I received an email from a friend of mine who’s a commercial underwriter with a local insurance brokerage. All three of their cars were struck by hail from Sunday night’s storm. Two of the three vehicles are total losses and she wanted to know their options so they could make a good financial decision that right for them.
Hail season arrived in north Texas early this year with a storm which swept across north Texas from Justin to McKinney. The hail was from softball to golf ball size with the larger hail occurring around the Denton area and becoming smaller as it traveled toward McKinney. Initial estimates will be forthcoming in a few days, but I expect the insurance claims to be significant given the size of the hail and how widespread the storm was. I received several calls, text and email messages from clients affected by Sunday night’s storm. Let’s review what to do in handling an insurance claim after such a storm.
One of my all-time favorite vehicles is the 1974 to 1976 Toyota Land Cruiser. It technically was a four-passenger vehicle although the rear seats folded down from the sides and faced the middle. It had two doors, funky curved windows in the back corners, nice ground clearance, and a very utilitarian design. I thought they were very cool, but it wasn’t very pretty. A friend of mine recently bought one and is restoring it, so I thought this would be a good time to discuss car insurance for classic cars.
The 2017 Texas Legislature is well underway with over 8,000 bills introduced for consideration. The hot topics are the bathroom bill, immigration enforcement, equal parenting, medical cannabis, educational savings accounts, abortion, handguns, and parole of certain inmates. Sounds like a typical Texas Legislative session! There are two insurance related bills I want to address in this post – texting while driving and restrictions on lawsuits against insurance companies.
State Farm reported a loss on car insurance of $7 billion in 2016. It’s a staggering number, and they aren’t alone either. Allstate, Geico, The Hartford, and Travelers also experienced losses last year. One of my carriers shared with me for every $1.00 they took in for car insurance premium, they paid out $!.10 in claim losses, and that didn’t include the catastrophic car losses caused by our recent tornadoes and hail storms.
I had an interesting conversation with a new client the other day. She leases her car and wanted to confirm whether the car insurance policy covers manufacturer parts, also known as original equipment manufacturer or OEM parts, or would they insist on using third-party parts to repair her car if she files a car insurance claim? No client or prospective client has ever asked that question and it told me she’d either experienced or seen a claim go sideways.
Imagine you’re riding in an autonomous or self-driving vehicle. The car is traveling 35 to 40 miles per hour and a pedestrian suddenly walks out in front of your vehicle. Complicating the issue there is a concrete barrier in the oncoming lane. Hitting the pedestrian may result in killing them while hitting the concrete barrier may result in the death of the vehicle passenger. What will the car do? Who will be liable?
In 2016 the number of people accessing the internet using a mobile device such as a smart phone or tablet surpassed those using a PC or laptop. That number will continue to climb since millennials tend to rely on their mobile devices for connection, shopping, information, and service needs. This raises the question as to how well insurance companies will respond by providing a meaningful app experience for millennials and clients in other age groups.
Last week I introduced how technology has changed and continues to change our lives. Technology advances are easier to see with companies such as Amazon, Uber, and Netflix, they are also leading to change in the insurance arena. Most of the technology changes in insurance have been in the “back office,” the area most consumers don’t see. As an independent insurance advisor, these changes make it easier for me to quote prospective clients policies, service existing clients’ policies, and even manage my business.
Technology has impacted our lives dramatically over the past 35 years. During that time, we’ve seen the birth of the distributed computing, the PC and Mac, networks, the internet, and smart phones. The iPhone I carry with me has more storage and computing power than the mini-computers I sold in the 1980s which cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. We’re not done changing. Companies, such as Amazon, Uber, and Netflix have changed the way we live and shop.
Subscribe to my newsletter by filling the form below.
A confirmation email will be sent to your mailbox: please read the instructions to complete the subscription.
