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The Personal
Company typePrivate
IndustryInsurance
Founded1974; 50 years ago (1974)
Headquarters
Mississauga
,
Canada
Area served
Most of Canada
Services
ParentDesjardins Group
Websitethepersonal.com

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 specialize 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, the 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[edit]

In 1974, The Personal created the auto and home group insurance concept in Canada. 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 the only products offered initially. Later, The Personal broadened their range of services to include other products, such as recreational vehicles, travel and pets.[3]

On May 2, 1986, The Personal (then called The Security), reached an agreement with the Centrale de l'enseignement du Québec (CEQ), who was looking for group insurance. This agreement signalled the official start of group P&C insurance in Quebec.[4]

In 2004, Desjardins Group did a major restructuration of The Personal to unify its activities all around Canada. They wanted to use the same technology, same principles and same management throughout their subsidiaries to become a true pan-Canadian company.[5]

In 2013, alongside Desjardins General Insurance, The Personal launched Ajusto, which was one of the first[6] "widely available UBI offerings to be approved by the Financial Services Commission of Ontario (FSCO)"[7]. Usage based insurance was already used in some countries (United States, United Kingdom and Europe)[8] before telematics technology got to Canada with the help of iMetrik Solutions.

Group insurance[edit]

The sector of group insurance in Canada became more and more popular in the 1980s and 1990s, creating more competition that led to better coverages: with more choices, the prices got more stable and the service got a lot better. However, it also led to what was called “synthetic groups”, that were not considered as real groups sharing the same situation (risk profile, affinity, homogenous caracteristics).[9] The rules to be considered as a group are not the same in every province of Canada, and in Quebec, the lack of regulation created a "free market model". In reaction, The Personal, which started in Quebec, created their own specific guidelines for their partners. "We want to be consistent and draw a sharp distinction between true group programs and mass merchandising programs. We don’t change our targets or relax our standards with the cycle – we look at it more in the long-term.”, said Chalifoux, vice-president of The Personal in 2005.[9]

Services[edit]

The Personal offers group insurance products to insure cars, homes, recreational vehicles and pets, and also includes identity theft assistance.[10] They offer their services through agents, their company website, and recently through their mobile app (used as a control center for all the mobile programs). Their two principal mobile features are Ajusto and Alert, but the app also provides (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.[11]

Prices and distinctions[edit]

According to a J.D. Power study about customer satisfaction with home insurance, The Personal ranked first in Quebec in 2015.[12] The same study in 2018 for the auto insurance sector also ranked the company as first in Canada.[13]

Privacy rights criticism[edit]

In 2013, some concerns were at first raised about the new technology Intelauto and Ajusto that could be used to "spy" on customers[14], but Privacy Commissioner Dr. Ann Cavoukian put a hold on these fears.[15] Since the program is on a voluntary basis and the contract clearly stipulates the terms[16], the user stays in control of his information.[17] However, not all concerns were waived : John Lawford, executive director and general counsel with the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) in Ottawa, raised a point that even if these information are strictly for the user, they still could be disclosed to third parties in some situations like civil cases, where it could be dig out by law enforcement.[17]

In 2017, The Personal faced 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[18], 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".[19] Resulting from this investigation, The Personal stopped using this kind of information for auto claims.[18]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "The Personal". www.insurancedir.ca. Retrieved 2018-05-28.
  2. ^ "The Personal Insurance Company". business.halifaxchamber.com. Retrieved 2018-05-28.
  3. ^ a b "The Personal". www.insurancedir.ca. Retrieved 2018-10-03.
  4. ^ "Les protections RésAut CSQ - L'histoire d'un succès qui se fête en ristourne" (in French). Retrieved 2018-10-03.
  5. ^ Lafleur, Claude (June 5, 2004). "Octas de l'excellence - Intégration réussie !". Le Devoir (in French). Retrieved January 10, 2019.
  6. ^ Adriano, Lyle. "Emerging automobile technologies could put insurers out of work". Insurance Business. Retrieved 2019-01-10.
  7. ^ "Desjardins launches usage-based insurance program in Ontario, Quebec". Canadian Underwriter. 2013-05-13. Retrieved 2019-01-08.
  8. ^ "Insurance companies can track your driving habits with wireless gadget". Retrieved 2019-01-08.
  9. ^ a b "The Group Factor". Canadian Underwriter. Retrieved 2019-01-10.
  10. ^ "Custumer support". thepersonal.com. Retrieved 2018-05-28.
  11. ^ "Desjardins to offer weather alerts on mobile apps | Canadian Insurance". www.citopbroker.com. Retrieved 2018-07-06.
  12. ^ "J.D. Power Reports: Home Insurance Industry Not Meeting Gen Y Expectations for Customer Interaction". Retrieved 2018-10-03.
  13. ^ "Rising Customer Expectations, Poor Communication Drive Down Satisfaction with Auto Insurers, J.D. Power Finds". Retrieved 2018-10-03.
  14. ^ "Usage-based insurance coming to a car near you? - National | Globalnews.ca". globalnews.ca. 2013-08-07. Retrieved 2019-01-10.
  15. ^ Armstrong, Laura. "Automotive: Green light for new technology offers savings for drivers". www.ottawacitizen.com. Retrieved 2019-01-08.
  16. ^ Press, The Canadian (2013-08-19). "Tracking device may cut car insurance". Mississauga.com. Retrieved 2019-01-08.
  17. ^ a b "Privacy Pause". Canadian Underwriter. Retrieved 2019-01-08.
  18. ^ a b Adriano, Lyle. "Insurer violated crash victim's privacy rights: Watchdog". Insurance Business. Retrieved 2019-01-10.
  19. ^ "What the federal privacy watchdog did after an insurer pried into crash victim's credit rating". National Post. 2017-03-29. Retrieved 2018-07-06.

External links[edit]

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