This morning, I was exploring the possibility of becoming God. Can I become God? Why not become the God? What is wrong if I were to become the God? The desire to become God is not a disease but is God complex, a psychological state characterized by sense of superiority and an exaggerated self-image, linked to narcissistic personality disorder (NPD). I do not find anything that can deter me from becoming Him. Hence, I am the God! I am Him! This talk of God in an insurance article is crazy! Read on, you will find it otherwise. Then I realized that, since I am God, I must try to understand and look into the minds of the people who are concerned with the insurance, safety and patent.
The Salvage Dealer’s Perspective:
The first person / entity that comes to my mind are the salvage companies or the salvage dealers. Usually, insurance companies select a salvage dealer based on a strict tendering process. For instance, let us consider one “Truthful Insurance Company” in Telangana state. All accident vehicles within the state of Telangana will automatically be given to the salvage dealer who is approved in the tendering process or who is awarded the tender. The highest bidder in the tender will obviously be awarded the contract. The tender could be annual or for more period I.e., two or five years! It is between those two parties.
Let us further assume, for the sake of this example, that in the Telangana region Truthful Insurance Company has at least 100 salvage cases a year. Let us assume that in order to secure the tender, the salvage company paid Rs. 50,00,000 towards the costs / fees. In other words, this salvage company will have to get at least 100 salvage cases a year from the insurance company. Only then would they be in a position to earn Rs. 50,00,000 and profit thereon. Given an opportunity, the salvage dealer would pray for at least 500 salvage cases from Truthful Insurance Company, as against the investment of Rs. 50,00,000. The salvage dealer’s aim is to make a good profit. Otherwise, why would they be interested in this business? Nobody wants a loss-making business.
The salvage dealer has many things to pay for, many expenses such as transportation, electricity, rent, employee salaries, machinery, and more. Hence, the salvage dealer would certainly offer a daily prayer: ‘Dear God, please bless me with at least 50 salvage cases today and every day’. He wants 50 accident cases every day! There is no harm in his prayer. It is perfectly logical on his part to pray. The dealer may have invested much monetarily, with many employees working there; and as an employer he has the indirect responsibility of managing their homes as well. If their salaries are paid, then they will eat bread at their homes. So, he would go to the temple, a mosque, a synagogue, a church, and offer a big conditional donation – if He grants 50 salvaged vehicles per day through the insurance company. The prayer is perfectly understandable and logical. Anybody was to be in his place; they would do the same thing.
The Perspective of the Insurance Company:
In our presupposition of the Truthful Insurance company’s case, the underwriter reviews the business and accident figures: last year there were 100 salvage cases, and paid over Rs. 10,00,00,000 in claims, and the premium collections were much lesser in Telangana. This is not good business. This kind of business does not cover all the expenses of the company. As a company they have electricity, rent, salaries, computers, marketing expenses, and the premium trickles down drop by drop, whereas the claims payment is like a flood! Hey God, what kind of justice is this? You rob us fully in one day, and give premium drop by drop. This is injustice, straightforward injustice!
The prayer of the underwriter: ‘My dear God, I’m due for promotion. I want to increase the premiums so that the company will make a decent profit. This will be regarded as my performance indices and this alone will get me a promotion which is long overdue’. Thus, Truthful Insurance Company wants to increase the premium and at the same time would want fewer salvage accident claims to arise. Why can’t these people drive safe, idiots? Truthful Insurance Company would not care if the salvage company went bankrupt. The only person who wants money here is the insurance company. The company is not bothered about any other thing. Look, God, we need more money. This is not good and this is not fair. And for all those accidental wrecks, we are getting only Rs. 50,00,000 per year, and the premiums are less, claims are high – You better do something about it. Telangana state should top the country with zero accidents!
The Perspective of the Customer:
The following are the thoughts of a customer: “This year I could save Rs. 3,00,000. You don’t know how many deliveries, weekly deliveries, I had to make to earn this money. I work very hard, and I expect to party harder. Life is, after all, only given once by God. Enjoy it. Do you know this Thar vehicle from Mahindra and Mahindra? Wow, it’s a beauty! It costs Rs. 18,00,000, and I have my savings. The bank has agreed to grant me a loan of Rs. 15,00,000/-.
Do you know what I expect here? I’m hoping to enjoy life. I want to drink beer, eat biryani, and take my girlfriend on long drives in the car. I’m not deceiving anyone. Just go on to our Outer Ring Road (ORR). It’s a beautiful road of almost 100 kilometers. The maximum speed of the car is 240 kmph. I can well imagine my girlfriend is shrieking with happiness, fear, excitement when we are cruising at 240 kmph! What else do you think can God ever give? Beauty, Beer, and Biryani. Let’s go get the car now”.
Since motor insurance is compulsory and since the dealer is not delivering the vehicle without insurance, the customer begins his bargain about the cost of the premiums. He is not bothered about the insurance cover; he is more stressed about the premium he has to pay! For majority of customers motor insurance or for that matter any insurance is a waste of money!
The War – Winning Perspectives:
I am the God. I looked at different perspectives. The customer, the insurance company and the salvage company live in their own private worlds. I remember the world facing a similar situation approximately 90 years ago, during WW2.
- Adolf Hitler prayed: Look God, I’m going for a war. I request you to bless me with victory”.
- Benito Mussolini of Italy prayed via the Pope: God, I’m going for the biggest war, I request you to bless me with the victory.
- The emperor Hirohito of Japan prayed: “Dear God, I am waging the biggest war to have the entire world under my command. Bless me”.
- Winston Churchill of the Great Britain prayed: “I’m going to defend the world against these rascals, therefore, bless me victory”.
- President Franklin D. Roosevelt of America, he went to the Church to pray for victory.
- Mahatma Gandhi with the help of his priest prayed: “I am supporting Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill. They stand for peace and harmony. Therefore, victory should be ours”.
- And finally, the founder of Azad Hind Fauj, Subhash Chandra Bose, prayed the God: Look, I’m supporting Germany and Japan and hence bless me with victory and the independence.
They all prayed the same God and as the God, I was confused. Everybody wants victory and everyone has a different perspective. All are praying for victory and all want the others should be defeated. All believe that they are right. No one is thinking. No one is looking at the picture as a whole! Everybody thinks that they are doing the best for their country, for the world, for the people!
The Safety Perspectives:
A similar situation is arising with insurance and safety. The salvage dealer, the insurance company, and the customer – everybody wants and prays for their own selfish benefit and their wish to be granted. They are not thinking of safety or the wellbeing of all. As God, when I introspect, I feel like an idiot, for having accepted this thankless job! I tender my resignation. I don’t want to be God. I would rather be anything but God.
Having said the above, in the imaginary situation constructed, neither the salvage dealer nor the insurance company nor the client has thought of the society and its wellbeing. There is absolutely no connection between these three; the connection of unity and oneness is utterly absent. 100 people coming together can at best be called a ‘group’, not a society. However, if these people are sharing their good and bad then it becomes a society. This sharing is absent in the insurance business. Everybody wants their own profit, their own well-being, and nothing else. These people want all others to go to hell, but themselves! This patent is the hitherto connection between the dealer, the insurance company, the customer and the society. This patent will become a unifying bond of society – the group turns into a responsible society wanting “the greatest happiness of the greatest number of people”. Where victories are celebrated and losses are mourned together. That spirit of unity and safety is ignited by this patent. And that – that alone – is the quintessence of this patent.
The Pessimistic Perspective:
A pessimist might ask: Hey Topspot Insurance Broking (insurancepe), owner of the patent, hang on a moment. Your patent will make money only if there is no connection. Through this humane connection the society becomes a better place to live.
In a place called a better place to live, there will be responsible driving and fewer or no accidents at all. If this hard-fought dream becomes a reality, then what will happen to you M/s Topspot Insurance Company (insurancepe)? How will you make money? What will happen to your business?
Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high,
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depths of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
The answer can be given as follows: This patent will cease to exist because society became a beautiful place to live with no accidents and no salvage. Without accidents, the premiums are reduced. The people will become happy. People with accident disabilities walking around will become history. No accident vehicles are found discarded on the shoulders of the road. Don’t you want such kind of a society? Then we, the owners of this patent and the patent itself – to borrow a phrase from Karl Marx – will wither away.
Authored By:
Dr K. Rajagopal Reddy
PhD, FIII, FCII (UK), FLMI (US), FT
Chartered Insurance Practitioner
Topspot Insurance Broking Pvt. Ltd.
