Whether it is to fill an innovative new market need, or just to keep up with the competition, product development is normal in the insurance world. What should be different for Toyota is that a genuine Toyota insurance scheme should be just that, an insurance scheme with the qualities of Toyota built in to it.
At Toyota Insurance Management we don’t believe that using a generic white branded product is the way forward. Instead we recommend building all new schemes from the base up, taking the following factors into the process; -
Stakeholder expectations – the first thing to establish is why is the scheme required? By understanding this we are able to ensure the right structure is in place and it allows us to offer advice on the following areas.
Partner selection – Can we manage all or part of the process within the Toyota family? If not which partner represents the best long-term solution. What is their financial situation? What risk is there of change through merger and acquisition, competitor influence, conflicting objectives? We have run many tenders for many products in many countries and can ensure the right questions are asked during this process to ensure the best partner is selected.
Best practice – With our experience across many countries and multiple product lines we are able to draw on many examples of both good and equally valuably bad practice. Often ideas need localisation but there are many features that are directly transferable. Keeping to the Toyota ethos of ‘build not buy’ we can use these learnings to help deliver a truly Toyota product.
Regulatory change – 10 years ago in many markets general insurance was barely regulated, and what was there was restricted to the insurer themselves. The situation today differs greatly with specific regulation around advertising, giving advice, concluding and the recording of sales. And whilst the regulation stems for the same piece of European regulation, ‘IMD’(Insurance mediation directive 2002/92) it has been interpreted differently by each market. In addition there are a number of other European laws and actions that directly affect insurance such as Data Protection with relation to the connected car, EIOPA (European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority) looking at Credit Life / PPI and the upcoming IMD2 focusing on commission disclosure.
Product Life cycle management – Insurance products like cars go through a product lifecycle, and knowing where a product is through this journey helps to make decisions around investment and contractual terms. By matching the product development to this external influence better decisions can be made.
There are many other ways we can help, if you have an idea for a new scheme, or recognise a gap in the market but are unsure how to fill it you can contact us here.