Historians trace the concept of insurance to cover damage and loss back to 1750 B.C., when the Babylonians developed the Code of Hammurabi, which insured loans given to Mediterranean sailing merchants against their shipments being stolen. With such a long history, it would seem that new ideas in the insurance industry would be hard to come by, but that is not the case at Advantage Dealer Insurance (ADI), East Syracuse, N.Y.
The ADI team brings not only new concepts, but also extensive experience in the construction, insurance and finance industries to the company.
Christine Tracey grew up as part of a family-owned construction equipment dealership. Her early background, combined with her extensive insurance and financial services knowledge, led her to start The Tracey Agency with her husband Rajan Julka in 2004 to meet the needs of Tracey Road Equipment, headquartered in East Syracuse, N.Y., and its customers. The success of The Tracey Agency led to the founding of ADI in 2006.
Rajan Julka started his career at Tracey Road Equipment at the age of 17. While working in Tracey Road Equipment’s accounting department, he became interested in finance and insurance and entered the field after college graduation. He now serves as vice president of The Tracey Agency and managing partner of ADI.
Bob Wright was most recently president of Mitsui Machinery, a North American distributor of construction equipment based in the greater Philadelphia area and also was a member of the board of directors. Prior to Mitsui, Wright served as vice president of JCB Americas in Savannah, Ga., and also was vice president of North American sales and distribution during his tenure there. During his career in the truck industry he served as vice president and later as senior vice president of Volvo Trucks North America, Greensboro, N.C. He also was a member of the board of directors of Arrow Truck Sales, a Volvo subsidiary. He began his career at Mack Trucks Inc. where he held a number of management positions of increasing responsibility.
Through these combined efforts, ADI offers a collection of insurance products specifically designed for construction equipment distributors, as well as consulting and brokerage services, giving customers a truly unique experience.
One of these unique services is ADI’s Dealer Inventory Coverage, a policy that fully covers the dealer’s inventory and at the same time is written to allow the dealer to rent its equipment by selling loss damage waivers. The customer does not need proof of insurance in order to rent the equipment.
Another product is ADI’s On Demand Physical Damage Insurance. Financing a piece of equipment requires that the machine must have Point of Sale Physical Damage Insurance. ADI has taken that concept and made it possible for a dealership to make arrangements for this type of insurance online with acceptance guaranteed. This is a first in the industry and allows dealers to close on the equipment much more quickly.
The most recent innovation in ADI’s portfolio is a biweekly payment service, in conjunction with National Payment Network, Los Angeles. This concept has long been used in the home mortgage industry, but, as Julka pointed out, “We are the first company in the heavy equipment industry to offer a bi-weekly payment program. This helps all involved in the transaction by reducing the amount of interest paid by the customer and helping them whether it be by increasing trade-in value or simply just to buy a new machine. This helps dealers, manufacturers and lenders when the customers are able to buy more equipment more quickly.”
“ADI also offers customizable standard and/or extended warranties. Our customers are able to design and tailor their warranties to meet their company’s needs. The program structure options, such as length of coverage and terms of coverage, are chosen by the customer,” said Julka.
“We customize and create programs which are tailored to every customer,” Julka continued. “It is more like creating a program for them which will help them sell more equipment.”
Tracey summed up the philosophy of the company with, “Advantage Dealer Insurance was created to help manufacturers, dealers and lenders to sell more of their core product and make the sales process easier on their customers. We are not in the business to just sell insurance.” CEG
Today's top stories
