belairdirect, an Intact Financial Corporation group, has been ranked highest in customer satisfaction among private full-coverage automotive insurance providers in Canada. The J.D. Power and AssociatesConsumer Satisfaction Survey gave belair 753 points on a 1,000-point scale, well above the industry average of 703.

ILSTV spoke with Ian Blair, Director of External Communications and Corporate Communications for Intact to find out more about what belair is doing and how the “power of choice” matters.

Ian Blair: Well, belair has been doing this for a long time. The company’s almost fifty years old but it’s really established itself as a direct brokerage. It’s more about customer choice and the customer experience. If customers want to access you strictly online, they can do that. Or, they can do it in person. Or, they can do it by the phone. It’s really about choice. If they wanted to get auto insurance at 3:00 in the morning, all they have to do is go online. They can get a quote and they can make decision either on their own, or if they’re not comfortable deciding by themselves, they can call an agent or visit one in person.

The difference really is service; I think that’s what it comes down to. Our products are competitive – obviously, this is a competitive business and we like to think we have the better products, but I think what it really comes down to is the relationship – and experience - that the customer has dealing with a belair agent or a Grey Power agent or through their broker for Intact Insurance because the relationship between the broker and the customer is extremely important.

So, all down the line, all of our different businesses, it really comes down to how well we’re treating the customer and I think that makes the difference.