking to engage the customer in the process.

“Take the example of someone who already has six cars. They might not need a courtesy car if a car is off the road, so let’s not throw one at them – let’s ask. If they don’t need a courtesy car, maybe we can waive their excess, or pay something for loss of use.”

Ashley sees this policy as providing a springboard back into the motor market for some existing Hiscox brokers. “A lot of the brokers we work with don’t do motor, or did motor but don’t any more,” he says. “They found it high maintenance for little reward. I’ve thought about what can we do to bring them back, to make it easier for the broker to write business.

“For example, we have a low paper-chase solution, with all documentation provided by email. We also believe that this product gives the broker greater average premiums and far greater average returns. We anticipate an average premium of £1,200 to £1,300 per car and we know that our target market has about two and a half cars per household, so that’s an average premium of, say, £3,250.”

Ashley fell into insurance after graduating. “It was a recession, there were few jobs around and a friend suggested broking,” he says. After four years with the A-Plan Group, he switched to underwriting. “I had a vision of wanting to be a product owner, the person whose name is on the cover note.”

A closer look at the motor market

Prestige cars still attract the headlines and the crowds. At the top end there are waiting lists for sought-after models. A 205mph Ferrari 599GTB means a two-year wait and there is a 12-month wait for the £40,000 British V6 Morgan Roadster.

But the reality of the sales figures paints a mixed picture. Data from the automotive trade body the SMMT shows that Bentley sold 2,100 cars in 2007, up ten per cent on the previous year, while Land Rover saw an eight per cent increase in sales. But Aston Martin registered 2,190 cars – down five per cent on 2006 – and Jaguar and Daimler sales were 19 per cent lower.

Prestige sales figures from January this year are sobering.

The credit crunch has become the car crunch, with Aston Martin and Bentley sales down 45 per cent on 2007, and Lexus, Jeep and Porsche all between 15 and 20 per cent lower.

The nature of the market will also evolve. Higher fuel prices and environmental charges are denting the sales of 4x4s. London residents will now face a £6,000 yearly bill to drive powerful, high-emissions cars into the congestion zone. Manufacturers such as Lexus are already selling hybrid models.

Ashley remains upbeat. He says: “There will always be a market for prestige cars. There will always be a flashier, better looking, more fashionable and more expensive vehicle – even if it is eventually an electric or LPG vehicle.”

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