Company:The Personal
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Type | Private |
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Industry | Insurance |
Founded | 1974 |
Headquarters | Mississauga , Canada |
Area served | Most of Canada |
Services |
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Parent | Desjardins Group |
Website | thepersonal |
Founded in 1974, The Personal is a Canada property and casualty (P&C) group insurer that specializes in home insurance and auto insurance.[1] They offer multiple services to their partners, and are specialized in offering group exclusive rates. They represent over 700 public and private organizations, professional orders and unions across Canada. The Personal is a subsidiary of Desjardins General Insurance, third largest P&C insurer in Canada.[2] "It prides itself on high customer satisfaction, with 96% of respondents saying they are satisfied after making a claim and 95% of insurance holders renewing their policies each year. The renewal rate is one of the highest in the insurance industry."[1]
History
In 1974, in Canada,The Personal created the auto and home group insurance concept. The concept of group insurance was popular for life policies, but for the first time the concept was applied to cars and homes.[3] Auto and home were then the only products offered; later The Personal broadened their range of services to include other products, such as recreational vehicles, travel and pets.[3]
On Mai 2nd of 1986, The Personal (then called The Security), was reaching an agreement with the Centrale de l'enseignement du Québec (CEQ), who were looking for a group insurance. This agreement signed the official start of the history of group P&C insurance in Quebec.[4]
Services
The Personal offers group insurance products to insure cars, homes, recreational vehicles and pets, and also includes identity theft assistance.[5] They offer their services through agents, through their website, and recently through their mobile app (that is used as a control center for all the mobile programs). Their two principal mobile features are Ajusto and Alert, but the app also provide (to anybody, not just their members) the Radar program, a weather alert that notifies the owner when severe weather conditions will occur or is happening, that could damage their property.[6]
Prices and distinctions
According to a J.D. Power study about custumer satisfaction with home insurance, The Personal ranked first in Quebec in 2015.[7] The same study in 2018 for the auto insurance sector also ranked the company as first in Canada.[8]
Privacy rights criticism
In 2017, The Personal was facing accusation of citizen's privacy rights. They were accused by the federal Privacy Commissioner of accessing credit rating without proper reasons. The Personal defended themselves by saying that they accessed such information only to rule out fraudulent claims, but advocate Rhona DesRoches, who heads the Association of Victims for Accident Insurance Reform, suggested that « companies want instead to gauge the claimant’s financial status to help determine how little they can get away with paying out ».[9]
See also
- Insurance
- Group Insurance
- Desjardins Group
- List of Canadian insurance companies
- List of companies of Canada
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "The Personal". http://www.insurancedir.ca/the+personal/.
- ↑ "The Personal Insurance Company". http://business.halifaxchamber.com/list/member/the-personal-insurance-company-bedford-160069.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "The Personal". http://www.insurancedir.ca/the+personal/.
- ↑ "Les protections RésAut CSQ - L’histoire d’un succès qui se fête en ristourne" (in french). http://www.lacsq.org/publications/nouvelles-csq/automne-2016/education/optimisee-mobile/single/news/les-protections-resaut-csq-lhistoire-dun-succes-qui-se-fete-en-ristourne-1/.
- ↑ "Custumer support" (in anglais). https://www.thepersonal.com/customer-space/customer-support.
- ↑ "Desjardins to offer weather alerts on mobile apps | Canadian Insurance". http://www.citopbroker.com/news/desjardins-to-offer-weather-alerts-on-mobile-apps-13998.
- ↑ "J.D. Power Reports: Home Insurance Industry Not Meeting Gen Y Expectations for Customer Interaction" (in en). https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150604005016/en/J.D.-Power-Reports-Home-Insurance-Industry-Meeting.
- ↑ "Rising Customer Expectations, Poor Communication Drive Down Satisfaction with Auto Insurers, J.D. Power Finds" (in en). https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180507005038/en/Rising-Customer-Expectations-Poor-Communication-Drive-Satisfaction.
- ↑ "What the federal privacy watchdog did after an insurer pried into crash victim’s credit rating" (in en-US). National Post. 2017-03-29. https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/insurer-violated-crash-victims-rights-by-accessing-his-credit-score-federal-watchdog-rules.
External links