How long have you been at ERS?
I have been at ERS for 4 years. I am currently a product manager in Prestige but prior to that I was focused more on the distress book within the business. My tendency is to lean towards quite niche roles that challenge me – it’s always what I have done throughout my career in insurance which has been around 8 years.
Tell us about your key responsibilities?
My role as product manager means I ultimately have responsibility for the development and financial performance of the Prestige proposition, but what that means in reality is that I look after our dedicated team of specialist underwriters, understanding our target market and their needs, and make sure our product is appropriate for our customers. My team are busy liaising with our brokers to ensure they understand our appetite and product, and making sure we are their chosen market for Prestige business – this could be due to our service, our product offering or the relationships with our underwriters. Ultimately, in a business like ERS, specialism is at the heart of the business so it’s all about ensuring that we are delivering what we set out to achieve, consistently.
What does a typical day in your world look like?
I’m an early bird so I often like to be in the office early and prepare for the day ahead. What I love about my role is that every day is different. Some days I will be deep within an array of spreadsheets looking at our performance reports, other days I like to be out with our brokers and customers understanding what is important to them and what makes them tick. A particular highlight since starting my role at ERS has been getting closer to some of the specialist risks we are being presented, ranging from some ultra-high value supercars through to household names and personalities – whether they are playing for premiership football teams or coupling up on love island.
What are the biggest challenges in your role?
The biggest challenge I think is keeping up with new vehicle releases and technology – particularly when it comes to theft. The vehicles we insure are highly desirable and therefore often targeted for theft. We are continually coming up with new ways to protect ourselves against vehicles being stolen, and often find that the old school measures are still the best!
The most predominantly stolen vehicles in the UK are Range Rovers. A lot of sports and entertainment personalities have them. They’re being stolen because they’re keyless cars and we are seeing a huge rise in theft of keyless cars. Thieves can unlock the vehicle while the keys are still in the house! Interestingly, it’s the old school measures that can help prevent new technology theft – like a steering lock on the steering wheel – is a big deterrent. Faraday bags are also something we recommend – they block the transmission from the key. Or worst come to worst - put the keys in the fridge – that works too!
Another challenge is looking at and insuring such a range of beautiful supercars, and then going home to my Ford Fiesta!
Tell us about some of the most eyebrow-raising vehicles insured during the year? We really do see a mixture of risks and vehicles presented to us, and it’s not always the people you expect that drive particular vehicles. For example, we could see a well-known sportsman or celebrity driving a standard everyday vehicle but be presented with a risk for a businessman/woman who has a vehicle worth more than most people’s homes.
We have insured a number of high value Aston Martin Vulcans for track days and we recently picked up a Porsche 918 Spyder valued at 1.25m. We’ve also just renewed a McLaren P1 (£1.6m value) – these are the sorts of risks that can keep you up at night! We have written a number of high net worth clients who have large collections, so they might have a couple of supercars, a few classic cars for the weekend along with a number of everyday vehicles – it’s a hard life for some!
We do have some very high profile vehicles and policyholders on cover whose names we cannot disclose, what we can reveal however is that the team and I do keep an eye on the news to make sure they are behaving appropriately!
From a regional perspective, where are the biggest Prestige opportunities likely to come?
We deal with brokers across the country and our catchment is well spread across the UK. We recently appointed Jim Neild to provide further support in the North due to ERS being mainly a Southern base. As the team are growing, we will look to add more field UW’s to cope with demand and sustain our service levels and proposition.
We expect to see more opportunity coming out of short-term events, following the increasing amount of promotion being done. Tours and rallies are becoming increasingly popular, and it is not uncommon for hundreds of thousands of supercar enthusiasts to enter for a few hundred spaces. It is clear there is opportunity nationwide, but it is our job to ensure we have our specialist underwriters available and accessible to provide a solution for all of it.
Tell us about some of the major trends you’re seeing in the Prestige space going into 2019?
As with the rest of the industry, there is a huge increase in high end electric cars for example Bentley’s EV, which is their first purely electric model or the Porsche Taycan which is set to rival the Tesla Model S. As the luxury goods market continues to grow year on year, we do see certain vehicles being considered as investments.
A group that we are starting to see influencing the market are YouTubers and influencers who have a high number of followers and create content around beautiful supercars. These are the new celebrities taking the stage and they are not only purchasing their own cars, but they are testing out and recommending the newest models on the market, influencing which are the most popular vehicles of the year.
2019 will be a very exciting year for prestige, and as tech continues to evolve and the manufacturers develop more unique and interesting vehicles, we’ll have more stories to tell. Prestige is really at the heart of what ERS is about and we believe there is great growth opportunity, working with existing and new broker partners.
We are the UK's largest specialist motor insurer with an A+ rating from Lloyds.
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Contact prestige@ers.com | sport-entertainment@ers.com | 0333 241 2445
