BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — In a special podcast exclusive, Professional Carwashing & Detailing Assistant Editor Maria Woodie speaks with Dan McNeil, president of McNeil & Co., on the company’s celebratory 25 years in business, “McNeil Minutes” and the importance of risk management, the future of the carwash/insurance industry and a little history of how he got started in this business.
In regards to risk management, he explains, “I often like to refer to ourselves as risk-management consultants, and ‘oh, by the way we sell insurance.’ But we are committed, and that is the way to drive costs down in the long haul. How you can sustain affordable insurance for a long period of time is to be committed to reducing losses by developing innovative risk-management processes which are basically tailored to the individual client and [his/her] operations, procedures and possibly potential problem areas.
He continues, “Once we get [the clients] to do that and recognize that, then we can work with them on developing best practices for their industry, which we hope will drive cost down … which is going to drive down premiums and make it very affordable for our individual clients. I always say, when they win, we win. They have to win. And their winning is an affordable, stable and complete insurance program.”
And to conclude the podcast, McNeil shares how he felt driven to insure the carwash industry since he was eight years old, when his dad opened a carwash in upstate New York.
“I love this business,” says McNeil. “We do business with people that we really enjoy, and we really enjoy the folks that are related to the carwash industry, the owners and the people that service this industry. I don’t know what it is about them, but all of them seem to share that same type of enthusiasm and commitment to what they do. And when you are around people like that, it is exciting; and so, I really, really enjoy this segment.”
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You can also find the podcast here.
