The year 2020 had started very well for ACS. In January and February, the business of the travel and expatriation insurance specialist was dynamic, and the figures encouraging for the months to follow. The announcement of the first confinement, in mid-March 2020, was a crushing blow. The many cancellations of trips and trips have caused sales to drop sharply. In April, ACS was reimbursed for more contracts than it did new business. “This period has been very complicated for everyonerecalls Édouard Da Rin, its leader. For customers, very stressed by the situation and who did not know how to return to France, or wanted to cancel their contracts. And for our employees, overwhelmed with requests. At that time, our management department, consisting of three people, received more than a hundred emails a day. »
From July 2020, the company began to see signs of a stabilization of the situation. “People started to leave, but under certain conditions. They wanted to be better protected during their stay in the event of a new epidemic peak. » Until July 2021, activity therefore resumed, but the momentum struggled to pick up again. ACS had to deal with the various protocols established all over the world, and the successive confinements. For Édouard Da Rin, this period, between recovery and drastic drop in activity, was a bit “soft belly” of the company. “We had to manage problems, be psychological with our customers and leave aside the sale of new contracts. »
Post-health crisis activity increased tenfold
September 2021 marked the start of the recovery. The development of vaccines has allowed the reopening of borders and the resurgence of departures abroad. Today, the leader has the impression of ” catch up “ : the figures are better than in 2019, an already very satisfactory year. In question ? Many more requests for protection than before the Covid-19 pandemic. “People who go abroad today take out insurance, regardless of the length of their stay. The health crisis has made them aware of the need for appropriate social protection abroad, health, assistance and repatriation being the essential guarantees”, explains Édouard Da Rin.
Some countries have also made health coverage against Covid-19 compulsory for travelers and expatriates. This has, by extension, pushed more people to take out insurance, especially those leaving for Southeast Asia.
But this renewed dynamism is also, for the director, the result of the changes made at ACS. From constraint, the health crisis finally turned into opportunities. For two years, the firm undertook to adapt its products to meet the expectations of policyholders as closely as possible. If ACS already covered pandemics before 2020“we still had to modify the contracts, adding specific coverage against Covid-19 in our certificates and modifying the assistance and repatriation guarantees.says Edouard Da Rin. If someone fell ill abroad, he had to be able to be treated on the spot or brought back to France in the event of a problem. Knowing that in the worst cases, a repatriation by medical plane can cost up to 100,000 euros, we had no room for error”.
Two years after the start of the health crisis, Édouard Da Rin wants to be cautious. The specter of a new variant that would undermine this rediscovered dynamism encourages him to measure up. But the leader “knocks on wood”: because the recovery is indeed there, and the sector is also more competitive. “We are moving forward cautiously but surely, he says. Many signs tell us that we are in the right direction. The desire to explore the world is always very present. »
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