Middlesea Insurance plc has established a new company to offer a roadside and home assistance programme to its policyholders from January 5.
Plans to provide assistance services to travellers
Named Middlesea Assist, the company is backed by the experience of Mapfre Asistencia, the award-winning assistance provider arm of Mapfre Internacional, Middlesea’s majority shareholder.
Middlesea Assist has invested in three tow-trucks to provide roadside breakdown assistance to motor policyholders. A team of drivers with experience in roadside support will head the service. Meanwhile, the company has a list of plumbers, electricians, and handymen on call to help home owners requiring emergency, temporary repairs.
Motor and home policyholders will be given a single number to reach Middlesea Assist’s call centre which is to operate round-the-clock seven days a week. Selected Middlesea Insurance policies will incorporate the added benefits provided by Middlesea Assist at no charge.
This latest development at Middlesea comes just weeks after the Spanish insurance giant was given the regulator’s green light to increase its shareholding in the Floriana-headquartered company, which now stands at 54.56 per cent.
Middlesea Assist is a joint venture between Mapfre Asistencia and Middlesea Insurance. Mapfre Asistencia operates in 44 countries.
“The novelty of this project is that it will be extending the traditional boundaries of insurance,” Middlesea Insurance vice-president corporate services Christopher Borg said.
“It aims to extend clients’ experience of the Middlesea Insurance product through the provision of additional customer service and high standard assistance. This is the fruit of the innovative synergies we had highlighted at the time of the Mapfre bid earlier this year.”
Middlesea Assist also falls within the company’s strategy to continuously provide innovative products and services, and to identify ways to target potential in its core market.
It will be led by general manager Hernan Untermann, who until October was business development manager for Mapfre Asistencia for sub-Saharan Africa. Mr Untermann will head a 20-person team that includes an operations manager, call centre agents, and drivers.
“Middlesea Assist’s role is to immediately help customers avoid worse damage,” Mr Untermann explained.
“After the problem is temporarily sorted out, customers will then turn to Middlesea Insurance for assistance with making claims to fully repair damage.
“We are growing a preferred list of service providers and we can also help at this stage as well with another timeframe.”
Insurance, he added, was about making people’s lives easier. Middlesea Assist will live up to this philosophy and provide added value to customers with different lifestyles but who all sought peace of mind.
Mr Untermann explained how Middlesea Assist will have access to Middlesea Insurance’s customer information.
When customers called to ask for assistance, Middlesea Assist will dispatch the required personnel and settle the invoice after a quality check.
There will also be periodic mystery shopping as a way of monitoring service standards.
Mr Untermann, an Argentinian of German descent, originally joined Mapfre Asistencia in 2001 “for a summer job” and progressed to hold the roles of international executive co-ordinator and later operations manager for Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
Middlesea Assist soon plans to provide assistance services to travellers by leveraging the experience and knowledge of Mapfre Asistencia, which was recently named Best Worldwide Travel Insurance Company 2011 by the International Travel Insurance Journal.