Keeping up with the Market &

How it Affects your Rate

Over the last several years, insurance premiums have consistently climbed.

Everyone feels it. Clients feel it, agents feel it, and every year we show higher premiums knowing that we're being safe drivers and good insurance risks.

So the question becomes, what's going on?

Being able to have an honest conversation about insurance premiums is not necessarily the most comfortable conversation for anyone.

Agents don't love being the bearer of bad news saying something like -- "Mr. Smith, your insurance is going to cost you more this year." 

Clients obviously don't love hearing that,  but seeing ourselves as a professional advisor allows us to help educate clients on what's going on -- not just telling them bad news.

At Advisors, we want to be able to help explain the big picture -

• What's happening in the insurance industry as a whole?
• What they can expect?
• How it's impacting their rates?
  

This is a major differentiator for most of our competitors. We're not just being peddlers of cheap insurance, but experts in our field. Most people appreciate the clarity that a realistic conversation about what's going on can provide.

In order for us to have helpful conversations - here's some work that we need to do:

On a macro level: It's imperative that we stay on top of what's going on in the insurance world as a whole. We need to learn from other experts in our field. We need to read journals and blogs and discuss with other agents current challenges that they're facing and what we can expect.

On a micro level:  We need to be familiar with the specific client's policies, their carrier underwriting guidelines and upcoming changes, as well as other carriers that might be a better fit for each client.

When doing policy reviews, we need to be on the lookout for changes that might need to be made. Keeping in mind that carriers have responded in multiple ways to try to continue being profitable. So the first thing carriers have obviously done is they increase the premiums. Everyone feels that.

The second thing, carriers have significantly tightened up the underwriting guidelines as a means to limit future risk that they're willing to take on. This means professionals. We need to know what are these guidelines.

Thirdly, in some instances carriers have minimized future losses by non-renewing clients.

Fourthly, carriers have lower capacity for new business, meaning a carrier that may have wanted a lot of business shown through maybe broad coverage, lax underwriting, lower premiums. Those carriers are now limiting how much new business they'll take on.

As a client, hearing the big picture can take the edge off of some of the initial frustration. Realizing it's not the insurance man getting greedy, but an effort to stabilize a currently volatile industry. It's also helpful for clients to hear that it's not an individual issue. It's not just their insurance rates alone or even a carrier issue, but a state and a national challenge right now.

In other words, you're not alone. We're all in this together. Keep in mind our agents are also consumers!

At Advisors, we are on your side, helping explain what's going on and doing our best to provide solutions versus just being the bearer of bad news.

That's a lot of information, and you're probably thinking, "Well, what now?"

Well, you have options.

• You can,  be remarketed
• You can change your current coverage
• Or you can just stay put.

But regardless of your path, we recommend calling your insurance professionals to talk through the pros and cons of every approach. We are here to help every step of the way!