Scott Bickle on the future of AICA
Date: 3/16/2006Contact: Joan Barrett/800-690-0070
Scott Bickle, American Family Insurance- 3/2/06
Scott Bickle was born in Dallas, but traveled with his family extensively around the country while going to school before returning to Dallas to attend SMU.
He got his first job out of college in San Diego and met and married his wife, Patty, while in Southern California. Scott worked for Republic Insurance in San Diego as a Marketing Representative, calling on independent agents that sold their homeowners products.
Patty’s parents retired in Phoenix and the couple moved to Arizona to be closer to the family. Scott went to work at Colonial Penn Insurance, selling auto policies to their mostly retired clients. After a couple of years there, he was looking for a large stable company and moved to American Family Insurance. American Family offered the benefits and opportunities that Scott was seeking with a position in the claims department as a Physical Damage Appraiser in the Auto Division and he has been there eleven years to date. He has worked in all phases of Physical Damage, doing fieldwork; manning a drive-in office and working from the main office; and working at a Total Loss Center doing valuations and estimates for buy-outs from the vehicle owners.
After 14 years in Phoenix, Scott and Patty view it as ‘home’ and enjoy the numerous golf courses and eating establishments that abound in the area. Patty is a secretary at Claims International in Scottsdale that does property, casualty and auto claims.
Scott sees big changes in the way that auto claims are handled in the current environment and in the future. He cites more pressure from the vehicle owners for speedy repairs and more pressure from management to quickly close files and reduce costs. There are fewer people in the office and he can see that more may be asked to work from home via the internet at some point. As it is, he works three days in a drive-in claims office in Mesa and 2 days in the main office in Phoenix.
The best part of his job Scott says is “working with people who are happy to have someone explain the process of vehicle claims and repair and are interested in having their vehicles repaired efficiently.” He shares that he feels that good communication initially not only reassures the clients, but also results in fewer phone calls as the claim progresses. He likes the on-line file handling system that allows him to make notes on a file in real-time and he always encourages clients to participate in the vehicle repair process.
After five years of being active in the Arizona Insurance Claims Association, Scott feels the benefits are the main reason to stay involved. Scott says that “ It is helpful to market your company to others in the industry and to show that your company is involved and concerned about the industry”. He is a proponent of continuing education and takes at least one course per year that is paid for by American Family. He is Platinum Certified with ICAR (International Collision Repair Association) for technicians and appraisers and has his Certificate in General Insurance with IIA (Insurance Institute of America).
Scott’s opinion of the future of the AICA is uncertain; he doesn’t understand why the meetings aren’t attended as well as they could be. However, he feels that the chances of the association’s survival is good, given the passion that the board members bring to the task of delivering quality speakers and quality information to the members.