The Accessor Winter 2025 Web - Flipbook - Page 10
JOURNAL
IAEA COUNCIL
IAEA
COUNCIL
MEMBER
RICK STONE
Rick Stone, M.Inst.A.E.A, CAE, FIEA, AMIMI, is Motor Engineer Services Senior Technical
Lead at Allianz Insurance and here talks to The Assessor’s Journal editor, Kelly Dalwood,
about his role as a new IAEA Council Member.
Thanks for taking the time out
of your busy day to talk to
The Assessor’s Journal, Rick!
Could you give our readers
some detail on your career to
date?
I joined the motor industry straight
from school, as an apprentice panel
beater at my local Renault dealership
in Bristol. I think that I always intended
to become an Automotive Engineer as
my mother worked as a secretary for
an independent engineer company in
Bristol called ‘Clark Line & Partners’.
As a child I remember seeing her boss
being interviewed on the local news
and thinking he was a celebrity. I was
also aware that he owned multiple
properties including a farm and a
house on Bath’s famous Royal Crescent
and thinking “I want to be like him.” It
was years later that I discovered that
his wealth wasn’t anything to do with
the Assessors business but, by that
10
time, I was already well into my career.
The story of how I joined my 昀椀rst
insurer is one of luck. I was working
for a bodyshop in Avonmouth, one
morning I arrived at the garage to
unlock, and was greeted by the
receivers. The owners had closed the
business, and all staff were told to
remove all tools by 12pm, as the doors
were being locked. A number of the
staff were sat in reception discussing
options and the phone kept ringing.
Nobody would answer it as “we didn’t
work there anymore” so I eventually
took the call and was greeted by a lady
from a large insurer asking if we had
any of their cars on site. At which point
I cheekily asked if they had any jobs
going and I was working there a few
weeks later.
I joined Allianz, my current employer, in
October 2000 where I initially worked
in a combined ‘two weeks image, one
week on the road’ engineer role.
I relocated to Devon where I spent
15 years in an area management role,
handing every claim in Devon and
Cornwall. This gave me the opportunity
to build really strong relationships,
and indeed professional friendships,
with the repairers in my area, based
on mutual respect and trust, which has
stood me in good stead throughout my
career.
I moved back to Bristol at the end of
the pandemic and soon after took
on the role of ‘Senior Technical Lead’
which everyone outside of Allianz
would refer to as Chief Engineer.
Although I still occasionally visit
repairers, my main role now is the
overview of the motor engineer team
direction, ensuring that all regulatory
compliance is adhered to and that
engineers are trained to complete
their role in a way that is in line with
the ethics and chosen direction of the
business.
THE ASSESSORS JOURNAL | WINTER 2025 | www.iaea-online.org/news/the-assessor
