Good news from Volkswagen Autoversicherung: the joint venture between Volkswagen Financial Services and Allianz has surpassed the 500,000 contract mark for the first time in its ten-year history. How this milestone was achieved is one of the topics in this interview with Supervisory Board Chairman Anthony Bandmann and Management Board Member Simona Loges. They also reflect on the rocky and challenging start of Volkswagen Autoversicherung and why they can today proudly claim: "It has paid off that we were persistent and steadfast and worked hard to improve ourselves. Our idea and vision was right!"
Volkswagen Financial Services and Allianz have been operating Volkswagen Autoversicherung together for ten years. Anthony, how has this joint undertaking grown and evolved over this period? You were involved in the founding of the joint venture from the very beginning in your capacity as Managing Director of Volkswagen Versicherungsdienst (VVD).
Anthony Bandmann: I had just joined VW FS and I can still remember the first few years of Volkswagen Autoversicherung very well. To be honest, things went badly to start with. And at times, we even asked ourselves whether we were on the right track – especially as there was a lot of criticism from the brands and dealers, we missed our targets, and there seemed to be little light at the end of the tunnel. But over the years, Simona and her team have turned almost everything inside out and made continuous improvements to Volkswagen Autoversicherung – in terms of processes and systems as well as pricing, performance and service. In the meantime, we can proudly say that our idea and vision was the right one! The operation's running smoothly, and we are absolutely competitive in a market that is fiercely contested not only in Germany. It has totally paid off that we were persistent and steadfast and that we worked so hard to improve ourselves.
Why have times become so tough for car insurers? I also noticed this myself as a customer when I received my letter at the end of last year telling me about the premium increase.
Simona Loges: Everyone probably notices in their daily life that prices have gone up substantially. This development has not stopped at the motor vehicle industry, and so ultimately it has not spared us either. Repairing vehicle damage has become considerably more expensive because the wages for workshop employees, the costs for their equipment and, above all, the prices of spare parts have soared, and even in some cases skyrocketed. At the same time, the number of extreme weather events is increasing enormously, which is leading to a larger number of vehicle claims and, for us as insurers, even higher expenses in comprehensive and partial coverage. Like all other insurers, we have had to pass these costs on to our customers.
What consequences did this have for Volkswagen Autoversicherung in terms of the number of policy cancellations?
Simona Loges: None at all – and we're very pleased to be able to say that! Cancellation behavior among our customers has not been any different from normal times. That shows that we have very loyal customers who are simply satisfied with our product and are happy to remain faithful to us. For that, we would like to thank them sincerely!
Where does Volkswagen Autoversicherung sell the most policies – still at the car dealership, or does online trading play a bigger role?
Simona Loges: The sales staff working in the dealerships of the brands Volkswagen, Audi, SEAT, CUPRA, ŠKODA and Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles are still by far the largest sales channel for Volkswagen Autoversicherung. But we are working to improve our online capabilities for concluding contracts and also to bridge the gap between taking out policies in the car showroom and on the home laptop or smartphone. In the future, for example, it should be straightforward for customers to start filling out the insurance application together with the salesperson in the dealership and then complete any missing data online at home. So we see Volkswagen car insurance as a hybrid product that can be concluded both online and in the traditional way. By the way, that's something else that sets us apart from many of our competitors.
Volkswagen Autoversicherung has a unique selling point in the market with a discount on liability insurance for driver assistance systems. Why was this discount introduced and how is it being received by customers?
Simona Loges: The more safety-relevant driver assistance systems are installed in the car, for example emergency brake assistants or distance control, the better it is for the customer – they benefit from a discount on their liability insurance of up to 30 percent. We have found that more than 91 percent of our customers are now receiving an insurance discount as a result of their installed driver assistance systems and are thus benefiting from this unique pricing feature.
Anthony Bandmann: And in addition to the customers, the Volkswagen Group brands are also beneficiaries of this innovative offer. They have an interest in ensuring that as many customers as possible opt for assistance systems – and we support them with an insurance offer that rewards precisely this purchase.
Photos: Stefanie Ludwig