Qantas Greenlights Car Insurance With a Focus on Safety

SYDNEY, Australia, Oct. 29 -- Qantas Airways issued the following news release:

Motorists will be rewarded with Qantas Points for performing brake and tyre checks and booking their car in for a service with the launch of Qantas Car Insurance.

From today, the airline's 13 million frequent flyers can earn up to 20,000 Qantas Points when they sign up for Qantas Car Insurance, as well as one point for every dollar spent on their premium. Up to 6,000 additional points can also be earned when members complete tasks that will help keep them and their vehicle safer.

Qantas Car Insurance will offer Comprehensive, Third Party Property, Fire and Theft and Third Party Property Only cover. Members can tailor their level of protection to suit their needs and budget.

Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce said that continually expanding ways to earn points has made Qantas Frequent Flyer one of the most successful loyalty programs in the world.

"The power of Qantas Points to influence purchasing decisions has seen us expand into new areas including financial services and insurance. That's opened up new revenue opportunities for us and new ways for members to get closer to their next holiday or upgrade.

"These are competitive products that have the added benefit of earning points, and we've seen that work well with health insurance and credit cards. We expect Qantas Car Insurance to be popular for same reason.

"Insurance can be a grudge purchase but in the first year of having Qantas Car Insurance you could earn enough points to fly from Brisbane to Singapore or Sydney to Bali.

"Qantas has a proud safety reputation, which is why motorists who insure their car with us will be rewarded for maintaining a safe car," said Mr Joyce.

Road Safety Expert Dr Darren Wishart said regular vehicle maintenance was vital for keeping our roads safe.

"We all share a responsibility for ensuring safety on our roads, which is achievable not only through safe speeds and safe drivers, but safe vehicles as well," Dr Wishart said.

"Road conditions in Australia can vary greatly, so simple things like checking the air pressure in your tyres is a small but critical step that can be done to help keep you safe on the road."

A survey of Qantas Frequent Flyers who regularly get behind the wheel found a quarter (24 per cent) admit they never check the air pressure in their tyres, a third (37 per cent) don't know how to assess the condition of their brakes and 14 per cent always put off booking in their car service.

Qantas Car Insurance is underwritten by Auto & General with Qantas Loyalty providing marketing and customer experience.

Auto & General has close to 20 years of expertise in the sale, management and underwriting of insurance products in Australia and is now the fastest growing major Car & Home Insurer in Australia.

Qantas Insurance will look to expand its portfolio to include home insurance in 2020.

For more information, visit www.qantas.com.au/carinsurance.

Images and Qantas Car Insurance fact sheet can be accessed here.

SUMMARY OF RESEARCH FINDINGS

* Over half (55%) of respondents drive their car at least once per day, and an additional 30 per cent drive their car up to five times per week

* More than half (57%) only service their car once or less per year, and 14 per cent always put off booking in their car service

* A quarter (24%) never check the air pressure in their car tyres

* The biggest barriers to regular car maintenance include the perception that one professional service each year is enough (31%), waiting until a problem occurs before getting it fixed (22%) and not knowing what they're supposed to be testing or checking (21%)

* Over a third (37%) don't know how to assess the condition of their brakes, and one in ten (10%) don't know how to use a tyre pressure gauge

ABOUT THE RESEARCH

The survey was conducted by the Qantas Loyalty Insights Crew Panel member base, consisting of Australian Qantas Frequent Flyer members aged 18+. The survey was conducted online between 1 - 11 October 2019 with 708 respondents.

ABOUT DR DARREN WISHART

Dr Darren Wishart has almost two decades of experience in road safety research. As a Senior Lecturer in Organisational Psychology within the School of Applied Psychology at Griffith University, Dr Wishart focuses on transferring research knowledge into practical application to make Australian roads safer. Dr Wishart has previously held roles with the Australian Road Research Board (ARRB), the National Road Safety Partnership Program and Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety Queensland (CARRSQ).