Allianz Austria rewards car owners who use public transport. Xaver Woelfl explains why this is good for business and the environment.
 | Xaver Woelfl, Head of Marketing and Customer Relations, Allianz Elementar"Repairing is not just cheaper for us and the customer, it also saves valuable resources and avoids waste." (Photo: Allianz Elementar) |
You have started to reward drivers who care for the environment. How does it work?
We call it the Ecobonus. It’s an addition to our new motor insurance product. If policy holders have an annual ticket for a public transport system, they get a ten-percent reduction on their premium. In the biggest cities, like Vienna, we estimate that there is a potential of twenty percent of customers who use annual public transportation tickets.
The logic behind it is that you just drive less. You are not in the traffic jam in the morning, you avoid the highest density of traffic, so you will probably have less accidents. Therefore you get a better premium.
How has it worked so far?
We launched the product in March 2007. It has not caused a big hype, but nearly five percent of our customers chose the feature and get the discount. After one year, we took a look at our results, and what we have seen is that we have less claims with the clients who chose the EcoBonus.
We don’t know about the mileage these people drive, but we see less accidents, and so it’s definitely successful.
 | Animation (click on the image to enlarge)Ten ways to make cars more efficient (Animation: Allianz) |
Are there other ways to make eco-driving more widespread?
Well, we don’t reward eco-driving, but we have set up a network of some 300 repair shops in Austria. The close relationship to the repair shop assures us that claim settlement is processed quickly and that our customers get top quality. Whenever a customer is willing to repair broken parts instead of replacing them, he doesn’t have to pay the deductible.
For example, we now have a special provider who can repair windshields. Of course, if a windshield is totally broken, you can’t repair it. But quite often this is not the case. Repairing is not just cheaper for us and the customer, it also saves valuable resources and avoids waste.
We are just starting to realize this idea, but it is something we would like to take further in the future. We are also thinking about lower premiums for hybrid cars and small, fuel-efficient cars.
editor: Thilo Kunzemann
publishing date: September 22, 2008
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