Kindertons Accident Management Supplement

CONTINUING TO BE PART
OF THE SOLUTION
CHRISTIAN LINDLEY IS GROUP SALES DIRECTOR AT KINDERTONS AND IS RESPONSIBLE
FOR DEFINING AND DELIVERING THE OVERALL STRATEGY FOR SALES AND MARKETING
ACROSS THE DIFFERENT SECTORS IN WHICH THE GROUP OPERATES. HE DISCUSSES
THE NEW MOTOR LEGAL EXPENSES PRODUCT AVAILABLE AT KINDERTONS AND THE
RESPONSE TO THE LONG-AWAITED PI REFORMS.
THE PI REFORMS HAVE BEEN IN THE
PLANNING FOR YEARS NOW, DID
YOU EVER THINK THE DAY WOULD
COME WHEN THE CHANGES WERE
ACTUALLY INTRODUCED?
If I’m being completely honest, there
was a time when I thought they might
not happen because they’ve been
that long in the making. But ironically
enough, not because of Brexit, the
pandemic, elections or government
upheaval – instead due to the resistance
from the industry who at times it seemed
simply didn’t want these changes to
go ahead, believing the introduction of
these changes would not be in the best
interests of the customer.
There’s been so much regulatory and
legislative change over the last 12 years
that it was inevitable that something was
eventually going to happen. Now that we
know what the changes are – and we’ve
managed to come up with the most
appropriate solution to help insurers,
brokers and their customers alike – we
can accept and embrace these changes
and focus on doing what we’re best at,
delivering a first-class service.
HOW HAS KINDERTONS PREPARED
FOR THE REFORMS AND SUPPORTED
YOUR WORK PARTNERS THROUGH
THE TRANSITION PERIOD?
Personal injury is not actually Kindertons’
core business. We’re a full solution claims
management provider of hire, repair and
mobility services. However, we recognise
that personal injury is very much a byproduct
of the suite of services we offer.
When we initially answer that call, it’s
because someone has had an accident
and they may be stranded on the
roadside. It’s about offering support and
guidance in that moment – not the fact
that they may need to make a personal
injury claim.
In the very first days after George
Osborne made his announcement in
November 2015, we took a conscious
decision to work with our partners to
understand what they wanted us to do.
The majority of our partners still wanted
us to hand hold their customers through
the claims process, which is what we’ve
done and will continue to do.
Our mantra is very much: “we want to do
tomorrow what we do today”. When you
think about it, all of the legislative and
regulatory changes in the last few years
haven’t really impacted the customer
in the same way, as we’ve been able
to make changes behind the scenes to
ensure that they would continue to have
the same journey.
Customers weren’t really aware of the
implementation of the portal, or the
portal cost and any subsequent changes
to that cost. They still got to speak to
somebody who would assist them and
handle the claim on their behalf. The
reality now is that The Civil Liability Act
has a direct impact on the customer and
it’s about how the customer can adapt
to that. We ourselves, as a business (as
many others will), have taken a personal
responsibility to work with our business
partners and their customers to make it
work.
MAY 2021 SAW THE LAUNCH
OF YOUR NEW MOTOR LEGAL
EXPENSES INSURANCE PRODUCT,
WHAT MAKES THIS A UNIQUE
OFFERING TO THE CUSTOMER IN A
POST REFORM MARKETPLACE?
We are now live with our post-reform
policy and the response has been
fantastic. It’s so encouraging to see
our business partners sign up to the
new scheme. It shows their ongoing
commitment and trust in Kindertons,
that we’ll work in the best interests of
our customers and provide them with
products of real value, which deliver the
level of protection they need in a postreforms
world.
We always strive to have the best
product and we’ve taken the opportunity
to enhance our level of cover to an even
greater level, because the Motor Legal
Expenses product is a real insurance
product. We want to make sure that if
our business partners and customers are
taking these policies out, it offers more
than just legal representation. Of course,
it provides access to legal representation
for our broker partners’ customers in the
event that they have a claim and there is
no additional cost or charge. But more
importantly, it looks after the claims
journey for them. The customer doesn’t
have to get involved in the Online Injury
Claim portal, arrange their own medicals
or rehabilitation and they don’t have to
deal with the third-party insurers or any
other challenges that potentially they
might otherwise face.
I believe we have a futureproof policy,
which is one of the best products out
there based on the whole of the market
benchmarking exercise we’ve completed
over the last few months.
I think it’s very easy to say that we’ve
got the highest levels of cover and
simply stop there, but one of the things
that we gave great consideration to is
post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
cover. A major factor for introducing
the reforms was to try and reduce the
number of fraudulent whiplash claims.
Yes, there are lots of fraudulent claims,
but there are also many more genuine
people who have genuine accidents and
suffer psychologically as a result. With
our Motor Legal Expenses policy, PTSD
cover will again work in addition to that
legal representation and if there is trauma
as a result of an accident, the customer
will have access to a real policy which
will allow them to consult with a medical
practitioner. Plus, it includes a whole host
of other heads of cover that we believe
will ultimately benefit the end customer,
such as vehicle leasing and servicing and
motor prosecution defence.
It is also worth noting that our Motor
Legal Expenses policy was built with
the FCA GI pricing reforms in mind – a
further assurance that our product will
offer excellent value to customers.
WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF
HAVING A ‘BEFORE THE EVENT’
(BTE) PRODUCT IN PLACE FOR
CUSTOMERS AND WHAT ARE THE
POTENTIAL RISKS TO NOT HAVING
ONE?
For me, personally, I can see the real
value and protection a legal expenses
16 Kindertons Supplement