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It would be fair to say that NZI’s National Motor Manager for Corporate and Fleet lives and breathes cars. “I've been obsessed with cars my whole life,” says Oliver Jepson, “so it’s awesome that the focus of my working week is on vehicles.”
Olly says it’s always been a dream of his to be a professional driver, after his “huge Formula One fan” grandfather introduced him to the sport. But taking the driver’s seat came at a pretty big cost – literally – so Olly found an alternative to stay close to the race track. “I wanted to get into motorsport, but I quickly ran out of talent and money as car racing isn’t exactly cheap!” he says. “Then one day at Pukekohe a cameraman didn’t show up, so I was asked if I wanted to film for TV and I really enjoyed it. I then filmed drifting, V8 racing, Formula 5000 and go-karting for various motorsport programmes, for the next eight years.”
Being a motor insurance underwriter has given Olly the opportunity to combine his passion with his career. But it’s the variety of the job is that’s kept him in insurance for 15 years. “I like the fact that no two insurance risks are the same. Underwriting varies depending on circumstances and it’s never black and white. I’m always being challenged to come up with new ideas to solve our customers’ insurance needs in an ever-changing world of exposures.”
Today, Olly looks after some of NZI’s largest feet customers. He provides tailored motor insurance and fleet risk management solutions, with the help of NZI’s broker partners. “We work with our fleet customers on things like better monitoring and training of drivers; managing fatigue issues and improving their risk awareness and safety culture as an organisation. I believe most New Zealand companies care about their employees and management of the risks they face, day to day behind the wheel is crucial. I enjoy being able to help companies do the right thing and when I see a video of a Seeing Machine wake a driver up, saving them from harming themselves and crashing their truck, it gives me an absolute buzz.”
Olly believes that reliability, consistency and transparency are the most important parts of any broker/underwriter relationship. “Our broking partners put a significant amount of trust in us to be there when it matters for our customers – we need to deliver on that promise.”
There’s a sense of pride when Olly talks about the NZI Commercial Motor team. “I’m a firm believer that NZI has some of the best motor brains in New Zealand. It’s a privilege to work alongside the best in the business.”
Olly admits he still dreams about being strapped into a race car, zooming his way around the Pukekohe Park Raceway. “I admit that’d be pretty cool. But this is definitely the next best thing.”
