Sinclair's spectrum of ideas

When Kevin Sinclair completed the arduous London Marathon in April, he could have been forgiven for wanting to take a break from work to recover.

However, Mr Sinclair was only two weeks into his tenure as head of broker AA Insurance Services, so any thoughts of putting his feet up and relaxing had to be quickly dismissed. This did not bother the former Axa stalwart - he spent 25 years at the insurer before quitting in March - who says he is delighted to be at the helm of another of the industry's front-runners.

"I'm like a kid in a sweet shop as there are so many things that we can do at the AA," he says. "I would rather start at a number one than a number 100, so I am happy." Mr Sinclair is wise enough, however, to concede that there is plenty of room for improvement at the motoring organisation's insurance arm. He explains that better marketing use of the AA's website - which it claims generates 30 million visitors a year - is top of his list of priorities.

Online presence

"We have a fantastic online presence, yet we are only at the start of what we can do. We have almost been embarrassed to use it previously." For example, Mr Sinclair's points out that travel insurance has not historically been offered when users search the AA's route map facility. Although there is a mention of insurance now, he insists the marketing still requires improvement.

As the replacement for Neale Phillips, who left at the end of February, Mr Sinclair insists that he has already had time to put his own ideas into practice, despite being only being two months into the job. This has been demonstrated by his decision for AA Insurance Services to persevere with its 23-strong insurer panel instead of switching to one provider (PM, 19 May, p1).

What is clear, is that Mr Sinclair's initial priorities do not include instigating wholesale change. "We are doing things well, although we must not get complacent," he affirms. That said, the broker is already looking to beef-up its travel offering, which it says is underachieving. The AA currently has approximately 60,000 travel policyholders but claims it can increase that figure ten-fold simply by maximising its available resources.

Motor insurance, however, remains the broker's primary product. Mr Sinclair adds: "Home comes on the back of motor and travel is a logical add-on. You could have sold 50,000 motor policies with the same effort as launching something like pet."

Travel cover aside, he insists the AA will not look to pursue major growth in other lines such as pet or commercial just yet. And he explains why: "Motor is our core product - it is where the AA status sits as a brand. Only when we maximise our potential there can we go big on anything else."

He does not, for example, see the organisation emerging as a key player in the commercial market. This is despite the broker piloting the sale of small commercial cover before Mr Sinclair joined. The pilot - where the AA acted as an introducer to Kingsbridge Insurance Services via a weblink - did not generate enough business to move it forward and was scrapped (PM, 3 March, p3).

Commercial moves

The only remnants of a commercial push are in the weblink it carries to Commercial Vehicle Direct, though even that venture has been downgraded after the attempt to generate commercial vehicle cover was pulled last June due to a shrinking book.

Mr Sinclair insists he has no immediate plans to resurrect any commercial moves.

"It is not on our list of top priorities at the moment as it is not the same market for us as personal lines."

Likewise, speculation that the AA could offshore employees is also on the backburner while he focuses on "more important issues". One venture Mr Sinclair is targeting is the AA's legal push, after it agreed a deal with law firm Shoosmiths to handle personal injury claims on behalf its insurance customers and roadside members.

Personal injury

The deal signalled the AA's intention to compete with rival RAC, which handles 20,000 PI cases a year - although that scheme is open to all members of the public - compared to the AA's 9000. While the AA has no immediate plans to roll out the service beyond its customers, Mr Sinclair does not rule out that possibility in future.

Despite the AA's plans to challenge RAC's dominance of the personal injury market, Mr Sinclair dismisses suggestions that RAC will chall-enge AA Insurance Services' broking supremacy once it is formally snapped-up by Norwich Union this month.

He defiantly states: "If they keep it as a broker then we have the stronger broker brand. However, there is enough business in the market for both NU and the AA."

To highlight the gulf in the two organisation's insurance firepower, the RAC can only boast 450,000 insurance policyholders - 270,000 of which were acquired when it bought the Axa Direct book last year - compared to the AA's 1.7 million.

Broking superiority

To cheekily ram home his belief in the AA's broking superiority, Mr Sinclair adds: "If you are already number one in your field, the worst thing is to look over your shoulder."

Even if he publicly insists the AA is not concerned about the chasing pack behind, Mr Sinclair cannot fail to have some trepidation about the threat RAC could pose once it has the might of the UK's largest general insurer behind it.

Maybe Mr Sinclair could use some of his personal experiences to help maintain the AA's strong insurance position. Given that he ran the most recent of his six marathons in a remarkable three hours and 29 minutes, it is clear he is used to looking over his shoulder at the stragglers.

It is also clear that being appointed head of AA Insurance Services represents another challenge - this time on his professional horizon.