The View from The Niagara Guide

New things in Niagara Business, Specials, Sales etc. and Other Observations

Can't or Won't?

Mark Kawabe - Thursday, April 30, 2015

Maybe, dear reader, you read the fine print on contracts and agreements. If so, I'll wager you're in the minority of people who do. I recently read my auto insurance policy renewal offer and found I was being charged a 5% surcharge for a minor traffic violation.

Five percent's not much, but what surprised me was that the infraction was not related to unsafe driving. In 2012 I had borrowed a relative's car for a short in-city trip and was pulled over by the police. My elderly relative had mistakenly failed to renew his plates on time. The keen-eyed officer noticed this so pulled me over and asked for my license, ownership and insurance. I didn't have the last two documents, so promptly received two tickets: one for the expired plate and the other for failure to produce proof of insurance.

Since these weren't moving violations, I didn't give them any thought when my policy renewed. It was a surprise to see it on my policy renewal offer.

When I called my insurance agent to inquire about having the surcharge removed, the representative seemed to think it would be a no-brainer. She called the underwriter to make the request. To her surprise and mine, the underwriter said the surcharge couldn't be removed as the conviction was for an offense under the Highway Traffic Act.

After I got off the phone, I wondered how much I had spent with my insurance company over the years. I calculated the amount to be at least $30,000 over the past 15 years.I hadn't had any other tickets for my driving, nor had I had any at-fault collisions. From my perspective, I didn't think it reasonable to pay extra for what amounted to a paperwork violation. So, I called back and asked my insurance representative about my claim history.

That led to her making a speedy phone call back to the underwriter. After a while, my representative called me back saying the underwriter had begrudgingly agreed to waive the surcharge. She also passed along a message from the underwriter who said I should have fought the tickets at the time instead of asking for the surcharge to be removed. Someone wanted to have the last word, I guess.

What surprised me about this whole experience is how easy it would have been to approve the removal of the surcharge on the first call. Instead, it took me feeling unfairly treated and interested in shopping around for a new insurance company to convince an underwriter to eliminate the surcharge. I am also left feeling that perhaps my insurance company won't help me in future when I do need them. Not because they CAN'T, but because they just won't want to.

The underwriter HAD THE ABILITY to remove the surcharge. She didn't WANT to. When you CAN help a client, don't you think you SHOULD? After all, who are you in business to serve? When you're in business to serve yourself, you're in the wrong business. Today, everything is about the customer's experience. Doing your utmost to provide the best customer experience possible is what keeps you in business and makes your business grow.

If you won't help your clients, someone else will.




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