I would like to know how much the board of the General Insurance Standards Council knows about travel and how they come to be chosen to be members.
Let’s take a few names and the organisations they work for. We have a Christopher McKee of Direct Line Insurance, we have Michael Pendle of Abbey National General Insurance, George Lowe of Automobile Insurance Services and Robert Newton of the CGU.
With the best will in the world, can we be sure these enormous organisations want travel insurance to be sold through the travel trade or would they prefer it to be sold direct to the public? Is there anyone on this board who represents our interests?
No matter how independent and impartial Christopher McKee may be, he still represents Direct Line and we all know what Direct Line has set out to do. How many banks do we know that are selling travel insurance to their customers? How impartial and understanding of our problems will Michael Pendle, therefore, be? The CGU too has a lot of direct sell irons in the fire and the AA will hardly want an agent or tour operator competing with it.
So, can someone explain to me how we are going to get a fair hearing?
Let’s take it a step further. How will the person at the other end of the phone at Direct Line Insurance ever be qualified to sell the correct policy that will suit a client booking a Sunvil holiday?
What do they know about our own policy to compare with theirs? Do they understand double-touch flights, the fact we tailor our delay cover to match our charter/scheduled airline mix, the collision damage waiver policy we include with our long-haul flydrives, our no excess requirement?
No amount of training will ever prevent they from mis-selling, from giving wrong advice.
We know more about our policy and how it relates to our holidays than anyone else in the insurance business, other than the broker who placed it for us. We don’t need training and I would rather a travel agent who understands our industry sell the client an alternative rather than an organisation that is unrelated to travel.
In fact, I understand the GISC knows so little about travel insurance that it didn’t even realise a client was covered by the policy once a confirmation had been issued, even if the premium was never paid to the insurance company/broker by the agent or tour operator.
So, what understanding are we likely to get? Does the GISC board realise what a blow to the small travel agent any increase in insurance administration would mean?
If the agent’s/ tour operator’s broker or insurance company already covers the financial implications of the non-payment of premiums by the agent/operator and is willing to continue to do so, then what risk is there to the client?
It seems only large organisations are represented on the GISC board and their interests will never be ours. Can anyone put their hand on their heart and swear that these big companies, increasingly selling direct, can do the job better than us?
After all do the large operators or the integrated multiple chains give a better service to the client than the rest of us? You know the answer as well as I do.