HCV joins RMBSI’s UMA Stable

RMB Structured Insurance (RMBSI) is pleased to announce that Heavy Commercial Vehicle Underwriting Managers (HCV), a specialist trucking and commercial vehicle underwriter will be joining RMBSI’s underwriting management agency (UMA) portfolio and that it

“HCV is without doubt a ‘best in class’ underwriter with a proven track record and a compelling product suite. We like the company’s approach - with a sustainable underwriting philosophy, clients can expect consistency over time with no pricing surprises due to insurance market cycles and a highly professional claims handling service. We see significant potential in this business and are confident that there is much scope for entrepreneurial UMAs such as HCV to thrive,” says Gustavo Arroyo CEO of RMBSI.

RMBSI first started its UMA division in 2006 and has eight UMA's in its portfolio. It seeks to partner with larger UMA's wanting to take their business to the next level and with start-up or smaller UMA's who have the ambition and business model to become a leader in their particular niche. The HCV transaction forms part of RMBSI’s growth strategy focusing on structured insurance, UMA’s, Affinity Insurance and strategic investments.

“We based our decision to move to RMBSI based on the strong brand backed by Rand Merchant Insurance Holdings, a range of specialist insurance skills set as well as a new overhead structure which is better aligned to our business and will allow us to grow and initiate new projects. We are very pleased to have RMBSI as a shareholder and believe that the management team can add significant value to the business,” says Chris Barry, HCV’S Managing Director.

HCV was established in 1995 and has headquarters in Johannesburg and offices in Durban, Cape Town and Port Elizabeth. The company is represented by approximately 400 brokers. HCV insures over 6,000 trucks in South Africa – an estimated 1.5% of the 300,000 trucks on our roads. Barry believes there is much scope to grow the business with a focus on smaller businesses.

HCV prides itself on its competitive premiums, 48 hour claim approval turnaround and paying claims according to agreed value – the amount that policyholders value their vehicle when their policy commences less the applicable excess. “With expensive commercial vehicles a loss of a vehicle can be detrimental to a business. Many underwriters claim to pay out agreed value but when a vehicle is stolen or written off clients learn that this is not the case. We don’t play “repudiation games” and pay over 99% of all our Claims. We only had 16 repudiations this last year all of which were gross violations. While industry repudiation figures are not made public, we believe we avoid repudiations successfully,” says Barry.

HCV was also the first underwriter in the South African market to offer free towing to its customers and continues to look for intelligent ways to add value to their clients for a service which is often seen as a grudge purchase, particularly the owner managed firms, being HCV’s target market, but it is essential to any trucking company, whether it be a one man band or a fleet, to have sufficient cover.