In recent years, telephone auto insurance has attracted an increasing number of car owners with its convenience and good cost-performance. However, during the insurance purchase process, many car owners still have doubts about the delivery of telephone auto insurance policies and the services provided by the auto insurance.
Is "two-stage delivery" reliable?
The telephone auto insurance subscription model allows car owners to complete the entire insurance process from home, including consulting on types of insurance, pricing, filling out forms, paying by card, and policy delivery. "Some car owners always think it's safer to go themselves, so they prefer to personally visit the business hall to collect their policies," according to statistics from a certain property insurance e-commerce center. In some areas, the proportion of telephone auto insurance users choosing to pick up their policies in person can reach as high as 30%.
Mr. Qian, who works in Jinan, was hesitant when subscribing: "Why does the policy need to be delivered in two stages? Is it 'reliable' to pay the premium to the delivery person?" One of the things consumers worry most about is whether the delivery personnel will deliver the policy on time after subscribing to telephone auto insurance. A relevant person in charge of a certain property insurance e-commerce center explained that the "two-stage delivery" mode for telephone auto insurance is stipulated by the Insurance Regulatory Commission. The first delivery is the application form, while the second is the official policy. In terms of policy delivery services, many well-known property insurance companies have nationwide service networks covering most regions across the country, and their policy delivery services are very robust and secure. Consumers can rest assured and enjoy the delivery service at home without having to go through the trouble of visiting the office.
Is telephone auto insurance "异地投保" (异地 meaning another place)?
In consumer surveys conducted by relevant parties, many car owners encountering telephone auto insurance for the first time believe that "telephone auto insurance" means "异地投保", worrying that if they insure via phone, they will have to contact an insurance company located far away in case of claims, which could be very troublesome if no one is available locally.
Regarding this, industry insiders stated that telephone auto insurance is not "异地投保". The form of异地投保and the centralized sales model of telemarketing are two different concepts. According to regulations set by the Insurance Regulatory Commission, telephone auto insurance must operate centrally, and the outbound telephone numbers used by insurance companies all carry the area code of the operation center’s location. For example, the headquarters of PICC telephone auto insurance's telesales is in Beijing, so the customer service outbound calls to the whole country are all prefixed with 95518, carrying the Beijing area code. Moreover, telephone auto insurance adopts a combined method of "centralized sales and local claims processing." That is, the telephone sales center will handle processes such as inquiries, quotes, and order placement, while the post-order processes like policy delivery and claims handling are managed by the local branch offices. Due to centralized management and unified sales, the direct-sales model of telephone auto insurance provides more transparent pricing, allowing car owners to clearly understand the costs involved in purchasing auto insurance.