Imagine you are the client: you’re sitting across from the desk of your trusted insurance agent. The conversation gets to the topic of flood insurance. You are questioning whether you really need it, so you ask the agent for his thoughts. The agent proceeds to advise you that your house is...
Virtually all agencies are aware of the need to confirm client decisions regarding limits or coverage. This level of documentation will be key if a problem arises and the client denies the conversation ever happened. Without a doubt, the memorialization of these conversations has played a key role in the defense of agencies in many E&O matters....
“It takes 20 years to build a reputation and 5 minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently” – Warren Buffet It goes without saying that the relationship between your agency and your carriers is built on trust and honesty. When you provide the carriers/wholesalers with submissions, there is an...
What are these dangerous words? “Just duplicate what I have.” I probably should add, “but save me some money” to the end of that - because essentially this is what the client is telling you. They are also telling you that the proper coverage is not high on their list. Unfortunately, these...
I trust you would agree there is often a tremendous likelihood that your clients’ policies contain some key policy issues. For commercial accounts, issues or conditions such as those noted in a Protective Safeguards Endorsement tend to be common. One of the keys to this endorsement is the condition that failure...
Most agency staff, especially the veterans, have documenting client discussions down pat. They know how important it is to have those conversations noted in the agency file and with some type of written communication back to the client memorializing the discussions. The issue of documentation has been the essence of...
In my previous days of managing an E&S operation, an account I remember working on was a GC (General Contractor) that was building homes in a new development. We applied to one of the more popular E&S markets and got back a fairly attractive premium proposal. As we reviewed the...
About 10 years ago, I was teaching an E&O class dealing with the E&O exposures of personal lines. On day two, we started discussing personal umbrellas. I asked the group, “When would you propose umbrella coverage to a client?” It seemed like a reasonable question,...
It certainly appears that in any given year, several catastrophes will occur. Whether the catastrophe involves hurricanes, tornados, floods, wildfires or some other event, we can count on catastrophes happening. Unfortunately, that is a given. In my 30-plus years of involvement with Agents E&O, it has...
When I am in the various E&O Plus agencies, it’s interesting that things tend to be a lot quieter than in years past. For those folks that have been around this industry for a while (pre-email), you will remember that phones were a lot more...