how would you like to be sold?

Hi IDA

As an ex insurance broker of nearly 20 years in the UK I was reading your post with interest. Must admit im either missing the point or I dont understand how you make your money if you do not charge the customer or the insurance companies. Am I right in assuming that you sell a collision damage waiver policy?

Err, me too, would love to help, but afraid I do not understand it!

lol well like I said new concept. how it works is you establish a cdrp (collision deductable reserve plan) you pay a minimum payment of $25 a month into the cdrp untill you reach $1,000 at that point you stop paying to your cdrp thus putting that $25 a month back into your budget (the idea is to put it on the back end of a morgage or credit card payment to reduce debt) at anypoing during the time you are building your cdrp you have a collision you (say in month 2 therefore $50 in your cdrp) you withdraw the $50 and ida gives you a $950 fee free and intrest free advance thus covering your entire deductable so you pay no money in the even of a collision and simply pay back the advance at $25 per month thencall your insurance agent and raise your collision deductable to $1,000 therefore savings as much as 40% on your insurance premiums to pay for the cdrp and then put back into your budget.

I think I'm with you, so you take out insurance, but you say you will take out a waiver that will make you liable for the first $1000, so the insurance agent knows you won't be making any minor claims, and this gives you a much lower insurance premium. You then sign up with your system, which covers the $1000 waiver.

So if I've got it right, would you be better off setting yourself up as an insurance Portal, signing up with as many insurance houses as you can, and bolting on your product on top.

So some kind of quoting interface, "get your quote" enter your collison waiver amount, and the engine on your site will match the best quote, and it will come out cheaper than other comparison sites.

So if I do understand your model, you make a markup for passing the business to the insurance company, maybe some kind of affiliate scheme, and then you make on your collision policy.

So you need a nice sexy web 2.0 insurance portal, in the style maybe of Confused.com and a decent adwords campaign.

I'm sure Clive will put me right if i have got this wrong!

Oh, and off topic IDA, remember to grab yourself an Avatar, top left of the screen, User CP, Edit Avatar, lots to choose from

I am not one for this kind of thing, so if i am not right, completely ignore this post!

It seems like a good idea to me, a slush fund if you like, the kind you start up and then forget about, but it is gently ticking away in the background covering your ass where needed, and anything that dribbles debt away is a great thing!

Excuse my ignorance on this, I leave these things to the wife, she married me, so must make the right decisions!

Cant fault Steves reply on this, boy that hurts to admit!

I can clearly see the point in this, collision damage waiver or excess as we call it in the UK was always a big problem when i was selling policies and i always said if you dont get the discount off the premium for having a larger excess then what was the point as you were always underwriting your own damage.

Think you may be on to something here - Steve has given some vaild points on the marketing and cant add any more than he has said.