FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Last week, we shared Part1 of an article on “What to Expect When Your Insurance Is Non-renewed”. If you remember from that article, we listed four expectations:
1. Expect your agent to be reassuring that he/she will find you another market.
2. Expect your rates to be higher.
3. Expect to be declined.
4. Expect to have to answer more questions and provide more information.
Finding an insurance market also depends a lot on how good the program or account can be sold to an insurance underwriter. Insurance carriers have different histories with particular lines of business, different appetites and different motivations for taking on new business. One insurance agent may approach a carrier and be immediately shot down, while another may approach a different underwriter or even the same one on a different day and get a different answer; it is all in how the account or program is sold.
This is one part of insurance that has remained relationship based. But in saying that this is also where aggressive insurance agents oversell a carrier on the amount of business they can bring to the table or undersell the true risk in the industry because they want to just get that carrier on board. That is part of the reason you’ll see some carriers who used to write this market come back inafter a few years. It isn’t because the repossession industry has gotten so much better in terms of claims (quite the opposite); it is how the program is sold… and then ultimately how it performs.
It is up to you to be sure the information you are attesting to on any application you send is true. If it’s not true – it’s fraud! In order to get a carrier to say “Yes” some agents are known to be creative on the carrier submission. Some things to look for:
- If your business is majority repossession, make sure the application shows that. Carriers can cancel during the underwriting period if they find out your business operations were misrepresented. Carriers can non-renew if this information is found out after the underwriting period and can cancel mid policy if they found out information about you or your company that substantially increase the risk to them.
- Be sure your operations occur and vehicles are shown as garaged where you are actually located or in the correct location if you have multiple locations. Some agents have been known to submit applications showing more expensive vehicles or all vehicles or operations in a different zip code in order to try to get more favorable pricing.
- If your application asks for revenue information, don’t under report your revenue; as this could lead to a significant bill at the end of the policy if/when your policy is audited. You may have a lower premium for the policyyear, but it could be a huge balance owed that typically can’t be financed onaudit day.
If you’ve been non-renewedby one of the major carriers exiting the market or by your current carrier because you’ve had claims, one thing to keep in mind is that if you’re being proactive and shopping your policy with multiple insurance agents (See Expectation#1) – those insurance agents are likely submitting the application to the same carriers and sources, because let’s face it – there aren’t a ton options. So if the carrier sees multiple applications for the same company, but the information is reflected differently in terms of operations, garaging locations, revenues etc. it will fire up a red flag and there will be some explaining to do. (Please refer back to Expectation #3!)
1. Expect your agent to be reassuring that he/she will find you another market.
2. Expect your rates to be higher.
3. Expect to be declined.
4. Expect to have to answer more questions and provide more information.
About RSIG – Recovery Specialist Insurance Group has been supporting and insuring professional repossessors exclusively for more than 30years. We survive the ebbs and flows of the market with proper pricing, strong underwriting and a dedicated focus on education, training and the success of this industry. Contact RSIG today, 703.365.0199 or www.rsig.com, to see if we can help with your repossession insurance and training needs.
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