subject: Auto Insurance Electronic Payment Policy Retention [print this page] Many auto insurance companies have seen the benefits of having their clients on automatic payments that are taking electronically from the insured bank account monthly. The policy retention of the clients that have electronic funds transfer for installments is more than double that of the direct bill clients.
Having significantly higher policy retention benefits the insurance company in many ways. There is less paperwork that needs to be done for clients that are cancelled for non-payment, there are les midterm cancelations, and more of the client's policies mature to receive the loyalty discounts that are offered.
When an insurance company offers a loyalty discount it is less likely that the insured will be able to find a more competitive rate with another carrier. In California, if the insured were to get quoted from new insurance companies the new companies will not be able to offer a discounted rate because the client has had continuous coverage.
In return the insurance companies offer these electronic payments to client multiple times. Some insurance carriers offer this to the client on almost every communication. The companies will also offer lower billing fees to these clients that elect to have their monthly payment taken from their checking account.
There has been some debate in the industry about the level of responsibility of the clients that choose EFT monthly installments. Some say that these clients are more finically responsible and would have the higher retention regardless of the policy billing. Either way, the insured will be able to save each month on the billing fees associated with the policies. In some cases the saving could be as high as $10 per month.
Auto Insurance Electronic Payment Policy Retention
