Insurance is important. Insurance agents making certain coverage is as good as it gets play a vital role making insurance work. Admittedly, most of us avoid taking enough time with our insurance agents and probably give off too much concern about the cost.
I was thinking about this recently while reading an article by Bill Wilson, Couldn’t Happen To Me. Wilson is an insurance agent educator and he made this point to agents trying to convince them that selling that little extra is worth a fortune in peace of mind:
When we got our pontoon boat in 2013, I added watercraft coverage to our personal lines account and our $2M personal umbrella policy. The cost to extend the umbrella liability to the boat? Seven dollars. Yes, you read the correctly, SEVEN ($7.00) dollars. What watercraft owner can’t afford an additional $7 premium on an umbrella policy?
John Carr is Vice President of the restoration division of RR Industries. His company has been in the construction business since 1946. They asked me to make a presentation about hurricane preparedness to the Palm Beach North Chamber of Commerce on July 1. I was asked what the first thing a policyholder should do to prepare for a storm, and I said something to the effect:
Call you insurance agent and make certain you have all the insurance coverages you need if you had a serious loss from a hurricane. I told them to do that even though it was late to get coverages right. I also told them that in my book, Pay UP! I explain that the selection of the best insurance agent they can find is important and not to look for their insurance agent on a golf course.
My post, Trends in the Florida Insurance Market That Business Managers Must Consider In Hurricane Preparations, noted:
Insurance agents play a vital role in the success of any business. Good commercial agents know the marketplace for the businesses of their clients, the trends, competing available products, and the coverage which should be considered. Agents have many duties to their clients; the most important is to educate the customer regarding the coverage needed to sustain a business following a disaster.
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My advice: establish a great relationship with an agent and consider two. Meet at least twice a year. Do not buy on price alone, but on coverage provided. In fairness and for protection, buy only from those that will agree to resolve differences in a courtroom where your business is located. Such agreements may keep disputes from occurring in the first place.
It is never a bad time to ask to have a meeting, a call or just a checkup on insurance with your insurance agent. You will sleep better for it. The old saying is that ‘good insurance coverage is like a working parachute. You do not get a second chance to have it.’
Thought For The Day
Just because nobody complains doesn’t mean all parachutes are perfect.
—Benny Hill
