NEWSLETTER UPDATE

Invitation to AMA members

An open invitation to attend the NACHO pre-Christmas meeting on December 10 is being made to all members of AMA. This unprecedented move issued is being made in order to encourage a greater degree of cooperation between both parties, in view of the many problems confronting CHOs at present. The intention is that there should in future be more frequent get-togethers between all parties in the industry. This invitation is to be issued to members by the AMA itself.

Kindertons Golf Challenge 2008

NACHO founder-member Kindertons Accident Management has just held the latest in its programme of annual golf tournaments. The event was held at a prestigious Cheshire golf club, and teams were entered by a range of organisations including bodyshop owners, engineers, fleet companies, insurance brokers, leasing companies, firms of solicitors, and by Kindertons. As a CHO, Kindertons prides itself on offering a friendly and efficient service. Also, the company states: “In this day and age of faceless call centres, isn’t it satisfying to know that if you call Kindertons you’ll speak to a human being and not a machine! What’s more, the handler who answers will give you their direct dial number and e-mail address and be your point of contact throughout your claim to its conclusion.”

The Pre-Christmas Meeting

This year’s pre-Christmas meeting will be held on Wednesday 10 December starting at 2:30pm at the offices of our associate members Hill Dickinson in Dukes Place, and will be followed by a buffet from 5pm in the basement private room at the nearby Old Tea Warehouse pub in a small courtyard off Creechurch Lane (which runs off Dukes Place). The easiest way of reaching Dukes Place is via the Circle/Metropolitan underground lines to Aldgate (beware, don’t go to Aldgate East by mistake). When leaving the underground station, turn right and then take the first turning to the right which is St Bottolph Lane. At the end of the lane where it joins St Bottolph Street there is a subway – Dukes Place is at exit No.1 and the Hill Dickinson building is across the road from that exit and has the company name very clearly displayed over the main entrance. Click here to see map

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CREDIT HIRE OPERATORS.
MINUTES OF 2008 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING.
HELD ON 5th JUNE 2008

More than 50 people were welcomed by the Chairman, Ralph Ferguson, who said that a number of insurers had genuinely been unable to attend due to holidays. He also welcomed the few AMA members who had accepted our invitation to attend.

After the minutes of last year’s meeting had been accepted, there being no matters arising, the existing committee was re-elected for a further year as no alternative nominations had been received.

Brian Cashinella, Treasurer and editor of NACHO News, reported that at the end of this financial year the Association had a small surplus in the bank and as a result the executive did not intend to increase the cost of membership for the year 2008-9. He also reminded members that subscriptions were now due for payment.

He continued that he had handed out to those present a copy of the latest NACHO News. It will be posted in the usual way to those not able to attend the meeting. The News was now self financing and should remain so. He asked members to forward him any stories about credit hire, including details of any court cases that they have been involved in or news items about their own companies.

The Chairman then gave a full and chronological account of the events over the past year culminating in the technical committee meeting on 7th May, at which it was agreed that the GTA rates would be increased by 3.5% from 1st June for all classes for the period 1st June 2008 - 30th June 2009.

He made it clear that delays in reaching agreement were, in the main, the fault of AMA due to what Insurers and NACHO considered to be excessive demands by the AMA .This was coupled with the threat of court action against Insurers and NACHO representatives under the Competion Act by a member of the AMA. This threat alone delayed discussions by at least three months. It was to NACHO’s credit that talks were restarted and a rate increase of 3.5% achieved. As a result the Norwich Union confirmed it had become a GTA subscriber as from 1st June. This alone proved Insurers were, as NACHO had always maintained, committed to the future of the GTA.and disproved unfounded rumours that Insurers wished to bring about the demise of the GTA.

Over the next few months the question formulating the Governance of the GTA, reducing operational costs for both sides and agreeing, if possible, a formula for future rate reviews would be added to the workload of the Technical Committee.

He was confident that Governance issues could be satisfactorily resolved provided all sides approached them with a moderate attitude.

The ABI wished to be relieved of the administration costs of running the GTA and this, plus Governance the GTA would result in an overall cost being involved for subscribers. It had been suggested that a totally independent body should run the administration of the GTA and an independent Chairman of the Technical Committee appointed.
It had been estimated that this could cost £ 80.000 per annum. This could probably be raised from contributions from all subscribers.

A formula for future rate negotiations had been suggested to Insurers and the details, plus explanatory narrative which was being prepared by the Financial Directors of AI Claims Solutions and Drive Assist, would be released to all parties as soon as it was completed.

He concluded by advising members he felt that the Executive had achieved the mandate given to it by members at their Christmas meeting.

A suggestion was made from the floor that a slight reduction in future increases in GTA rates should be allowed by CHOs, with the saving to Insurers being used to offset the running costs of the GTA. Ralph Ferguson said the suggestion would be put to the Technical Committee.

Members expressed their general satisfaction at the results achieved on their behalf and thanked the NACHO negotiating team for their efforts over the past months.