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Some companies exist just to make money or to make nice stuff, and that’s fine.
But ARAG was founded, more than 80 years ago, on a very important idea. It’s still important, so you’ll probably hear us talking about it quite a bit and putting it in quotes and a fancy font, like this:

 
H.Fassbender

"Every individual should be able to assert his or her rights, not only those who can afford it."

Heinrich Faßbender, 1935
 

Heinrich Faßbender founded ARAG in Düsseldorf, Germany all those years ago and members of his family still run the global business today, across 17 countries and counting.

Whether you call it a belief, a mission statement or a company vision, we had one way before it was fashionable. Come to think of it, ARAG had a mission statement before they were even called mission statements.

This mission statement still drives everything that we do and gives us a sense that, even on those rainy days when the bus was late and we spilt our coffee all over the desk, what we’re doing at work is helping to make somebody else’s life a little bit better and a little bit fairer.

Legal protection for families and businesses isn’t the only thing that we do, of course. In the UK ARAG also provides motor breakdown and home emergency cover, for example. At the end of the day it’s all about protecting people and helping them out when they need it most.

We still have to make money, of course. That’s what pays the bills, all of our wages and for the free fruit for all our staff (did we tell you about the free fruit?) but the way we do it is by helping people to take care of their legal lives.

The nature of the legal problems that face people and companies around the world may have changed over the decades, but we like to think that ARAG helps to level the playing field a little, so that ordinary people can look after their legal affairs without having to be afraid of the cost or intimidated by the system.

In the UK, access to justice certainly hasn’t got any easier in recent years. Legal Aid has been slashed, courts and law centres have been closed, and fees often have to be paid before you can even bring a case to court.

This is why what we do is so important. If it were not for the affordable access to legal advice and protection that our policies offer, many people and smaller businesses simply would not be able to assert their legal rights.