The respondents did not feel that this was a systematic campaign. Instead, they saw it as an unfortunate series of unique events attributable to the advertising campaigns underway.

For respondents with clients who have switched to belairdirect, 90% indicated that equivalent coverage was obtained at a lower cost. It's certainly true that no one ever likes to lose a client due to premium costs. 

When asked about the quality of their business relationship, 87% of respondents said they had a good or very good relationship with Intact.

On March 16, RCCAQ chair Patrick Bouchard, chair elect Kathleen Ann Rake, outgoing chair Vincent Gaudreau and general manager Guy Parent met with two Intact Insurance representatives: Jean-François Desautels (senior vice-president, Quebec division) and Richard Taschereau (senior vice-president, distribution, marketing and communications).

Intact's representatives emphasized that in an increasingly competitive market, there was no concerted action with belairdirect. It's no secret: Intact and belairdirect are two separate entities with different strategies; they both see themselves as competing with each other. They also emphasized that the combined efforts of brokers and Intact's staff were often the factor that prompted consumers to opt for Intact. In fact, brokers actually end up bringing more clients to Intact than belairdirect lures away.

Finally, if you ever find yourself in the situation described in our survey, you should discuss the matter with your Intact representative.