We are launching our annual 2018/19 Motor Insurance and Takaful Survey to find Malaysia’s Best Car Insurance and Takaful company. In the next 4 months Malaysian drivers can fill out a survey to share their experience with insurance companies. Every week, we give out Cash Prizes and at the end of the campaign we will raffle away smart phone to all the participants. Terms & Conditions apply.

Malaysia has over 20 car insurance and takaful companies that each provide different prices and quality of service. This is similar like hotels. Some hotels cost more, but provide 5 star service. Some hotels are low-budget, but provide less services to the customer and only have 1-2 stars. Our independent math model shows you which insurance company provide 5 star service to the customer and can cost more.

This year you can win weekly prizes of cash and a grand prize of either an iPhone 8 or Samsung S9. You choose.

Check out our page about past winners and prizes here. 

This year is the 4th time that iBanding is running the Motor Insurance Survey. Last year Etiqa Takaful and Takaful Malaysia won the Award for Best Takaful company. Etiqa won the Best Car Insurance Award for conventional insurance.

The ranking and awards are based on actual feedback from thousands of Malaysians that have a valid motor insurance. This is important, because only if you drive a car and have insurance, you can have experience with your car insurance. The survey is not a popularity contest, in which the company with the most vote wins. Through scientifically proven questions, the actual customer experience of drivers are captured to rank the insurance companies against each other.

Advantages of iBanding’s Car Insurance and Takaful Ranking

• Ranking is based on customer experience, not popularity vote
• Winners are selected by an independent math model, not from a panel of paid judges
• Survey is not sponsored by insurance companies

Step 1:
Fill out the survey

Click on the link to start filling out the survey. They survey has 10-15 questions and can be filled out in less than 5 minutes.

Step 2:
Confirm your email

You will get an email to verify your email address. This is important to make sure that your entry is valid.

Step 3:
Share for extra chances

You will get an individual Lucky URL that you can share with your friends to increase your chances of winning. Every time a friend fills out the survey with your Lucky URL you get 3 extra tickets to win the grand prize.

Have questions? Leave us a comment below

In May 2018, I experienced my first flight cancellation on AirAsia, which resulted in an overnight stay because there was no other flight scheduled on that day. In the below article, I describe AirAsia handled the flight cancellation and how I made claims against my travel insurance with Allianz and AirAsia that could pay me as much as RM 700.

This is my full ordeal and lessons learned, and I hope that readers too will obtain some understanding and insights into their rights as a passenger when experiencing such an event. Also, make sure to read our Travel Insurance Malaysia guide to stay updated about latest promotions and relevant information. 

Why did I buy travel insurance for this trip?

I travelled to Gold Coast, Australia from Kuala Lumpur in May 2018. The currency exchange rate at the time was almost 1 to 3, i.e. 1 Australian Dollar (AUD) was worth RM 3. That meant that everything in Australia was at least 3 times more expensive than in Malaysia. A normal lunch that costs RM 12 in Malaysia costs AUD 12 in Australia. But that AUD 12 is RM 36 after conversion. Expensive for me.

The trip was a big investment (flight, hotel, food and park visits), hence I did not have much extra money if something were to go wrong. I could not imagine how much a visit to the doctors would cost me in case I got sick during my travel, so I decided to buy Travel Care from Allianz. Why Allianz? Because I wanted to go for scuba diving while in Australia and Allianz covers for that particular extreme sport whereas many travel insurances do not.

Here’s what happened on the way home from Gold Coast, Australia:

May 27th @ 18:00

My flight was scheduled to fly out at 20:25 local time and arrive in Kuala Lumpur at 17:10. That was the plan.

I arrived at the airport almost 3 hours earlier because I needed to check in my luggage, but also I looked forward to go home. I checked in my luggage and waited at the gate.

May 27th @ 20:25

We still did not start boarding the plane. Finally an announcement was made that the flight would be delayed.

May 27th @ 21:40

We were informed via the PA system that our flight has been cancelled and that there will be no more flights tonight to Kuala Lumpur. The next flight will be tomorrow morning. We were instructed to leave the gate.

This was not my first flight delay nor cancellation so I did have  a little bit of experience. I knew that I had to find the AirAsia service desk to get a hotel paid by the airline.

Here is the rule that airlines follow:

If you are leaving for your trip from your home country and the flight is cancelled, the airline will not pay for anything. You are expected to just go home and come back later when the flight is scheduled to take off again. However, travel insurance will pay you some money, but more on that topic later.

But if you are already on your trip when the flight is cancelled, then the airline will provide you with food voucher and accommodation. You might wonder how can they tell if you are on a trip. If you have a travel visa to Australia, then you are clearly on a trip away from home.

Many people do not know that the airline will provide accommodation for travelers, so many end up paying for the extra night stay out of their own pocket – good for the airline because they save money, but bad for you, if you did not know and paid for the hotel on your own.

May 27th @ 22:00

At the AirAsia counter, we were informed that our new flight will go early next morning and that hotel and breakfast will be provided. The buses were waiting outside to bring us to the hotel.

I was really fortunate that I had booked AirAsia’s Premium Flex for this flight. The main reason I bought it was because of the luggage and hot seat selection. I needed to have luggage for the trip, so either the Value Pack or the Premium Flex were an option. I decided with the Premium Flex because of the extra hot seat. The flight time was 8 hours to Australia and 8hr and 40 mins back to Malaysia, so the extra leg room was important, especially since both flights were overnight flights.

How did Premium Flex help?

With the flight being cancelled, hundreds of people were lined up at the AirAsia counter to change their flight and get accommodation. Only a few people had booked business class or Premium Flex like me, so we were able to use the much shorter VIP line. Yeahhh. Lucky me. Not an advertisement for AirAsia, but this was really convenient.

May 27th @ 22:20

I arrived at the Mantra Hotel. Since I exited the bus very quickly, I was able to check in quickly. The staff was friendly and informative. Unfortunately, when I asked them about dinner option, they informed me that everything was closed. Even Domino’s Pizza stopped delivering at 22:00. So, no dinner and food since I was planning to have dinner on board of the airplane. Also no breakfast the next morning since the hotel starts serving breakfast at 6:30 and the bus leaves at 6:30. I went to my room, which was very nice and spacious, showered and went to bed hungry.

May 28th @ 6:00am

I woke up at 6:00am to get ready and headed down to the lobby.  The bus was already waiting to go to the airport. I looked and found a nearby pastry shop, where I could buy myself some croissant and a coffee.

While waiting for the others to board the bus, I checked out the hotel a bit. The place was really nice, but unfortunately, I did not get the chance to enjoy the facilities.  It was too late yesterday and too early today. I took a picture of the swimming pool as a memory.

May 28th @ 7:00am

I arrive at the airport, but no one from AirAsia was there. Everyone was a little grumpy and not happy with AirAsia because why have brought us to the airport so early if no one was going to be there. Also, many of them did not have breakfast, because the staff told us earlier that breakfast would be provided.

May 28th @ 7:21am

Luckily the wait time was not too long. 21 minutes later, an AirAsia staff finally showed up and started changing our tickets. However, once I received my ticket, I did not get any breakfast voucher. Only after I followed up and asked for it did the AirAsia staff provided me with food vouchers of AUD 10 each.

Later, I found out that the AirAsia staff did not provide food vouchers to everyone. Only when you ask for it, would they give you the voucher. If you do not ask, you do not get the voucher. Well, I do not think it is good practice by AirAsia. I understand that this method saves the company probably thousands of ringgits, but a normal traveler gets cheated by it. Not a practice that I would have expected from AirAsia.

I asked the staff if I could get a confirmation letter for the flight cancellation/delay, but she kindly informed me that we would need to go to the service counter in Kuala Lumpur to get it. It makes sense because the new flight could still experience further delay. This way the actual delay time could only be safely recorded in Kuala Lumpur.

May 28th @ 19:40 KL time

Many hours later, I finally arrived back at the KLIA 2 airport. Once I got my luggage, I headed straight to the AirAsia service counter. I needed to get written confirmation from the airline that my flight was cancelled and rescheduled in order to claim from my travel insurance. Also, I needed to find out how many hours the flight was delayed. This took quite a while as they were only 2 counters for the whole airport. But I knew it was important to claim from the travel insurance, so I waited patiently.

May 29th @ 12:00pm KL time

After I finally got home and rested, I went online to do the claim.  Below is how I did the claim for AirAsia and Allianz Travel Guard. So for this flight, I had two travel insurances. One from Allianz and one from Tune that came automatically with the Premium Flex when we upgraded to Hot Seat. 

What can we expect from our Travel Insurance?

Tune Protect

The Tune Protect insurance came with a 1-hour On-time Guarantee which we definitely qualified for because the flight was delayed for more than 12 hours. Looking at the fine print, Tune Protect pays RM 100. It is not much, but it is something.

Allianz Travel Care

Looking at Allianz insurance fine print, we should get RM 300 for every 6-hour delay up to a maximum of RM 2,000. 

Now you might wonder, why are we looking at flight delay when the flight was actually cancelled? The reason is that AirAsia has provided a replacement flight the next day for us, so the flight cancellation became a flight delay of more than 12 hours. So in total, I expect to  get paid the amount of RM 600 from Allianz. That’s quite a lot of money that would pay for some of the travel inconveniences I had to endure.

How to make a travel insurance claim from Tune Protect insurance?

Claiming from Tune insurance was really easy. I went to the webpage https://claims.tuneprotect.com/

<click image to enlarge>

There I had to just enter the flight booking number and all my information showed up automatically. I selected the “1 hour On-time Guarantee” that I would like to claim for. It also prompted me for my address and bank account information where the money should be transferred to.  Once I clicked submit, I received a confirmation email with my case number.

Wow. I was impressed. This was so easy. All I had to provide was the flight booking number and some personal information. No paper document were needed. Not even the flight delay confirmation letter that I collected from the airport was needed. This is really easy and makes me comfortable to buy travel insurance from AirAsia. I guess it is simpler for them because the flight was on AirAsia and they could easily check internally for the flight delay.

The next day, I received a confirmation email from Tune Protect stating that the claim has been approved and that I will receive the RM100 via bank transfer and that if I don’t receive it in the next 14 days, then I should contact them again. I checked my bank account and in actual fact the RM100 was banked in on June 11th. In total it took Tune Protect only 8 working days to pay out the claim.

• May 29th, 2018: Submitted claim
• May 30th, 2018: Confirmation that claim is approved.
• June 11th, 2018: Claim paid out.

I am really happy with my experience with Tune. Now let’s see how Allianz is doing.

How to make a travel insurance claim from Allianz?

So first, I went online to look at the claims procedure for travel insurance. It basically says to download the claims form and send it to the insurance company. It did not say that you can send it via email, but want to give it a try via email to see if Allianz would accept it. Here is the link to the form in case you also need to make a claim: Allianz Travel Care Claims Form

<click image to enlarge>

Since this was for a flight delay, I also had to fill out the following section.

<click image to enlarge>

I filled out the form online with a PDF editor and sent the claims form together with the AirAsia flight ticket and boarding pass to the email address: [email protected]

There was a reason why I didn’t send the written confirmation letter from AirAsia to the email address. I believe that many travelers do not know that they need to collect it so I wanted to test if Allianz would still pay out the claim without this document. If they do, then it would be awesome and very customer oriented by Allianz. If not, we will send them the letter that we have already received.

After we submitted we received a generic acknowledgement email together with a Reference ID.

June 14th @ 10:00am

I received a call from the Allianz claims department, saying that the claim has been approved and that we need to submit an e-payment form to Allianz to receive the money. The full instruction from them was to send the e-payment form as well as the header of the bank statement so that they could double check that the details in the e-payment form were correct with the bank information. Allianz claims that there have been many cases where people sent in the wrong information.

To make things easier: Here is the Allianz E-payment Form that you can download and send together at right from the beginning, so hopefully your claim can be handled faster than mine.

Until today I still have not received the payment or feedback from Allianz regarding my travel insurance claim. Below the timeline up until today:

• May 29th, 2018: Submitted claims form online via email
• May 14th, 2018: Request for e-payment form
• June 11th, 2018: Follow up email to [email protected]. No response. 
• June 26th, 2018: Still no update or payment from Allianz. Follow up email to [email protected]. 
• June 27th, 2018: Still no response from Allianz. Called the call center under 1-300-88-1028 to find out what the status of the claim is. The staff informed me that the payment was made just yesterday and that the payment should be in by 3 working days.
• June 30th, 2018: Payment of RM 600 has been made to my bank account. It is great that the claim finally has been paid out, but besides the bank deposit, I did not get any notice from Allianz. I did not get even an email. Hopefully, they can improve on it in the future.

Conclusion

It was fortunate that I thought about buying travel insurance for this trip to Australia. The whole incident cause a lot of inconvenience as well as additional cost to me. And because the flight cancellation happened at night, I did not have the chance to enjoy the extra day in Australia. This incident had cost me:

• One day less vacation, because I had to take the extra day off
• More than 14 hours of inconvenience without dinner
• Vending machine dinner and extra breakfast at the hotel

On the plus side,

• I was able to record this Flight Cancellation / Flight Delay article with AirAsia and Allianz as the Travel Insurance company.
• Received RM 100 from Tune and potentially RM 600 from Allianz this week.

In the future, I will definitely buy travel insurance for flights outside Malaysia. After this experience, I feel that claiming against a travel policy by Tune on an AirAsia flight will be much faster and more convenient. So thumbs up for their convenient online portal and speedy service.

Allianz Travel Care is still good, because it is one of the few companies that offer cover for scuba diving. I am glad that they accepted the claim via email and without the Travel Confirmation letter. This is really customer-oriented. They still need to improve on their communication with the customer because I did not receive any update on the claim. Also, the claim surely can be paid out faster than 30 days. AirAsia has proven that it can be done.

Your Cybersecurity Risk.

Operating in the technology services industry requires your business to stay on top of rapidly evolving systems, software updates, client needs and so much more. Keeping pace with these development is extremely tough and increases the level of risk that an IT professional would have to go through. Here are some examples of IT professionals that may be affected.

What Insurance Should An Internet Business Purchase?

A) All Risk

The All Risk is an insurance package policy that is often used to provide a comprehensive coverage for small business who want to protect their own business equipment such as expensive software, computers, monitors, cloud-based system, etc.

However, the business nature of IT professionals is different from other professions. Majority of IT personnels would normally bring home office equipment such as laptops in order to finish their work and meet deadlines. In case a fire-related accident were to happen at home and causes damage to the computer, this insurance would be liable to cover the cost of the damage.

For an IT business to take up an All Risk insurance policy, it should specifically state the following:

• Type of Equipment: Serial Number and Total Sum Insured.
• Policy restriction: Whole Malaysia or Office Only

Insurance protection for equipment anywhere  in Malaysia is more expensive than protection only for the office. 

 

 

B) Cyber Liability

A cyber related IT insurance policy is more relevant to companies that are involved within the e-commerce space. With recent news such as the CIMB Data Breach and even the Facebook Data Breach, the security of client information has become of paramount importance.

Since the majority of start-up businesses are inclined towards technology as their preferred business venture, many up and coming start-ups are exposed to high risk for the data breaches. If the protected information is compromised, then the start-up would be liable for the expenses claimed by their client.  

Cyber Liability Insurance can help pay for those expenses and reduce the burden on business cash flow.

Thus, IT businesses are encouraged to sign up for at least one, if not both insurance policies below:

1. The First-Party Cyber Liability Insurance

A coverage provided by Cyber Liability Insurance in their first section is as per below diagram:

 

2. Third Party Cyber Liability:

This coverage comes into effect when one of your clients suffers a data breach and sues your firm in order to recover the damages. Even more so if your company designed the programme for the client.

Take for example:

A majority of banks use software that are written by third-party coding companies. If and when there is a data breach, the losses may amount to millions of Ringgit. If the client feels unsatisfied with the report and/ or reasoning offered by your company, they have the right to sue your company for damages. Thus, the Third-Party Cyber Liability Insurance may help you pay the costs:

 

 

C. Employee Benefits Insurance

The Employee Benefits Insurance is a protection for your employees and offers additional incentives for them to stay within your organization. With growing importance on healthcare, it is important for the IT-related business to have a comprehensive healthcare package that covers inpatient and outpatient insurance benefits for their employees.

Additionally, employers can also add the Personal Accident insurance coverage into the employee insurance package for additional coverage pertaining to dangerous sports. By doing so, the employees would be covered for any accident during sports activities — which is where many personal accidents occur.

Author: Sharian Raj of NVS(M)SDN.BHD

NVS (M) Sdn Bhd is the company that brings to the public the Malaysia Business Insurance Calculator (SMCITY)

What is the Malaysia Business Insurance Calculator i.e. SMCITY?

Looking to remodel the cycle of for SMEs to get their business insurance, we built a customer-centric online product that is intuitive and responsive to fill the gap between insurance companies and their distribution channels.

Providing a guideline to open for negotiation with insurance company at an industry rate, our Business Calculator software allows business owners to calculate the average premium needed for their Business Insurance in relevance to each industry and/or Small Medium Enterprises.

After all, with the advent of technology, business owners are now expected to deal with insurance online. In the same way they use consumer friendly online technologies to deal with banking, payroll, accounting or sales, these online technologies equate to convenience.

Yesterday, iBanding had the great opportunity to attend the Press Release announcement of Policystreet, an insurance technology company. In the newly established co-working space Dojo KL, Policystreet has invited the press to announce its newly formed partnership with Allianz Malaysia Berhad. The co-founding Team of Policystreet, Yen Ming, Winnie and Wilson have done an amazing job in putting it together.

Zakri Mohd Khir, Group Chief Executive Officer as well as CEO of Allianz General Insurance took the stage to say a few words about the partnership: “In re-engineering the way we do business – being digital-centric and service oriented – Allianz is investing in digital strategies and deploying solutions that respond to industry challenges and take advantage of opportunities to reshape and improve the insurance business.”

Zakri further emphasized that insurance is a serious business and that insurance professionals remain important to educate Malaysians about insurance products. Because of the complex nature of insurance, Allianz will focus on working with digital intermediaries to provide online solutions. Policystreet is the first start-up to launch the digital version of intermediaries for Allianz.

Afterwards, Lee Yen Ming, Chief Executive Officer of PolicyStreet took the stage and said: “We are excited and honored to partner with the leading insurer in Malaysia. By integrating with Allianz, we are now able to offer convenience and flexibility.”

If you are looking for a great deal on travel insurance, Policystreet is offering up to 50% discount on Allianz travel insurance products. Offer is valid until April 30th, 2018.

Best Medical Card in Malaysia – 2019 Ultimate Guide

Imagine you are in a foreign country, just landed at the airport to enjoy your well deserved vacation and finding out that your bag is not there at the baggage claim area. What do you do in this kind of situation? 

 

In this article, we will share with you two ways to get compensated for all the inconveniences when your bags are delayed, damaged or lost. We will also share expert tips from frequent travelers on how to avoid these luggage problems and also to prepare you in case the unfortunate does happen to you.

In 2016, there were over 10 million bags mishandled worldwide. With the rising number of global travelers and new global routes each year, mistakes happen, especially when passengers and luggage move from one aircraft to another. This increases the risk of your luggage not showing up at the baggage claim area where they should. Imagine the disaster. If you are lucky, you may get them back a few hours or even days later. In the worst case scenario however, your bag may be lost forever along with all your precious belongings in it.

There are a number of ways a bag can be mishandled. In 2016, airline reports showed that 77% of bags were delayed due to mishandling during transfer, tagging and ticketing error, failure to load, airport customs error or even due to bad weather. Reports also showed that 16% of mishandled bags were damaged and 7% were lost or stolen. In fact, lost and delayed bags are the most common type of travel insurance claims around.

(Source: SITA Baggage Report 2017)

 

Get compensated for lost, damaged or delayed luggage

1. Travel insurance can save your long awaited great escape

Travel insurance is the best way to protect you financially when your luggage is delayed, damaged or lost. This is one of the reasons why many big travel agencies and airlines work together with insurance companies to offer travel insurance. 

Take AirAsia for instance. Any AirAsia Premium Flex, Premium Flatbed or Value Pack Seat customers get the Baggage Delay and the 1-hour On-time guarantee protection for free. In the case of baggage delays, you will get RM 120 if they are delayed for more than 6 hours. This applies exclusively when you fly with AirAsia.

Tokio Marine on the other hand, compensates you RM 200 if your baggage is delayed for the same duration of time. For every additional 6 hours, you get another RM 200, up to a maximum of RM 800. As long as you are insured by Tokio Marine, it covers you for any airline that you take.

This can be a huge help and money saver to you. With the money being compensated for your delayed luggage, you do not need to worry about spending your own money to purchase even the simplest things like a toothbrush and clothes. If you’re in a country with cold climate, the money can be spent well by buying a good jacket to keep you warm. On the other hand, if you are on a tropical island, the money can let you go out and buy a new set of bathing suit so you waste no vacation time at all.

You can also claim from the insurance company in the case of stolen luggage. Tokio Marine for example, will pay up to RM 5,000 for this. Just make sure that you do not put in any valuable items like a laptop and digital camera in your luggage because normally insurance company will not pay for those. Travel insurance is not responsible for your every single belonging and it certainly cannot replace all the precious memories that you could lose especially if you aren’t careful. But the payout does offer a decent amount to help you replace most of the items you have lost.  

2. Airlines, they can compensate for your baggage trouble too

The other type of reimbursement comes from the airlines themselves. Airlines can pay compensation regardless if you purchased a travel insurance or not. From airlines, you can claim up to a maximum of RM 6,200.  You can read more about it from the Malaysian Aviation Commission (MAVCOM). You will need to check with each airline separately on how much you can get. It is not as easy as travel insurance. This is why many airlines partner with insurance companies to make it more convenient for you. The key to keep in mind is that you can only claim from the airline or your insurance company. You cannot claim from both.

What should you do when your baggage is lost?

The baggage service desk is your friend

As soon as you realized your bag is not at the baggage claim area, head over to the baggage service desk. Each airport has at least one baggage service desk while larger airports will even have separate desk for each airline. So ask around and be sure to look for the right one.  You are required to provide all the necessary information when reporting for your lost luggage, such flight number, as well as description of your luggage, color, size, brand and type etc. You will also need to leave your contact details – phone number and address so they can deliver the bags to you once it is found.

Very important: Before you leave the baggage service desk make sure that you get some written confirmation from them that your bag is delayed. Also, get the contact number and website address to monitor and track your baggage recovery progress.

If you have travel insurance, check how long do you have to wait before you can claim from the insurance company. Most insurance companies will only pay out money after a delay of at least 6 hours. You can find that information online at the companies website or you can contact your insurance agent. Also, make sure that when you leave the baggage service desk that the date and time is recorded in the report. Knowing how much your travel insurance will provide you, will help you decide on how much to spend when shopping for replacement clothes or toiletries. When you go shopping, make sure that you keep all receipts, because some insurance companies will require you to produce the receipts when making your claim.

When you return from your vacation, immediately contact your insurance agent or insurance company to inform them about the incident. You will most likely need to fill out a form to make a claim.

How to prepare for or avoid baggage trouble?

It is nice to have the safety of travel insurance that helps you protect from unnecessary expenses when your luggage is delayed or stolen. However prevention is always better than cure.  So here are some proven tips from frequently travelers that can help you reduce the chance of delayed or lost baggage.

Tip 1: Avoid flights with many stop-overs, if possible

The fewer stop-overs your flight has, the fewer chances your bags will get lost. So if your flight route and your budget allows it, go for direct flights with as few stop-overs as possible.

 

Tip 2: Do not book flights with short stop-overs

When you cannot avoid stop-overs, common thinking is that you want to have the stop-over as short as possible, so that you can reach your final destination faster. However, the expert traveler will make sure that there is enough time between flights, in case the earlier flight is delayed. There are many reasons why a flight can be delayed, such as bad weather and aircraft technical complications. This makes it all very likely that you and your luggage will not arrive at you final destination at the same time.

 

Tip 3: Mark your luggage

One of the most common reasons for lost luggage is that it was mistakenly taken by someone else from the baggage claim area. Unfortunately, bags all too often look the same. So make yours unique by putting a flashy ribbon or sticker so that when they come onto the baggage claim belt, you can easily identify them from the rest, and other people do not mistaken them for their own.

 

Tip 4: Put a luggage tag inside

Many of us will put a luggage tag outside so that in case the luggage is lost, the finder has information about the owner. Unfortunately, the reason why bags are permanently lost is that the airline tag as well as your luggage tag is gone or unreadable. The airline will then check inside if there is any information about the owner. If the airline is unable to find any information about the owner anywhere inside or outside the luggage, it will then be declared lost.  To be even safer, have identification tags both inside and outside!

 

So that’s it, easy tips for you to follow the next time you go on your trip. For more info, watch the video below. Don’t forget to follow us on our Facebook page to get more travel tips!

 

This week we caught up with Insurance agents from Melaka. In this feature, they give us the inside story of how they would normally approach customers and what you can expect when dealing with them.

Here is what they have to say.

Rating: 

Area: Ayer Keroh, Melaka

Agency: VKA Wealth Planners Sdn Bhd

Pang is a licensed financial planner who specializes in a wide variety of services, from insurance to investment planning, From risk management to estate planning and from tax planning to business succession planning.  

She aims to represent your interest and will help you find a solution to your financial issues.

It usually depends on the customer needs. What is the purpose of their intentions to purchase? Is it for self-protection, is it to get protection for the family, or is it for only health purposes? No two customers are the same.

I think it’s important that I compile information about my customers. It can be in many different ways and the way I approach them about the information is equally as important. Because not everybody is open to sharing their personal information. They may be reluctant at times but it’s my job to make them comfortable in sharing those details with me and eventually help them.

Rating: 

Area: Masjid Tanah, Melaka

Agency: Akademi SWA

We know that at times speaking to an insurance agent can be a drag. But Muhammad proves that to be wrong. When we spoke to Muhammad, he was a pleasant person to chat with.

He is always willing to share his honest feedback and definitely willing to advise you constructively about insurance.  

Muhammad is a full-time medical advisor and a General Takaful Ejen representing Syarikat Takaful Malaysia Berhad, Takaful IKHLAS Berhad, and Etiqa Takaful Berhad.

Typically I would ask customers their purpose for taking up insurance. Is it for self, for family or is it for health purposes or are they looking for insurance hibah?

As much as the purpose of taking up insurance is important, it helps to know how much they can or are willing to commit because with that information I’m able to make the right proposal that suits them.

It’s crucial to know those facts because, in the future, liabilities may change and can be different over time. In a way, this is part of a relationship building.

I always believe that you must be willing and open to get to know your clients. Get to know their financial background and their current life state.

Rating: 

Area: Melaka

Agency: Takaful Ikhlas Afsheen Falah Agency

A cheerful and friendly person. It’s apparent in her photo too. Mazween offers Takaful plans consisting of medical card, child education, investment, protection, hibah including Badal Haji.

Currently, Mazween represents Takaful Ikhlas.

I prefer exploring my customer needs. Some may be looking for medical card in that particular time of their lives while others are looking for investment plan. Whatever that need may be, I’ll do my best to fit them.

Get to know the person first. Everybody has different needs. Some may tell me that they want an insurance with living benefits and cash value while others are specifically looking for something that can take care of their family’s future well-being. 

Rating: 

Area: Ayer Keroh, Melaka

Agency: Usrah Associates

Based in Ayer Keroh, Syawalludin is an insurance agent who strives to provide the best investment plans.

As a graduate from University Utara Malaysia (UUM), Syawalludin represents  Takaful Ikhlas offering a range of insurance policies such as medical, critical illness, protection, retirement, financial planning, savings, and investments.

I’d like to think that I can only offer my clients something they can truly afford. And that is why I find it so important to ask them about their most comfortable budget. If you ask me, it very much depends on their financial status.

Always ensure to understand them and get to know them. It’s part of the fact-finding exercise.

iBanding has made it again into the Malaysian newspapers. This time an article was published in “The Edge Malaysia”. Under the title “Bringing transparency to the agency force”, iBanding’s insurance agent directory was fully covered in one full page. The key benefits of Insurance Agent Directory were described in full detail. To our great amazement, the journalist Laili Ismail captured all the details very accurately. We could not have wished for more. Also mentioned were the Insurance Company Directory as well as  iBanding’s iBantu Mobile App that helps customers connect better with insurance agents.

The bottom part of the article highlights some of the preliminary results that we have gained through our annual Motor Insurance Survey.

To read the article, click on this link Bringing transparency to the agency force

PDF version of the article here: Bringing transparency to the agency force

 

Why do some insurance agent become successful while others flounder?

Their habits.

It’s their little distinctive routines, methodology, and philosophies that drive their daily activities, which eventually morphs them to become highly effective insurance agents.

It’s their hunger, being available in all kinds of shapes and ways to their clients, genuinely care and always looking to help clients, willing to fail because failing means success in progress, having a sales pipeline that is fueled by activity and not hope, focus and perseverance.  

This week, we take a look at insurance agents hailing from East Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak. All of which have these great qualities in them and each are successful in their own field.  

Rating: 

Area: Kota Kinabalu, Sabah

Agency: TOMMY

Based in Kota Kinabalu, Tommy represents AIA, AIA Takaful, and AIG, Tommy offers various insurance products ranging from life insurance to conventional insurance to investment and retirement plans.

It truly depends on the client’s need. I mostly offer life and health insurance.

Any questions that my clients have, I’ll make sure to do my best to answer them. That would be my utmost priority. Because at the end of the day, the more my clients know the better.

Rating: 

Area: Kuching, Sarawak

Agency: Jay & Ray Services LLP

Working with Jay & Jay Services LLP, Jayden provides all sorts of insurance solution ranging from General, Motor, Life Takaful Insurance and business insurance. Currently, he represents Zurich Takaful, MPI Generali, and Zurich Insurance Malaysia.

I don’t think I can pinpoint anything specific because it really depends on my client’s need. In order for me to know what they truly need, I make sure to run thorough customer analysis or see if there are current issues that I can address in relations to their current insurance status.

Only then I will proceed to propose a solution accordingly.

My customers’ insurance needs always come first.

Rating: 

Area: Sandakan, Sabah

Agency: Usrah Associates

Nadiah is considered as a trustworthy and an approachable person by her customers. Based in Sandakan, Nadiah aims to always provide the best services to her clients. As an insurance agent, she specializes in Motor and Life Takaful.

Definitely educational plan and medical plan. Many people think that their personal savings are sufficient when in fact it is nowhere near enough or sustainable, especially for their future wellbeing.

I try to build lifetime relationships with my clients. Even though some may not want to hear my take on insurance, they would still be willing to maintain their relationship with me.

That I think is important first and foremost. You never know when the day comes, when they would turn to me for insurance advise.

Rating: 

Area: Kuching, Sarawak

Agency: Romeo Kuan

Based in Kuching, Romeo is dubbed as a very helpful individual and is always keeping his customers updated on their policies. As an insurance agent, he offers all types of insurance solutions from RHB Insurance, Prudential Assurance, and Takaful.

My product recommendations are focused towards life insurance and medical card.

As an insurance agent, I believe that getting to know my customers and understanding them as individuals is very important. It’s always good to understand what they truly need first.

If I set my goals on selling, selling and closing, I’m setting myself for early failure. It means I’m not someone who wants what’s best for my customers when that is essentially what all agents should aim to do.