Book insurance meetings without mixing claim and quote
Quick summary
- The assistant reads the diary before it offers a time, so a claim drop is never offered as a quote sitting.
- A time to leave photos and a new-policy meeting are different bookings. Get that wrong and a client sits in ten minutes reserved for a folder.
- Claim or meeting first. Then the plate or the policy number. Then the diary.
- Anything that sounds like cover, fault, or a premium stays a callback. The agent will look at the policy.
- If the assistant cannot read the diary, it takes a callback. It does not guess.
- The assistant texts the time, the type, and what to bring, so the papers that arrive are papers you can use.
TL;DR
You are on hold with the company. A caller who wants a time will not wait for a callback just to learn whether Thursday is free. An assistant can book those times if it reads the diary first, treats a photo drop as different from a quote sitting, and asks claim or meeting before it places anything. A claim is a note. A meeting is a meeting. A cover question is not a new visit type — the agent will look at the policy. If the diary cannot be reached, the assistant does not guess. It takes the request and says so. The assistant texts the time, the type, and what to bring.
Key takeaways
- Give the assistant the types and their real durations before you let it book — photo drop, new-policy sitting, renewal, certificate, green card.
- Mark company-hold hours and sitting days in the same diary it reads, including August.
- Test a move on an existing claim drop and on a quote sitting, separately, before you test a new policy.
- Turn on the SMS at the moment of booking, with the paper list for that type.
- If the diary cannot be reached, the only answer is a callback.
- Check the first fifty bookings by hand. That is when you find the hour that was a claim put into a quote sitting.
When someone wants a time and you are on hold
One of you is waiting for the company. The other is going through a motor quote at the desk. The phone rings.
A driver wants Thursday at eleven to leave photos from a car park. A person who bought a used Toyota this morning wants a sitting today. A client wants ten minutes to collect a green card for Friday. You cannot pick up. The company has not come back.
Those three callers are asking for a time. They are not asking for the same time.
The first one needs ten minutes at the desk and someone to take a phone full of pictures. The second needs you, an hour, and the registration, the licence and the current schedule. The third needs a short collection, and only if you actually issue the card. If the assistant treats them as the next free hour, Thursday morning fills with a new-policy sitting, the photos arrive while you are in that sitting, and the green card is offered on a morning you have already closed.
The assistant books only if three things are true. The type is one you offer. The time is free in the diary the office works from. Nothing in the call is a cover decision, a fault decision, or a premium. If any of those fail, it takes a request and says the agent will call back.
A person at a dealer who has to wait for a callback just to learn whether Thursday works has time to ring the next office. That is why the time has to be finished on this call. It is also why a guessed confirmation is worse than no confirmation. The person arrives. Nobody is free.
A claim drop is not a quote sitting
You already know this. The assistant does not, until you teach it.
A time to leave photos is ten minutes at the desk. Someone is there to take a phone or a folder. You stay on hold with the company. The caller is told what to bring, they hand it over, they leave.
A new-policy sitting is you, the papers, and an hour. You have come off the other line. You have the registration, the licence and the current schedule on the table. The caller sits down.
A renewal sitting is you and the existing file. A certificate collection is a stamp and a short wait. A green card is a collection if you issue it, and a note if the company does.
If the assistant cannot tell these apart, you spend Thursday on people who only needed to leave a statement, and the person who needed an hour is given ten minutes at the door.
Give it the types and the real durations before it is allowed to offer anything:
- Time to leave photos or a statement
- New-policy sitting
- Renewal sitting
- Certificate collection
- Green card collection
- Anything you do not want booked at all
People who just bought a car often call after the dealer closes. The assistant can offer a sitting tomorrow. It cannot offer tonight if you are not sitting tonight. Do not give a certificate collection to that evening caller, and do not give a driver a ten-minute drop when they asked to sit.
Claim or meeting, then the plate, then any time
The first question on this line is not when they are free. The first question is claim or meeting.
Those are two jobs. Two piles of paper. Usually two lengths of visit. A bumper in a car park is not a first sitting. A first sitting is not a green card. The confirmation, the reminder, and what to bring are different.
A caller who is both still gets two notes. If they want to leave photos and also add the son, they get a drop and a sitting. Do not squeeze a claim and a new driver into twenty minutes because they arrived as one call.
On a change it is the same question, first. “Move Thursday” is not enough. Thursday might be the photo drop or the motor quote. Both can share one mobile number. If the assistant picks the first match, it moves the wrong visit.
Ask claim or meeting. Then the plate or the name on the file. Then find the existing time. Then move it.
Two clients with the same surname are common. Two grey Fiats on the pad after hail are common. A surname plus “the Fiat” is not always enough. Take the plate. Take the policy number if they offer it. Do not invent a match because the first three letters agree.
If they will not say which visit, it is not a booking yet and it is not a change yet. Take the name and the number and say the agent will call back. Do not guess.
Hours you have already closed
You already know which hours you sit with clients and which hours the diary is closed because you are on hold with the company, or because the other person is already in a quote. Put those hours in the diary the assistant reads. If they exist only on a pad next to the phone, the assistant cannot see them.
On a closed hour you still take the phone, or the assistant does. A quote sitting is not offered. A time to leave photos can still be offered if someone will be at the desk.
If a closed hour is missing from that diary, the assistant will offer 10:00 on a morning both of you are already on a line. The client arrives with a registration. The hold and the sitting are then the same hour.
Sitting days are for first meetings and anything that needs you in the room.
August needs its own dates. Some of you close for two weeks. Some of you leave one person on the books. The published number still rings. Set the closure dates. Do not let the assistant book a quote sitting into a week when nobody is in the office.
If you have closed new policies this month, say so before a first sitting is offered. An office that is closed to new work should say so on the first call, not after a booked meeting.
Moving a time that already exists
A caller who already has a Thursday is not making a new booking. They are changing one.
Handled as cancel-then-book, Thursday is still taken by their own visit. The assistant tells them that afternoon is not free.
The order is: claim or meeting, plate or name on the file, find the existing time, release it, place the new one. One change. Reversed, or split into two independent operations, the client is blocked by their own hour.
Let them cancel as well, especially on photo drops after hail. A cancellation the day before is a time you can give to someone whose statement is still on their phone. The same cancellation arriving as a no-show is an hour gone. Write cancellations back to the diary the same way bookings are written.
A same-day move after hail is tighter. If Thursday is already a list of windscreens and they want to move a quote sitting onto Thursday, refuse the quote and offer a drop at the desk, or take a callback. Do not squeeze them into the hour before you go back on hold with the company.
A cover question is not a reason to invent a sitting
People ask while they book. A driver moving a photo drop will ask whether glass is on the policy. A person booking a new motor will ask for a round figure. A client booking a green card will ask whether they can drive to Bulgaria without one.
None of those is a booking type.
The assistant says the agent will look at the policy. Then it finishes the time, if there is a type you actually offer. It does not invent a “cover chat”. It does not name a premium to win the booking. It does not say they can drive. It does not decide fault. It does not pretend a crossing does not need a card.
If the only thing they want is a yes on cover, there is no sitting to book. Take the request. Plate or policy number. Name and number. The agent will call back.
What it must not do, even to be helpful:
- decide cover, fault, or a payout
- invent a premium from a description of the car
- quote last year’s excess as this year’s
- say the new car is on cover from this afternoon
- say the son can be added from this call
- pick a company for them
Same-day injury, still in the street, drive-today, renewal-tomorrow still bypass ordinary booking. Those are flags to a phone, not a search for the next free quote next Wednesday. If the only same-day capacity is a callback from you, say that. Do not invent a 17:00 that does not exist.
Green cards, certificates, and a Friday drive
Green card. They drive to Bulgaria on Friday, or to North Macedonia. The assistant takes the plate and the dates, and books a collection. It does not decide whether a crossing needs a card. Mark how many days you need if you issue the card. If the company issues it, do not promise Friday.
Certificate of insurance. The bank, the notary, a buyer, a dealer. The assistant takes who it is for and when they need it. It does not say what the bank will accept, and it does not confirm that cover is in force.
Change of car, extra driver. They sold the Fiat, they bought a Toyota, they want the son on the policy. The assistant takes the plate and the change, and books a meeting. It does not say the new car is on cover from this afternoon, or that a twenty-two-year-old can be added.
A certificate collection and a renewal sitting are not the same time in the diary. Mark them as two kinds of visit, or you will sit down for an hour with someone who only needed a stamp.
What the confirmation has to name
At the moment the time is placed, the assistant sends an SMS in the language of the conversation. The text says the time, the office, claim or meeting, the type, and what to bring for that type.
The reminder goes out a day or two ahead, on the schedule you set. Its job is that the papers arrive. It is not a cover sentence, not a premium, and not a way to fill the amicable statement in advance.
If a caller replies to the SMS with a cover question, that reply goes to you. Configure the path so a person sees it.
If the assistant does not know which type it booked, it should not invent a list. Confirm the time, confirm claim or meeting, and stop. A caller asked for six documents they do not have will cancel, and you will read that as a no-show.
Claim drop. Photos of both cars if they have them, both plates, the statement if they have started it, the current schedule if they have it. Not a request that they decide fault on the call.
New-policy sitting. Registration, licence, who drives it, the current policy if they have one. Not a number said before anyone has seen those papers.
Renewal. Plate or policy number, the letter if they have it. Not a yes that the car can be driven tomorrow.
Green card or certificate. Plate, dates, who the paper is for. Not a promise that the bank will accept it, or that Friday is enough.
A drop that starts with “I brought the wrong folder” is a drop you will book again, usually in a week that has no room. The list at confirmation, and the same list in the reminder, is how that is avoided.
When the diary cannot be reached
Do not confirm.
If the assistant cannot read the diary at that moment, it takes the request as a callback and says so. “Probably booked” is not a state a client can act on, and it is not a state you can use while you are on hold with the company.
A sitting the office has no record of is worse than no sitting. The client turns up with a registration. Nobody is free. They will not book a second time.
The same rule applies to a move. If the assistant cannot see the existing Thursday, it cannot release it and it cannot place Friday. It takes the request. You do the change when the diary is back.
What you configure first
- Appointment types and real durations. Time to leave photos, new-policy sitting, renewal, certificate, green card — and the ones you do not want booked.
- Which people take which sitting. New motor, household, a shop, professional liability, and the ones you turn away.
- Closed hours and sitting days, in the same diary the assistant reads. August dates as well.
- The claim-or-meeting step as mandatory on any booking, change or cancellation, then the plate.
- The callback sentence, verbatim, so a cover question does not become a new type.
- What to do if the diary cannot be reached: take a callback, never a hopeful yes.
Then turn on the SMS at the moment of booking, with the paper list for that type, and the reminder a day or two ahead, in the language of the conversation.
Checking the first fifty
Look at the first fifty bookings by hand. The diary entry, the type, claim or meeting, the plate, the duration, whether a closed hour sat underneath, whether a cover question was turned into a sitting.
You will find the hour that was a claim put into a quote sitting, the certificate that needs ten minutes rather than an hour, the green card that landed on a morning you do not issue cards.
Listen, in those fifty, for a premium. If the assistant has named a figure from a description of a car, or last year’s excess as this year’s, that is a configuration failure, not a successful booking.
After that, spot-check weekly for a month, and then every Monday and every morning after hail specifically. Keep anything that is a cover decision as a callback until you have a reason not to.
See pricing for how the product is charged.
AI receptionist, in-house staff, or a call centre
| CITT | In-house | Call centre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reads the diary before offering a time | Yes, the diary the office works from | Yes | Usually not — takes a message |
| Books evenings and Saturday mornings | Yes, if you marked them | No | Sometimes |
| Treats a claim drop as different from a quote | If you marked the two types | Yes | Rarely sees the week |
| Starts with claim or meeting | Yes — before it looks at the diary | Yes | Often jumps to what time |
| Books a cover decision | Never — the agent will look at the policy | The agent does, after the file | Sometimes books "a cover chat" |
| Sends the confirmation and what to bring | Automatically, by SMS | If they remember | Sometimes |
What a month of empty quote sittings costs
Worked from these assumptions — change any of them and the answer changes:
- Two people. About 36 booked times a month to leave photos, sit for a quote, or collect a certificate.
- An empty quote hour is not given to someone else the same day.
- About 10% of booked times arrive with the wrong papers, or nobody comes. Check your own figure. Offices vary.
- Recoverable value of a used hour, €90. Put your own figure in. A new-policy sitting and a ten-minute drop are not the same.
- A reminder that names what to bring cuts empty times by a third. Challenge this first.
- 36 times × 10% = about 4 empty times a month.
- 4 × €90 = €360 of reserved time sitting empty.
- A third avoided returns about €120 a month.
- Over 11 working months — 11 × €120.
Roughly €1,320 a year, from a text that names the papers, not only the time.
What it costs
CITT is pay as you go: no packages, no minimum, no contract. The current rates — the monthly fee per number and the per-minute rate — are on the pricing section of the home page, which is the only place they are published.
Frequently asked questions
Can it book a quote sitting while I am on hold with the company?
It reads the same diary the office works from and checks the time before offering it. A morning you have closed because you are waiting on the company, or because the other person is already in a quote, is never offered as a sitting, if you marked it. Times to leave photos can still be offered that day if someone will be at the desk. If the assistant cannot reach the diary at that moment, it does not guess. It takes the request as a callback and says so. A meeting the office has no record of is worse than no meeting. The client turns up with a registration and nobody is free.
What about someone moving an existing time?
The assistant asks claim or meeting first, then the plate or the name on the file, and treats the move as one change. Handled as cancel, then book, Thursday is still taken by their own visit, and they are told that time is not free. A client who has a photo drop and a renewal on the same phone must say which visit is moving.
Will it book a time to decide whether I am covered?
It will book a time to leave photos, or a sitting to go through a new policy or a renewal, if you allow those types. It will not book a session in which the assistant itself decides cover. Cover is a decision for the company after the file is opened. The agent looks at the policy — a person, not the voice on the phone.
Should it book a green card against any free hour?
A green card is a short collection if you issue it, and a note if the company issues it. Mark how many days you need. If the company issues it, do not promise Friday. The assistant takes the plate and the dates, and offers only the kind of visit you marked. It does not decide whether a crossing needs a card.
Who sends the confirmation?
The assistant, by SMS, in the language of the conversation, at the moment of booking, including what to bring for that type. The reminder goes out ahead of the time on the schedule you set. Neither requires anyone at the desk to type a number.
Can clients cancel through it too?
Yes, and you should let them, especially on photo drops after hail. A cancellation the office hears about the day before is a time that can go to someone who still has to leave a statement. The same cancellation arriving as a no-show is an hour gone. Cancellations are written back to the diary the same way bookings are.
