MUMBAI:
The first of its kind, long term two wheeler insurance launched by ICICI Lombard, one of India’s leading General Insurance companies, has crossed the 500,000 plus policy mark.
ICICI Lombard was among the first companies to have launched the product in India. The product allows two wheeler owners to purchase a policy with a longer duration cover of two or three years instead of the
conventional annual renewal duration.
The milestone achieved in the very first year of product launch proves that an innovative yet simple product can go a long way in reinvigorating a category. To understand the customer response in detail, the Company conducted a comprehensive research with over 900 customers who had purchased the product.
The findings reveal that 90% of customers are satisfied with their purchase. A whopping 94% would recommend the product to others. Separately, 80% customers believed that people who had hitherto not renewed their insurance would now do so given the long term duration benefit.
The customer feedback revealed that 51% would want to buy 3 year duration policy, when their existing policy tenure ended. Further, 1 out of 4 customers in fact wanted a two-wheeler insurance with an even longer duration i.e. 4 or 5 years. The positive response is not limited to two wheeler insurance, 4 out of 5 customers would be interested in longer duration cover in other segments such as Health and Car insurance.
Speaking on the occasion, Bhargav Dasgupta, MD & CEO, ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company Ltd. said, We are excited to have achieved this milestone of 5 lakh policies in the first year of launch of the Long Term Two Wheeler Insurance product. I am sure that this innovative yet simple product backed by our distribution muscle and digital prowess will significantly address the issue of 60-70% two wheelers currently plying on roads without insurance.
Being an industry leader, we shall continue to lead the curve in terms of introducing innovative solutions for the benefit of Indian consumers”.
Delving into the reasons why customers preferred a longer duration two wheeler policy, customer feedback showed that 71% customers had liked the one time premium payment feature that allowed them to stay worry free for two–three years. In fact, 77% customers had thought of renewing their two wheeler insurance given the risk of vehicle theft but were deterred by the hassle of annual renewal.
Commenting on the occasion, Amitabh Jain, Head – Motor, Underwriting & Claims, says, “While evaluating a new two wheeler insurance proposition, we decided to rethink the entire product construct which led to the introduction of this one of its kind long term policy. To make the proposition stronger we decided to offer two years and three years tenure. Further, we set up an unconventional distribution network by tying up with petrol pumps and leveraged technology to print the policy on the spot and present it to the customer. We invested in new age channels i.e. online, social and mobile to reach out to these audiences and actively used platforms like facebook, twitter to communicate the product benefits. This holistic approach has gone a long way in this product crossing new milestones in non-life insurance segment“.
ICICI Lombard launched the Long Term Two Wheeler insurance in April 2015. The new product introduction was complemented by identifying unconventional channels e.g. petrol pumps for
distribution of the policy. At the same time, the Company deployed mobile technology by installing mobile printers at petrol pumps so that a long term two wheeler insurance policy could be issued along with the policy document right at the petrol pump when the customer was refueling her vehicle.
