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Letter to the Editor

Progressive Testing Concierge Program to Eliminate Customer-Shop Contact

Mayfield Village, Ohio -- Progressive Insurance, the Cleveland-based insurer that transformed itself from scrappy insurer of the difficult to insure auto insurance market into a Top Ten player, is testing something different in auto collision claims handling, a program with a classy name - Concierge. Currently being piloted in Philadelphia, PA; Bedford, OH; Orlando, FL; Philadelphia, PA; and Richmond, VA Conciege is aiming for high customer satisfaction and maximum control of the repair experience. Amenities, such as weekend drop-off hours and rental car arrangements at Progressive offices, and post repair inspections before customers are notified that repairs are completed, aim for high customer satisfaction. The vehicle owner, if agreeing to the optional program, begins and ends the repair experience at a Progressive office,the first and only point of contact in the process. The customer has no contact with the collision repair facility selected by the Progressive agent to handle the repair. In the test phase, with surveys handled entirely by the insurer, Progressive is pleased with customer satisfaction results.

According to Progressive, the consumer appreciates the one-stop convenience offered by Concierge. He brings the damaged vehicle in to the insurance office, where he receives a written estimate and leaves in a rental car. Then, the repair shop picks up the car and the estimate. Repair proceeds as usual, with an adjuster coming out, actual repairs begun, and any supplements handled.

After completion of repairs, the shop delivers the car back to the Progressive Concierge office, and the vehicle is thoroughly inspected and approved before the customer is notified. The customer returns the rental car and picks up his vehicle at the office where the process began, and Progressive guarantees the quality of the repairs to the vehicle owner for as long as he owns the car.

Several questions arise:

• Will some consumers appreciate the one-stop convenience? Yes.
• Will some worry about a lack of choice or about being out of the repair information loop at the repair facility? Yes.
• Will shops be concerned about estimate accuracy? Yes.
• Will shops lose customer word-of-mouth referrals? Seems likely - the customer won't have any contact with the shop.
• Will jobs be assigned and distributed fairly to participating shops? A good question but unanswerable right now - cycle time, levels of repair quality, expertise of estimators, and number of local participating shops are some factors to consider.

Comment allez-vous, Concierge? We'll be watching for more information.

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