04 August, 2014
Neil Mawhinney is an experienced Account Executive, who has been working at Footman James for 13 years. He has specialist knowledge of Motor Trade Insurance, Classic Motor Trade and Commercial Combined Insurance.
Neil looks after 180 clients and covers the whole of the mainland UK from Lands End to John O’Groats.
We asked him to keep a blog for a week to give us insight into his role and experiences.
Monday
9.00am, Day one in the FJ office, this sounds like a quote from Big Brother!!
Once a week I try to spend a day in the office. I update teams and get together with the other account executives and line managers to discuss any issues etc.
I try to plan my week ahead and book in appointments; this involves lots of head scratching and trying to ensure I’m not driving to Scotland on one day, Cornwall the next day and then back to Scotland on day three.
Tuesday – 299 miles covered
8.00am, left home to visit a client in Croydon, Surrey. Arrived at 11.45am. I thought at one point I was taking part in the world record for the longest motorway queue! God bless the Great British traffic!!
Held an insurance review meeting to discuss the renewal of his motor trade policy .We talked through his covers etc, he had a few changes to the sums insured. He was also now trading 100% from just the one site. We were able to offer Agreed Value for his personal classic cars, this is a feature of our Classic Motor trade policy. Overall he was a happy bunny and pleased with the service and insurance cover we provided - good to see another satisfied customer!
5.45pm, back in the office now.
Wednesday – 342 miles covered
8.00 am, left home to visit client in North Yorkshire, Northallerton. No traffic today sailed through, I love days like these. Spent a few hours with a client we have insured for years. We completed an insurance review for the forthcoming 12 months, discussing his insurance requirements. He told me his business is doing well which is good to hear and he has some business expansion plans that we need to accommodate. I updated his insurance requirements to ensure he is adequately covered. He has Business Interruption cover included as well as adding his £30,000 classic car to the motor trade policy. He also needed business property owners cover.
4.20pm, arrived back at the office, I had various discussions with insurers on premiums and policy terms negotiations.
7.40pm, left office for the day.
Thursday – 343 miles covered
6.15am, left home to visit a client in Leeds with a colleague - playing chauffeur today. There’s a bit of a story to this one. He is an experienced exec who drives over 35,000 miles a year without any incident. However, driving over 35,000 miles a year also means a lot of sitting down, so as a way of getting a bit of exercise and staying healthy the family got a dog. One fine sunny Sunday morning he takes said dog on a long walk, falls down breaking his leg and tearing all his tendons. I have a whole list of jokes about this to last me the entire journey, it’s just too good an opportunity to miss!! Just goes to show, cars are better for your health than dogs!
10.30am, arrived in Leeds. This is a long standing client who we have insured for over 17 years. His premises are right next to the football ground but nothing doing today. I have been here a few times in the past being a supporter of the talented and sublime Aston Villa - no sniggering please!
He had a few changes to his sums insured, wage roll, turnover and stock limits. He also confirmed he needed us to arrange the Engineering Inspection service in line with statutory requirements. He was happy with the renewal terms and premium offered, confirming he wanted to renew the policy there and then.
12.00pm, left Leeds to go onto a further appointment in Warrington to another long standing client. Ran through his requirements and updated as required.
5.00pm, Dropped off colleague, then to the office to dictate some more meeting minutes etc, got home at 6.30pm.
Friday - 249 miles covered
9.10am, left office to visit a nice local client in Halesowen. This client specialises in Rolls Royce and Bentley cars - we reviewed his sums insured, wage roll and insurance needs, these remained the same. He also wanted us to organise Engineering Inspection service for him. Due to the sums insured, I explained the benefits and process of insuring on a Rolling Stock Declaration basis. This enables him to provide us with monthly declarations of the vehicles and values he had in his custody or control, therefore giving him the benefit of only paying the premium for the time he has the vehicles.
10.30am left client, back to the office.
12.45pm, left office to visit client in Wiltshire, the mad drivers are out today, it’s like a ride on the dodgems on the motorway, got to the client in one piece! This client provides restoration, sale, service and repair of thoroughbred classics including Jaguar, Bristol, Aston Martin and Frazer Nash cars to name a few. I reviewed their insurance needs. They have customer vehicles insured at 1.4 million, we talked through the benefits of Rolling Stock Declaration with the customers vehicles sum insured varying substantially from one month to the next this would be a better option for them. They also have more than 4 years claims free driving so we were able to offer him a Protected No Claims Bonus on his Motor Trade Policy. They included the option of Personal Accident cover for their key staff in their motor trade policy.
4.00pm, start journey home. Oh joy, Friday afternoon on the motorway with all the early finishers racing home and cutting you up at every opportunity.
Got stopped by the police, he asked if I have been drinking, I replied no, he then says rather sharply ‘papers’ to which I reply ‘scissors I win’. Sorry this didn’t really happen, I just like this joke!
6.45pm, arrived home, dictated some meeting minutes then put feet up, done for another week.
Neil’s comments : Total miles covered in the 4 days 1233, It’s interesting to see how many miles I covered over the 4 days. I am just used to driving and don’t really notice as it’s an everyday occurrence for me.
Having driven on the motorways for the past 20 years, you get to see some sights and I have had a few near misses.
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