Here at M247 we find it utterly amazing how inconvenient getting insurance can be. In fact, we’re even more amazed out how misleading the process can be – “request a quote right now” really means “we’ll call you back sometime Monday to Friday, ’9 till 5′. Check out Suncorp’s blatant attempt! Worse still, the amount of time it takes just to get to that stage – it’s almost as if they followed a telephone prompt, “press # to go back to the main menu”.

Most importantly however, it is a time-consuming exercise – when you’re running a small business you don’t have time to keep track of who’s going to get back to you when – you expect the same level of customer service that you would provide your own clients. You take pride in your service or product and you know that your customer (or potential customer!) values this. Which makes us wonder whether our major insurers really care about ‘the little guy’..or maybe not.

It seems that Australia is still somewhat behind other parts of the world – in the UK you can get a quote, purchase cover and pay by the month all online. As for understanding the policy document however..well you’d be on your own there! Still, it’s interesting however, that even QBE understands the importance of accessibility. In a recent survey on small businesses, they found that only 16% of companies were looking to the insurance industry to for advice! Indeed, they found that 30% of small businesses would prefer to buy online. We wonder if you would rather talk to a computer or just wait for that letter in the mail from your broker…? We hear you!