It would be fair to say that Oliver Jepson, NZI’s national motor manager - corporate and fleet, lives and breathes all things motor.
“I've been obsessed with cars my whole life, so it’s awesome that the focus of my working week is on vehicles.”
It was Jepson’s grandfather that sparked his interest.
“My grandfather was a huge Formula 1 fan, I grew up watching some of the greats like Ayrton Senna and Nigel Mansell.”
He says it’s always been a dream of his to be a professional driver but taking the driver's seat came at a cost, so he found an alternative to get up-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.
"One day at Pukekohe a cameraman didn’t show up, so I was asked if I wanted to film for TV and 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.
The variety of the job is what’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 is never black and white. I am always being challenged to come up with new ideas to solve our customer' insurance needs in an ever-changing world of exposures.”
Today, Jepson looks after some of NZI’s largest fleet 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 him from harming himself and crashing his truck, It gives me an absolute buzz.”
He 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.”
When speaking with Jepson, there’s a sense of pride as he 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”
The dream for Jepson is still to be strapped into a race car, zooming his way around the Pukekohe Racetrack.
“I admit that would be pretty cool, but this is definitely the next best thing.”
