Omniasig lands lucrative deal with Dacia

“And, for better risk coverage, we warmly recommend you Omniasig insurance.” This is probably the way that discussions between Dacia dealers and buyers will end as of next week. The partnership with Dacia, scheduled to be signed next Monday, will propel Omniasig on the first position in the race for a $100m market – full auto insurance.
The increased demand for new cars – made in Romania or imported – has sharpened the fight between insurance companies. They are no longer focusing only on the customer, but are beginning to aim straight at carmakers or, for the more expensive, imported cars – at the leasing companies.
Thus, Porsche customers had to buy insurance only from Generali until recently, while those buying a car through Volksbank Leasing are advised to buy insurance from Allianz.
Romanian carmakers seem quite taken with Omniasig, considering that both Daewoo and, more recently, Dacia have decided to conclude partnerships with the insurance company.
“We have partnerships with Omniasig, Asit and even Asirom. We link our decision to the potential of the respective companies in certain areas. However, Omniasig holds the largest share,” says Valeriu tones, public relations manager with Daewoo Automobile Dacia.
Whereas the business connection between Daewoo and Omniasig goes back a long way, the partnership with Dacia will be signed at the beginning of next week. Dacia “will recommend” Omniasig “to all of its customers,” while all the Dacia cars insured with Omniasig will be repaired at the carmaker’s service units.
With about 50,000 cars sold every year and considering policies worth 130-150 dollars annually, if no more than 80% of Dacia customers take its advice (which is extremely tempting if the offer is supported by discounts or the premium is included in the car’s price), 6-7 million dollars will go to Omniasig’s accounts, that is almost half of its 2001 car insurance revenues (14.6 million dollars).
Dacia officials did not comment on the alliance, but it seems that the deal was originated by the carmaker’s dissatisfaction with the partnership concluded with Asirag. Renault holds 20% in Asirag.
Things are different in the case of Romanian car importers. “We used to work only with Generali, both in the case of cross-boarder and domestic leasing insurance, but at the beginning of the year we started working with Allianz for the domestic leasing insurance,” says Bogdan Apahidean, representative of Porsche Leasing, the leasing arm of Romania’s largest auto importer – Porsche Romania.
The leasing company has thousands of contracts running and, according to the management team, half of the 12,000 cars estimated to be sold this year by Porsche Romania will be bought in leasing.
However, there are also exceptions. “We did not team up with any insurance company. Our network of concessionaires is free to make any decision in terms of insurance. In fact, they (i.e. the concessionaires) know the market and the offers best,” states Radu Hetco, communication manager with Renault Romania.