Coles has launched a new car insurance marketing campaign.

The supermarket chain’s Little Red Quote promotional drive includes TV, radio, print and digital advertising in NSW and Victoria.

It comes as profitability in domestic motor is at an all-time high.

All insurers consider the class “profitable” and one in four see it as “very profitable”, according to a JP Morgan/Taylor Fry survey released earlier this year.

Domestic motor has a combined operating ratio – a measure of insurance profitability – of 95.

Nearly 90% of insurers predict car cover will stay profitable until at least 2016.

Coles GM Strategy and Financial Services Richard Wormald says the group is targeting customers aged 30 and above, because they represent lower-risk drivers and the majority of the chain’s shopping demographic.

“Targeting the over-30s market aligns very well with our shopper base,” he told insuranceNEWS.com.au. “It allows us to target a very broad population.”

Coles is offering drivers aged 30 and over a discount on their current car policies if they switch to its product, which is underwritten by Wesfarmers Insurance.

As part of the marketing push it has also sent a convoy of “little red cars” on a “little red road trip” across NSW and Victoria.

After a non-committal “soft launch” in Tasmania in 2009, Coles readjusted its insurance offering for a national roll-out in 2010.

It now has more than 100,000 policies in force and is aiming for “sustainable growth” over the next few years.

Policy sales are evenly split between online and call centre enquiries but online will soon be the dominant medium, Mr Wormald says.

Last May Wesfarmers said it was converting 40-50% of phone calls from people enquiring about insurance.

Mr Wormald says the new campaign is timely.

“In our first year we sold 30,000 policies with very little marketing,” he said. “What our customers are telling us is they love saving money, need insurance and our brand resonates.”

He says Coles’ cover is not a low-quality option, despite its low cost.

“We are positioning this at a lower cost than the majors but it’s not a budget offering. We have designed a product that is high quality and we’ve now decided to step up our marketing and build customer awareness, which is still quite low.”

The Little Red Quote campaign will continue until it is “no longer working”, he says.