TWO of Northern Ireland’s most established local insurance brokers are to unite under the single brand name AbbeyAutoline.
Abbey Insurance, founded in Newtownabbey in 1973, has 22 branches and employs 300 staff while Autoline, founded in Newry two years later, has 170 employees at five branches.
Prestige Insurance Holdings, parent company of Abbey, acquired Autoline at the end of 2018, since when the two businesses have been aligning their operations.
But the new brand, which goes live on September 1, marks the two companies uniting as a single legal entity.
Julie Gibbons, managing director of the newly combined business, said: “This is one of the most significant developments in the insurance industry here for decades.
“Both these home-grown broking businesses have developed side by side for almost 50 years. To see them coming together heralds the start of not only a bigger and stronger business, but greater choice for all our customers, with an expanded panel of insurers.
“As a combined business, we can now offer customers a broader range of products, which encompasses car and home insurance, along with travel, van, motorbike, taxi, farm and business insurance.
“Customers will start to see our new name rolled out in our high street branches across Northern Ireland in the coming weeks.
“Customers insured through either Abbey or Autoline can be confident that their current insurance cover continues uninterrupted and they do not need to take any action.
“While AbbeyAutoline will be bigger, we remain firmly focused on delivering the same trusted, expert personal customer care that has successfully grown our two businesses for almost five decades.”
