Car lover’s dream job up for grabs

10 July, 2016

We all know working at an insurance company is boring, right? You’d be just another nameless employee stuck wearing a suit in an ivory tower … or would you?

The car lover’s insurance company, Classic Cover, couldn’t be further removed from that stereotype. They’re small, they don’t wear suits, and certainly don’t occupy a 20-story tower in the heart of the city.

They’re actually car lovers like you and I, except they work in the insurance industry — after all, it doesn’t pay that badly.

And now, due to their ever-increasing popularity with other car and motorbike lovers, they’re looking for staff.

The job that they’ve got up for grabs is a Client Support role, in which you’d be responsible for providing effective client service and support through all aspects of the role, including claims, solving client queries, processing of renewals, endorsements, and new business. 

It’s a busy role as you’ll spend the bulk of your time dealing directly with clients, so obviously you’ll not only have to be a great communicator, you’ll also need to know your way around developing and maintaining relationships with clients, providing quotes, and processing policies and claims, so experience in the insurance industry would be an advantage, but isn’t essential. 

What is essential is that you know your cars, love your cars, can work hard, and are willing to learn. Excellent time management and the ability to provide the highest standard of client service, with a focus on quality outcomes, are also necessary, along with an exceptional phone manner and proven ability to build rapport with clients. Essentially you need to be the person that, if you were the customer, you’d love to deal with. 

There’s plenty of hard work involved, but you’ll be working with a great team who also enjoy cars as well as a good laugh, and there’s great potential for career progression.

If this role sounds like something you would be interested in, fire through a CV and cover letter to [email protected]z

A second dose of Dash

When the car arrived in Wellington in December 2018 it was duly taken along for entry certification. Vehicle Inspection NZ (VINZ) found some wrongly wired lamps and switches — not too bad — but, much more significantly, some poor welding repairs. As the structural problems were probed more thoroughly, we realized the previous owner’s restoration would not do and we needed an upgrade. Dash had made it into the country but it would take some time and money before he would be free to explore any of New Zealand’s scenic highways.
We took the car to our new home in Johnsonville in the northern suburbs of Wellington and I pored over the car in detail to figure out what was next. There were lots of new parts on the car and a very perky reconditioned drivetrain but the chassis needed serious work.

Lunch with… Jim Palmer

In the 1960s, Hamilton’s Jim Palmer won the prestigious ‘Gold Star’ four times and was the first resident New Zealander home in the New Zealand Grand Prix on five consecutive occasions. He shared the podium with Stirling Moss, Jack Brabham, Bruce McLaren, Graham Hill, Jim Clark, Denny Hulme, Jackie Stewart, and Chris Amon. The extent of his domination of the open-wheeler scene in New Zealand will probably never be matched or exceeded. Yet he’s always been modest about his achievements.