Auto & General Insurance, a leading provider of short-term insurance solutions, with a core focus on innovative administrative efficiency and service excellence, recently won the coveted Isabel Jones Ukusizana Award from the Ombudsman for Short-Term Insurance.
The Award, which is presented on an annual basis, recognises the short-term insurers' commitment towards the speedy, efficient and fair resolution of complaints received.
It is based upon criteria including the insurer’s commitment to service in dealing with complaints, speed and thoroughness in responding to correspondence from the Ombudsman’s office, application and promotion of the principles of fairness and equity and the spirit of cooperation and promptness in implementing the Ombudsman’s recommendations and suggestions.
The Ombudsman and his professional team rate each insurer who is a member of the Ombudsman’s Office, based upon the abovementioned criteria, over a period of a year. Three finalists are then chosen and an adjudication process selects the overall winner. Standard Insurance was the runner-up and Relyant Insurance took third place.
According to Tom Creamer, Managing Director of Auto & General’s holding company, Telesure Investment Holdings, “This is certainly a significant achievement for us, one that we are extremely proud of.
“Over the years we have implemented a number of initiatives to ensure that we live up to the undertaking of the Ombudsman, and resolve short-term insurance complaints fairly, effectively and impartially. To be recognised as an insurer that is committed to consumer excellence is the ultimate assertion that we are on the right track.”
The Ombudsman for Short-Term Insurance, Brian Martin, concludes: “I would like to congratulate our finalists for our award in 2010. Competition for the award has become very intense with only a few points separating many insurers. All the finalists exhibited an above average level of commitment to the resolution of complaints received by our office and in the application of our principles of fairness and equity which represent the cornerstone for the assessment of complaints. A particular word of congratulation and appreciation is due to our overall winner, Auto & General Insurance who, in recent years have invested substantial resources into improving the manner in which complaints and disputes are resolved. This has resulted in a significant reduction in the number of complaints received by the Ombudsman against the company and in complaints being resolved within the shortest possible time. In 2010 complaints against the company were resolved exceptionally efficiently and without the necessity for a single formal ruling having to be made. This is indeed a significant achievement and one which will hopefully become the benchmark for the entire insurance industry.”