FUTURE OF MOBILITY FOCUS
FUTURE OF MOBILITY FOCUS EUROPCAR NEW BRAND BLOCK Color gradient background
File: 20151645E Date: 7/10/2015 AC/DC validation : Client validation :
RENTALS REBORN
GARY SMITH In the 21st century, 24/7 ‘always-on’ culture, the focus is on providing an immensely convenient and cost-effective alternative to car ownership
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April 2017
FUTURE OF MOBILITY FOCUS
GARY SMITH EUROPCAR NEW BRAND BLOCK Color gradient background
File: 20151645E Date: 7/10/2015 AC/DC validation : Client validation :
Gary Smith spoke to Modern Claims about the way customer expectations of the vehicle rental sector have grown over time, and how technology could both disrupt and improve the process.
Q A
How have customer expectations of vehicle rental changed in the past few years, and what has influenced this?
Vehicle rental has always been about providing convenience, and that hasn’t really changed. What is changing are the reasons why people want to rent vehicles. It used to be the case that leisure car hire was mainly for the holiday or the trip away, etc. But for the private motorist, cost of car ownership is now a big issue, especially for urban dwellers. Vehicle rental provides an incredibly effective alternative, making it something that has become much more integral in day-to-day living. We did a study a couple of years ago which found that over half of motorists use their car for less than six hours a week. One in five said that they spend more than 20% of their monthly income in order to run their car. When you consider that they could be making an upfront investment of thousands of pounds, as well as the cost of insurance, servicing and maintenance, it doesn’t really make sense for infrequent car users to be owners. To service that sort of demand, the vehicle rental sector has had to change. In the 21st century, 24/7 ‘always-on’ culture, the focus is on providing an immensely convenient and cost-effective alternative to car ownership. Locations must be convenient for customers to access (or, even better, the car is brought to them) and they should have choice in terms of what can be hired and for how long, starting at just an hour. Hence the evolution of car use by the hour and car share alongside more traditional rental by the day, week or longer. At Europcar we have a network of locations putting our service within eight miles of most customers. We make the experience even more convenient for leisure customers with our Deliver & Collect service which, from just £5, brings the car to the customer’s front door. Focused on efficiency for our customers, there’s no having to sit in a traffic jam to get to the rental location. That’s actually a service our corporate customers have used for many years. We added it to our leisure offering a year or so ago and it has been incredibly well received, which tells us that consumers want convenience just as much as a good price. That is especially true where customers are accessing vehicle rental as part of their day-to-day mobility needs.
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How can the vehicle rental industry change in order to meet these expectations?
I believe the UK vehicle rental industry is one of the most proactive in the consumer marketplace. It is quick to adapt to changing customer needs and it has a track record of adopting emerging technologies to deliver the best possible customer service. We are also a sector that can deliver the best possible driving experience by accessing the latest motoring technology. But of course, we can’t stand still. So looking to the future, I think the businesses that will succeed in the sector will be those that adapt their proposition to the wider mobility needs of the customer, whether that is business or leisure. By that, I mean offering customers genuine choice to pick the mobility solution that works for each journey, encompassing
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In the 21st century, 24/7 ‘always-on’ culture, the focus is on providing an immensely convenient and cost-effective alternative to car ownership everything from daily rental to car use by the hour, taxi hire and even chauffeur drive. And connecting that to public transport networks, such as the way Europcar works with the UK railway network to make it easy for customers to pick up a car as they come off a train, in the same way they do for journeys by air.
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What does mobility mean for the insurance sector?
Replacement vehicle provision has always been a fundamental part of the motor claim. The policyholder rightly expects to be kept mobile. Traditionally, a courtesy vehicle was provided regardless of the policyholder’s circumstances, but does
April 2017
FUTURE OF MOBILITY FOCUS
EUROPCAR NEW BRAND BLOCK Color gradient background File: 20151645E Date: 7/10/2015 AC/DC validation : Client validation :
For those living in rural and remote locations, a personal vehicle is essential, but those living in towns and cities may actually prefer to simply be able to access a vehicle just when they need it Gary Smith Gary Smith joined Europcar UK, a subsidiary of Europcar Group, the European leader in vehicle rental services and a major player in mobility markets, in March 2012 as Finance Director, bringing with him extensive experience in the car rental industry. In June 2016 he was appointed as Managing Director, bringing with him a proven track record of successfully driving major projects to increase business profitability. Prior to his successful career at Europcar, Gary held a number of senior finance roles at other major car hire companies, providing him with a wealth of expertise and a deep understanding of the rental industry. Gary has considerable experience in operational and general management gained through his experience both in the UK and internationally.
that necessarily fit with what the customer needs and wants in today’s day and age? For those living in rural and remote locations, a personal vehicle is essential, but those living in towns and cities may actually prefer to simply be able to access a vehicle just when they need it, and at Europcar we are addressing this need. With new technologies giving policyholders access to vehicles via smartphone and membership cards, combined with a more receptive consumer attitude to the sharing economy, smart thinking insurers could be introducing a whole new dimension to the claims process. A multi-modal platform could even mean the insurer could provide access to a range of mobility solutions, including public transport, taxis and even motorbikes, rather than the all-or-nothing of car hire.
Q A
How will the customer’s relationship with the vehicle change following the introduction of autonomous technology?
Whilst a lot is being written about truly autonomous, driverless vehicles – cars that you can sit in and read the paper while you get from A to B – the reality is that much of today’s motoring technology is already connected and autonomous. Think about ABS, anti-collision and automatic parking systems; these are already technologies that put the car in the control, and motorists are already pretty comfortable with these technologies. Indeed, to coincide with a recent Connected and Autonomous Vehicle conference organised by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), a survey of 3,641 UK adults found that nearly six out of 10 (57%) believe connected and autonomous vehicles will improve their quality of life. Automatic braking and parking, and the ability of cars to self-diagnose faults, were cited by respondents as features most likely to reduce stress.
April 2017
I think there is already a level of acceptance amongst consumers that these technologies can bring benefits. How this might affect the attitude to vehicle ownership is still open for debate. The UK has a strong culture of car ownership, stronger than other European geographies, but we are already seeing attitudes change in response to financial pressures. It will, therefore, be interesting to see what influence access to driverless vehicles has in the future.
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What are the possible applications of data in the vehicle rental industry?
Data about vehicle usage is, unquestionably, vital for both vehicle rental providers and for our customers. The management information generated by our online booking portal for corporate users plays a key role in helping to refine business travel policies. The sector also learns from trends and patterns of vehicle usage to help shape future services. For the insurance sector our data is helping insurers understand how vehicles are used as part of the post-accident experience. Plus, data can be used to support any accidents or challenges that arise whilst the insurer’s customer is in the rental vehicle.
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What technologies might disrupt and/or improve the vehicle hire process for customers and for fleet managers in the near future?
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Of course anything that streamlines the vehicle hire experience is worth investing in. At Europcar, we have focused on all aspects of the process - from the initial reservation through to vehicle pick up and return as well as having insight into driver usage and behaviour – in the development of tools that improve efficiency and cost-effectiveness. For example, technology is used to improve the vehicle pick up and return experience. Through the Europcar booking system, rental staff can see bookings on corporate accounts and therefore streamline the customer experience, due to not needing to spend time on discussing upgrades, ancillary sales etc. For example, online check-in at Heathrow allows corporate travellers to bypass the normal counter and get on their way quicker. Tapping into new technology, we are also streamlining the car hire experience for business travellers. A business traveller using a hire car wants to have the same experience as if they were in their own car, or better. They need to be able to link their phone to Bluetooth for hands-free driving and enter their destination in the Sat Nav for the most direct journey. Europcar makes that possible with our ‘Business Ready’ vehicle group, which guarantees vehicles with Bluetooth and Sat Nav for stress free motorway driving. In an industry first, we have started installation of a new state of the art, high definition digital camera system at Heathrow Airport to further enhance the customer experience. By expediting the check-in and check-out process through the capture of full 360 degree digital footage of the vehicle as it enters/leaves the rental station, we can tackle the age-old issue of damage charges in a clear and transparent way.
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FUTURE OF MOBILITY FOCUS
EUROPCAR NEW BRAND BLOCK Color gradient background File: 20151645E Date: 7/10/2015 AC/DC validation : Client validation :
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Where in their supply chains can insurers place more emphasis in order to provide the best possible customer service for policyholders?
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The UK insurance industry rightly has a reputation for offering a high quality and highly competitive customer experience. Every outsourced service that supports the insurance proposition needs to match up to, and perhaps even exceed, the insurer’s own standards to maintain that reputation. Where I think there is room for improvement to enhance the customer experience is in using emerging technologies, especially app based tools, to enable greater collaboration between suppliers. Giving the customer, whether that is an insurer’s own policyholder or the not-at-fault third party, the ability to book appointments using approved bodyshops and authorised car hire providers will significantly enhance the customer experience, especially if they can also track progression of repairs. Creating a more empowered customer through tools that enable them to ‘self-serve’ could not only enhance the perception of the insurer service, but deliver some important cost benefits for the insurer. If the onus is put on the bodyshop and rental company to talk to each other, customer downtime is minimised. The need for intervention from the insurance company is also reduced, and that is surely a win-win. Of course, self-service will only work if the customer believes they are not being compromised. So picking the right partners who can empower that self-service is essential.
Q A
How can the rental industry help insurers manage credit hire issues?
The issue of basic hire rates is still something that needs greater transparency. How both sides of a claim calculate this for a replacement vehicle following an accident has long been regarded with suspicion. But I believe rental providers, like Europcar, who are not also credit hire operators (CHO) can play a valuable role in tackling this issue based on the wealth of data they hold. A Basic Hire Rate report can provide clarity for both insurers and credit hire operators.
Creating a more empowered customer through tools that enable them to ‘selfserve’ could not only enhance the perception of the insurer service, but deliver some important cost benefits for the insurer
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For the insurer it is fundamental in assessing cost. For the CHO it can be used to identify the position at which an insurer is likely to start its negotiation. If provided by an independent rental business that does not have a conflict of interest, it should accurately reflect the rate that an individual would have been quoted on the date of the accident, taking into consideration their circumstances (age, hire duration, vehicle group, location, etc.) as well as availability on that date.
Q A
How is the car hire industry working to make their fleets more environmentally friendly?
Vehicle rental companies that have access to the newest vehicles coming onto the market not only provide their customers with a great driving experience, but access to the latest advances in fuel, safety and environmental technologies. Europcar’s car fleet is, on average, less than 6 months old. So our customers get to drive the newest cars on the roads with all the performance, fuel efficiency and environmental advantages they bring. The close working relationships the big rental companies have with the motor manufacturers mean we can provide useful feedback to influence future design and technology. Car rental also provides the opportunity for consumers to ‘try before they buy’ when it comes to new fuel technologies. Electric cars have been on our fleet for a few years, both for customer use and to support our Deliver & Collect service. And the acquisition of the all-electric car share business, e-Car in 2015 is providing these vehicles on a ‘by the hour’ basis. In addition, at the end of 2016 we won an Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) grant of €200,000, which is enabling us to harness Toyota’s hydrogen fuel technology. As the largest private sector winner of the coveted OLEV grant, we have added several Toyota Mirai to our fleet, giving us the largest privately owned fleet of hydrogen cars and strengthening our commitment to reducing fleet emissions. We have a clear objective to create a zero emissions fleet and with support from the OLEV grant we are moving closer to this important milestone.
Q A
What’s on the horizon for Europcar?
Whilst remaining absolutely focused on delivering a high quality and great value customer service, through the Europcar Innovation Lab the business will continue to identify new services and technologies that will support our customers’ mobility needs. For example, in March, Europcar Group launched its new mobility flagship station in Brussels. Designed as a unique and exclusive multimodal platform, the new station reflects the Group’s ambition to be the global mobility solutions leader. It also demonstrated how we will put the power of digital technology, combined with a flexible, innovative and highly customised service offering, at the heart of the customer experience.
April 2017
FUTURE OF MOBILITY FOCUS
CASE STUDY Delivering a positive customer experience
EUROPCAR NEW BRAND BLOCK Color gradient background
File: 20151645E Date: 7/10/2015 AC/DC validation : Client validation :
James Roberts, Business Development Director - Insurance at Europcar UK talks about the company’s focus on addressing the big challenges facing insurance companies.
ustomer mobility is key in the motor insurance claims process. Understanding that imperative, Europcar has been working hard to bring our wealth of experience to help insurers enhance their customer service proposition.
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National footprint – ready to deliver
With a network of over 200 locations across the UK, and a promise to deliver within a 2 hour window for the standard fleet, insurers can be confident that we can meet their fast response needs. A Europcar location is rarely more than eight miles away from the customer’s address, and our industry-leading Deliver & Collect service means the policyholder doesn’t have to make their own way to our rental location to pick up a car – and they don’t have to be taken to the location before they can get on their way. We deliver to their front door – at home, work or the bodyshop - at a time pre-arranged with them.
Our goal in the last couple of years has been to be much more open-minded about the range of transport solutions that will work best for an organisation to provide to their customers could play a fundamental role in reducing the ‘at fault’ insurer’s costs, as well as providing the opportunity to create a positive experience with the ‘not at fault’ motorist, which could potentially enhance customer acquisition in the future.
The Europcar fleet of more than 60,000 cars and vans also means the policyholder gets a vehicle that feels the same quality as their own, or even better! The majority of our cars are less than 6 months old, enabling insurers to give their customer a driving experience that is probably better than their own, with all the latest motoring technology, again enhancing the customer experience.
We are working with a number of insurers to provide a replacement vehicle service that not only streamlines the process and provides transparency on costs but gives policyholders and ‘not at fault’ motorists alike choice and control. This is enabling insurers to eliminate some of the friction that can add cost to the claims process.
Importantly, by providing this service directly in conjunction with the insurer, there is complete transparency on the cost. Indeed we make a very clear commitment to all our insurer customers that there will be absolutely no unauthorised ‘upselling’ to their customer. So the control on cost is managed for both the insurer and the customer.
The final piece in the jigsaw is tackling the age-old issue of calculating basic hire rates.
The right mobility solution for the customer
Our goal in the last couple of years has been to be much more open-minded about the range of transport solutions that will work best for an organisation to provide to their customers. As a result we have encompassed car use by the hour, chauffeur drive and even the integration of public transport as part of the journey, as well as daily rental. This
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Transparency and Clarity with Basic Hire Rate reports
We are working closely with both insurers and credit hire operators to provide reliable and fair rate evidence for both sides. By replicating any past scenario, providing accurate rate evidence, completely contemporaneous and representing availability, we are enabling a consistent approach that eliminates the friction that not only adds cost to the claims process, but ensures a positive claims experience for the customer. To find out more about EUROPCAR INSURANCE SOLUTIONS email business.support@europcar.com
April 2017
FUTURE OF MOBILITY FOCUS
EUROPCAR NEW BRAND BLOCK Color gradient background File: 20151645E Date: 7/10/2015 AC/DC validation : Client validation :
SUE STANSFIELD Mobility is changing, and insurers need to adapt at the same pace in order to provide the optimum claims experience, as Sue Stansfield, LV=, explained to Modern Claims.
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What have been some of the biggest changes in the claims sector you’ve witnessed since you’ve started working in it?
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I have been fortunate enough to have worked in insurance for thirty years. I have seen the industry evolve from paper to paperless and now on to an increasingly digital, online and mobile experience. Customers’ needs and expectations have drastically changed. At LV= we pride ourselves on being the best-loved insurer. We strive to give our customers the very best experience – surprising them by the quality of the claims experience and exceeding their expectations, not just meeting them. The claims journey is our chance to show the customer that they have bought great quality products and a great quality brand. People want to know that when the worst happens, they are going to get the support and help they need.
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How do 21st century customer expectations of the products and services they buy influence their attitudes towards the claims experience?
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Consumers are no longer time rich; they have so much to balance and much more to do. Customers are quickly embracing technology and all insurers and claims service providers are scrambling to keep up. Customers are increasingly going to expect to be able to interact digitally and effortlessly through the claim journey. As such, the claims
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The current mobility landscape we see now is definitely not the future. Flexibility is the answer and not everyone will want to be just given a car, they want alternatives and choices experience needs to reflect our customers’ changing world.. As an innovative company, at LV= we are always looking at ways to create exciting ways for customers to engage more effectively with us. We want to enable our customers to use their time how they want to, minimising the ‘time steal’ that making a claim can feel like - and returning them to the place that they were in before the claim.
Q
Is the industry doing enough to provide bespoke mobility solutions to different demographics of customer, for example customers living in city centres as opposed to those living in the countryside?
April 2017
FUTURE OF MOBILITY FOCUS
EUROPCAR NEW BRAND BLOCK Color gradient background File: 20151645E Date: 7/10/2015 AC/DC validation : Client validation :
Anywhere in the claim journey where the customer is exerting ineffective effort is a point at which we should be focussing on delivering technological innovation
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The current mobility landscape we see now is definitely not the future. Flexibility is the answer and not everyone will want to be just given a car, they want alternatives and choices.
Q A
What do you predict is in store for the future of mobility, and how will the insurance industry respond to this?
Mobility will always be important to customers. A key challenge for the industry will be adapting to customers’ needs and the changing vehicle technology. The vehicle car park will change dramatically in the next few years, and hire providers will need to keep pace. Drivers will increasingly expect to see the technology present in their own vehicles to be matched by the technology in their replacement vehicle. Drivers of hire cars will also need a great handover service in order to make sure that they are using the technology properly. Outside of the claims experience, in inner cities and densely populated areas we will see more car sharing, short rentals and perhaps Uber type experiences. These types of services also offer insurers opportunities to meet customers’ mobility needs in different ways. In the longer term, who’s to say that a fully automated vehicle won’t one day collect your children from school or deliver your shopping directly from the supermarket instead of you needing to drive there at all?
Q A
How is LV= differentiating its claims strategy to stand out in a competitive market?
At LV= we pride ourselves on being the UK’s best loved insurer. We strive to deliver excellent service to our customers, focussing on reducing our customers’ effort and enabling them to get on with their lives. We have dedicated Repair Centres with an increasingly varied range of options, some of which radically reduce the need for mobility provision such as mobile or accelerated repairs. We build strong strategic relationships with our partners, working with those who embrace our customer-centric culture and our drive to continually innovate the customer experience. LV= has transformed dramatically over recent years and will continue to do so to thrive in this dynamic market.
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What are the key things LV= looks for them its supply chain partners, and how are relationships managed to ensure the best possible customer service?
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We could not achieve the great service we give without the input and delivery of our key strategic partners. We don’t want parent-child type relations - we treat them as a part of our team. We meet with our partners regularly, not just to review performance but to look at the market and the industry, sharing our strategies, identifying ideas and opportunities, driving delivery of change and performance for our mutual benefit.
these challenges? Are they as efficient and sharp as they possibly can be? Do they take a systems-thinking attitude – working with us to eliminate failure demand from the claims process? How do they know what customers want from their service – and what are they doing to ensure they are continually improving to reduce customer effort and improve customer outcomes?
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What are some of the technological opportunities that LV= is taking advantage of to improve the claims experience for customers?
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Our key focus is in reducing effort and increasing customer choice. Anywhere in the claim journey where the customer is exerting ineffective effort is a point at which we should be focussing on delivering technological innovation. Automation of our internal processes thus enabling our people to focus on the exceptional and the difficult cases will have a triple benefit of increased efficiency, more interesting and varied roles for our people and faster and better service for our customers. Increasingly our customers will want to ‘self-serve’ parts of the claim journey – and we believe that customers should have that choice whilst ensuring that customers who need and want help at any point can still access that. All of our technology and processes need to have our customers at the heart – remembering that for them, making a claim is not an everyday occurrence. The experience they go through has to make sense to them, not just to us.
In inner cities and densely populated areas we will see more car sharing, short rentals and perhaps Uber type experiences
Q A
What goals are LV= working towards over the next twelve months and beyond?
We will continue to grow upon our previous success. We will remain the UK’s best loved insurer but also increasingly adapt and change to thrive in the increasingly digital and technology enabled world that we live in. I have always loved working in insurance and working particularly in Claims. I think Claims is the time when customers need you the most; it is what they actually purchase, because they purchase a claims experience. SUE STANSFIELD is Claims Strategic Development Manager at LV=.
In terms of key skills, we are looking for supply chain partners who are constantly looking out to the industry and at their competitors and ensuring they are always one step ahead. The sorts of questions we would expect them to be asking themselves include: What threats and opportunities are they seeing in their sector? What are the technological and digital innovations which are going to impact their industry and how are they preparing themselves to meet
April 2017
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