britannia rescue article
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LV= Britannia Rescue has grownconsiderably over the last coupleof years and is now the fourthlargest recovery company.
Britannia Rescue was established 31 years
ago and originally offered recovery services
exclusively to members of the Civil Service
Motoring Association (CSMA). However,
Britannia Rescue was acquired by LV= in 2007,
which allowed it to develop its customer base,
enhance its capability and broaden its range of
services.
LV= Britannia Rescue now offers recovery
services to a range of customers, through var-
ious affinity schemes and partnerships, as well
as directly to customers either by phone or
online. As a result, the company has seen an
increase in the number of customers it helps.
However, the company’s focus still remains on
offering its customers excellent service with
value for money cover.
Although LV= Britannia Rescue has evolved
from its civil service roots, it is still located in
Huddersfield, West Yorkshire. The award-win-
ning business currently coordinates a nation-
wide network of around 300 independent
regional agents who oversee the work of
more than 3,000 roadside technicians who all
enjoy unique local knowledge and experience.
Since joining the two brands together and
creating LV= Britannia Rescue, the company
has gone from strength to strength and has
more than doubled the number of customers
it helps. In fact, during 2013 the number of
policies increased by around 30%, and the
company is hoping to be able to continue this
growth in 2014.
Commenting on the company’s growth,
Mike Hawcroft, LV= Britannia Rescue
Network Manager, said: “LV= has brought
Britannia Rescue’s service excellence, expert-
ise and extensive network capability to a much
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RECOVERY: LV= BRITANNIA RESCUE
KEEPINGYOUMOVINGProud of their excellent service and fastresponse times, LV= Britannia Rescue hasbeen helping get their customers back onthe road for 30 years
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wider marketplace. LV= is one of the largest car
insurers in the UK and boasts a good reputation
across the broker market. The acquisition has
opened doors to Britannia Rescue in the broker
world, as well other partnership opportunities
through LV=’s already established relationships.”
Since the creation of LV= Britannia Rescue,
the breakdown company has achieved some sig-
nificant milestones. It is particularly proud of its
top rating by the independent financial research
company, Defaqto, which awarded both LV=
Britannia Rescue’s UK Recovery & Home Assist
cover and UK & European Assist cover its high-
est five-star rating in April 2014. In addition to
this, LV= Britannia Rescue was also named as the
second best breakdown provider in the 2013
Auto Express Driver Power survey.
MANAGING THE NETWORKLV= Britannia Rescue uses a network of recov-
ery agents called COBRA (Confederation of
Britannia Rescue Agents) to provide roadside
Although LV=Britannia Rescue has evolved from its civil service roots, it is still located in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire.
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and recovery services to its customers. It values
its relationship with each agent it works with
and believes it’s the company’s close relationship
with these agents that has enabled it to create
and maintain the high level of service it provides
for its customers.
The breakdown company recognises the
importance of ensuring agents regularly refresh
their knowledge and keep abreast of changes in
the industry. This is why it supports agents with
an array of different training opportunities. For
example, it provides customer care and team
management training; it helps agents become
certified in the safe recovery and storage of
contaminated fuel; subsidises discounted train-
ing courses; and funds certification costs.
For example, last year new legislation was
introduced for people who drive vehicles over
3.5 tonnes, which means they now need the
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RECOVERY: LV= BRITANNIA RESCUE
LV= Britannia Rescue offers a wide rangeof breakdown cover, from basic roadsideassistance to UK and European assistancefor customers who drive overseas.
Over the years, LV= Britannia Rescuehas extended the range of cover that itoffers customers. Previously, it offered achoice of three cover levels, but this hasbeen increased to five as it recognisedthe need for flexibility and choice, givingcustomers the opportunity to tailor theirbreakdown cover according to their individual needs or circumstances.
The five levels of cover offered are:Roadside Assist, Roadside & HomeAssist, UK Recovery, UK Recovery &Home Assist, UK & European Assist.
The basic package Roadside Assist
provides assistance more than ¼ milefrom home and recovery up to 10 milesfrom the location of the breakdown.Further services are offered across the other products including home assistance, recovery to anywhere in theUK, hire cars or alternative transport plusovernight accommodation, and cover in
Europe. The UK & European Assist package provides all these services.
LV= Britannia Rescue breakdown covers the vehicle however PersonalCover can be added to the policy extending the coverage to any vehicle inthe UK with a spouse or partner beingcovered for free under this entitlement.
LV= BRITANNIA RESCUE PRODUCTS
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TO HELP DRIVERS COMPLETE THE PERIODICHOURS OF TRAINING REQUIRED,LV= BRITANNIA RESCUE TEAMED UP WITHTHE INSTITUTE OF VEHICLE RECOVERY(IVR), AND OFFERED SUBSIDISED COURSES TO ITS AGENTS.
Driver CPC qualification. Furthermore, drivers
are responsible for making sure they have the
qualification, including covering the costs and
carrying out 35 hours of periodic training.
To help drivers complete the periodic hours
of training required, LV= Britannia Rescue
teamed up with the Institute of Vehicle
Recovery (IVR), and offered subsidised courses
to its agents. All subsidised courses have credits
that can be counted towards the periodic train-
ing needed in order to achieve the CPC qualifi-
cation. By subsidising this training, LV= Britannia
Rescue made it more accessible to its agents.
As well as offering agents regular training,
the Huddersfield based breakdown company
also supports its network by negotiating sub-
stantial discounts on industry specific products.
Mike Hawcroft comments: “Towards the end of
last year we negotiated a deal for a discounted
On-Board Diagnostics (OBD) scanner system.
We bought around 500 units at cost price and
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were able to pass these savings on to our agent
network.”
The OBD scanners brought significant and
rapid advantages to operatives who use of them.
Mike Hawcroft commented: “OBD scanners
help show customers what issues are affecting
their vehicle, as well showing that the operative
has the knowledge and expertise to deal with
the problem either at the roadside or in a local
garage. The scanners help build confidence
between the agent and the customer, which
consequently builds confidence between the
customer and LV= Britannia Rescue”.
LV= Britannia Rescue is aware that the
COBRA network faces many challenges. For
example, it was one of the first companies to
increase its mileage rate, as it recognised
increases in fuel prices would negatively impact
agents. It has also looked at other ways it can
incorporate further efficiency savings into the
operation.
A couple of years ago LV= Britannia Rescue
introduced a new initiative to eliminate long dis-
tance recoveries. The breakdown company set
up a new Recovery Management Team to focus
on arranging for a customer’s vehicle to be
repaired at the roadside or locally if their
roundtrip exceeds 100 miles. Whilst customers
would still need to buy the car parts, the
Recovery Management Team would help cover
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the labour costs. As well as benefitting the cus-
tomers, this initiative also benefits local agents
who carry out the customer’s repairs. Also,
LV= Britannia Rescue saves money on fuel costs,
as well as reducing its carbon emissions.
COMMUNICATING LV= Britannia Rescue covers all of the UK and
Northern and Southern Ireland. So to ensure
the level of customer service never drops, it
monitors its agents work closely. For instance, it
remains in regular contact by using Agent
Indicator and Member Satisfaction days. Not
only does this help to maintain a high level of
customer service, but it can also highlight areas
for improvement.
Mike Hawcroft explained: “The majority of
our communication is dealt with by ANS
through Turbo Dispatch utilising garage agent
management systems, such as APEX, Garage
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“WE SELECT CUSTOMERS AT RANDOM TO COMPLETE A QUESTIONNAIRE ABOUT THEIR EXPERIENCE WITHUS. THESE QUESTIONNAIRES ARE IMPORTANT TO US AS THEY TELL US WHAT CUSTOMERS LIKE ORDON’T LIKE, WHICH MEANS WE CAN CONTINUALLYIMPROVE OUR SERVICE.”
MIKE HAWCROFT NETWORK MANAGER
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Eddie Hunt, Transport & LogisticsMagazine, said the support shown from the company’s suppliers wasunprecedented. It highlighted therespect they have for the company aswell as LV=Britannia Rescue’s ongoingsupport of their development and business endeavours.
“I have been running features for four tofive months now and I have never had aresponse like I have with theLV= Britannia Rescue article, it has beenfantastic! It seems that everyone wants toappear alongside LV= Britannia Rescueand show they are working with them!”
Manager and V-Track. We use these systems to
communicate electronically and monitor the
network.” Mike also explained that all agents go
through an approval process and must have
PAS43 accreditation, as well as robust insurance.
LV= Britannia Rescue check these annually.
In addition, when a customer requires assis-
tance, agents accept an instruction electronical-
ly. This is time-stamped as soon as LV= Britannia
Rescue issues it and again when it receives a
receipt of acknowledgment. The agent then
accepts it and produces an estimated time of
arrival. Agents continue to communicate during
the process to let head office know when an
operative has been allocated, when they are en
route to a customer and when they have arrived
on scene. All this information is archived elec-
tronically to create individual monthly data for
each agent.
As well as monitoring agents’ work,
LV= Britannia Rescue also conducts regular sur-
veys to gather customer feedback. Mike
Hawcroft explains: “We select customers at ran-
dom to complete a questionnaire about their
experience with us. These questionnaires are
important to us as they tell us what customers
like or don’t like, which means we can continu-
ally improve our service.”
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“CUSTOMER SATISFACTION ISTHE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO US. OUR CUSTOMERS TELL US THAT THE SERVICE THEY GET AT THE ROADSIDE IS SECOND TO NONE.”
PETER HORTON MANAGING DIRECTOR
Mike Hawcroft added: “We also use an inde-
pendent telephone-based customer satisfaction
ratings company to complement our customer
questionnaires. Each month, this company will
call customers to gather even more feedback on
the service they receive.”
Peter Horton, Managing Director of LV=
Road Rescue, added: “Customer satisfaction is
the most important thing to us. Our customers
tell us that the service they get at the roadside
is second to none and we are working continu-
ally with our agents to improve on areas we feel
we need to. Our service speaks for itself.”
EXCELLENT PERFORMANCE LV= Britannia Rescue recognises excellent per-
formance and regularly rewards agents for it.
This year alone it has held six social events to
reward individual agents for their high perform-
ance ratings.
LV= Britannia Rescue also offers agents a
number of agent benefits. For example, it offers
personal accident insurance to all its network’s
employees, whether that’s the people who visit
customers at the roadside or the people who
work in the office.
The Huddersfield based breakdown company
believes that it receives high customer satisfaction
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rates because of the agents it works with and
the employees who handle customer’s calls.
LV= Britannia Rescue recruits people who have
excellent customer service skills and are willing to
go the extra mile for its customers. In addition, it
offers its people regular training and all the tools
they need to help customers in any situation.
LOOKING AHEADLV= Britannia Rescue has big ambitions for the
future and is hoping to service one million cus-
tomers within the next two years. It will accom-
plish this by building upon its established reputa-
tion and continuing to introduce new initiatives
that both enhance the company’s efficiency and
the customer’s experience.
The breakdown company is planning on
growing its portfolio through a multi-channel
approach. This will include working directly with
customers, as well as with other financial insti-
tutions and insurer partners. It also has big plans
to expand its presence in the insurance broker
marketplace.
Alongside this, LV= Britannia Rescue will
continue to invest in its people and attract new
talent in the marketplace, whilst continuing to
support the loyal and highly valued network of
independent garage agents. Certainly, COBRA is
the company’s greatest asset, as it delivers a gen-
uine competitive advantage to the company’s
business endeavours.
www.lv.com/breakdown-coverTel: 0800 022 3948
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