Daily sales & marketing tips for insurance professionals

Interesting article over at the Insurance Journal today, which states that brokerage firm, The Charles Schwab Corp., has paid $2.68 million to protect founder and CEO Charles Schwab since 2003–quite literally.

The “protection” includes security systems and equipment, this according to a proxy which was filed this week with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

According to said proxy, the security services were implemented at the recommendation of a third-party consulting firm in 2002, “as part of the company’s business protection plans.” The proxy goes on to state that the heightened security is not maintained for the personal benefit of Schwab, which is good to hear. There’s nothing worse than folks throwing money at bodyguards and security systems just for show.

While the article itself is (I guess) interesting, I’m more interested in the comments readers have posted in response to the article. Because, as “Curious” points out, this article really contradicts all those new “Talk to Chuck” ads:

“How are you supposed to ‘Talk to Chuck’ when he has all that security to keep people away?”

Well done, Curious.

If you’ve ever wondered about the basic honesty of man, ask Florida resident Carlos M. Rojas, 62. He’ll tell you there’s at least one honest stranger out there–and he’s really grateful they met.

The really weird thing is, the two men, who work in the same building but for different companies, carry the same name, according to The Associated Press.

The elder Mr. Rojas, whose son perished in Iraq last October when a land mine exploded near his Humvee, had been waiting for his son’s life insurance company to produce the military death benefits they had promised.

But he had no way of knowing that the checks had already been delivered, albeit to the wrong man. And he never would have found out had it not been for the stranger’s honesty.

…Read the rest of this entry »

As I’m sure you may have heard, GEICO’s been getting some heat lately due to their practice of using occupation and education level to determine a driver’s insurance rates.

Last week RiskProf posted about a similar situation after a Bill in New Jersey was introduced banning the practice of using occupation and education level to determine premiums.

Prof argues that:

Insurers are going to mine their data to find those variables that are statistically related to higher risk and use this information to discriminate between expected high and low risk drivers. This is legal and this is discrimination. We forget that it makes the better drivers have lower rates.

Prof also equates the occupation/education underwriting to that of charging young males and people with poor driving records more for insurance.

…Read the rest of this entry »

I can’t lie. I’m reaching for material today.

However, RiskProf posted a great tidbit today on Iraqi life insurance that’s worth checking out.

According to Prof, the New York Times recently published a piece on terrorism-related life insurance in Iraq, which carried riders for death caused by:

• explosions caused by weapons of war and car bombs
• assassinations
• terrorist attacks

You know, I was feeling pretty awful about not having a great insurance anecdote for you folks today. Then I read the whole “explosions caused by weapons of war and car bombs” bit and stopped feeling sorry for myself.

Nonetheless, it’s a good post by RiskProf; head over and give it a gander. Yes, that’s right. A gander.

As reported previously in this blog, St. Paul Travelers recently began offering its hybrid-driving customers in a handful of states discounts of up to 10 percent.

Well, apparently the move has been well-received amongst customers, as Travelers has now qualified hybrid drivers in six more states for the auto insurance discount. Welcome on board Alabama, Mississippi, Nevada, Kansas, Tennessee and South Carolina.

Why is the company encouraging drivers to purchase hybrids? Mostly for financial reasons, I suspect. Research shows hybrid owners tend to be mature, experienced drivers less likely to file auto claims–in other words, they’re the cream of the crop for insurers.

I wonder if other auto insurers will follow suit. What do you think?

Check out today’s Insurance Journal story for yourself here.

I’d venture to say we’ve all left our keys in our car’s ignition at one time or another–whether purposefully or by accident. But I’ll bet Arizona drivers will think twice about doing that now!

According to the Insurance Journal, the state has approved a bill allowing Arizona auto insurers to charge a triple deductible for auto claims in which vehicles are stolen because their owners left the keys in their cars.

Now wait a minute–isn’t that going just a little bit overboard?

I agree with the sentiments of Arizona Sen. Barbara Leff, who voted against the bill, saying, “The whole purpose of insurance is to cover those human mistakes and human frailties.”

But today’s Insurance Journal story says the state disagreed because one out of five stolen Arizona vehicles had keys left inside.

I’ll concede they have a point; but a triple deductible? Seems to me that will just encourage those drivers whose cars are stolen to go without insurance, rather than pay the high deductible. Why not suspend offenders’ licenses for a period of time instead? Then maybe they’d check for those keys one last time before leaving their vehicles.

I’d like to hear what Arizona auto insurers out there have to say about this issue. Anyone wanna share your perspective?

Part of posting to the InsureMe Agent Blog, as you might have figured, means reading up on the latest insurance happenings and forming some sort of intelligible opinion about them.

So as I perused the Net in search of the latest, “big” insurance news this morning, you can imagine my shock upon finding this headline under the Insurance News Net’s “Breaking News” articles:

Humana CEO 2005 Salary $858,611, Bonus $1.3. Million.

I’m going to keep my sarcastic comments to myself go out on a limb here and say that this is not breaking news. In fact, I’m pretty sure next to no one is concerned with how much the Humana CEO made last year and is perhaps curious as to why the company would divulge such figures. (I guess I’m a sucker for modesty.)

Now, if CEO Michael McCallister had, say, donated a fourth of his earnings to charity or a humanitarian cause, then I’d be impressed. Then the “Breaking News” category might be warranted.

But perhaps I should cut INN some slack. Perhaps it’s a slow insurance news day.

Back with more insurance news and commentary later.

The Senate passed a “voice vote” late Thursday afternoon agreeing to boost the borrowing capability of the National Flood Insurance Program, reports the Insurance News Net. The measure allows the NFIP to borrow up to $20.8 billion to help pay out over 220,000 claims from hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

With estimated hurricane-related claims reaching $24 billion, the NFIP said without congressional action, it would hit its current borrowing ceiling this month–and would have to tell insurers issuing claims payments to stop doing so.

Now approved by both the House and the Senate, the measure will go to the White House for President Bush’s signature.

This is good news for the NFIP and homeowners along the Gulf. Perhaps we’ll have an update on this come Monday!

Have a great weekend!

One insurer is now offering drivers in Iowa and Virginia a 5 percent discount for being willing to report the mileage they put on their cars every 6 months.

According to a report by an abc affiliate station in West Des Moines, Iowa, Progressive’s new exact mileage program requires drivers who sign up to log on to a Web site every six months at renewal time and record their car’s mileage. That way, the company can track the actual number of miles being driven.

Why? Because, according to experts, customers who drive more miles are more likely to be involved in a crash. That means more expense for insurance companies and more money out of consumers’ pockets.

In addition, those who put less than three thousand miles on their car in a year’s time could get an additional discount of 10 percent, according to the story by the abc station.

Progressive Direct says, depending upon the popularity of the new program, they may roll it out nationwide soon.

OK, here’s my take on the thing: I wonder how many drivers would actually take the time to enroll and report their miles online for a meager five percent discount? And how many people actually drive less than three thousand miles and could qualify for the extra 10 percent every year anyway?

I say, let’s get real!

What do you think? Will consumers do anything for a discount, no matter how small, or is Progressive way off base?

Let us know your thoughts…and watch that mileage, would ya?

Happy Friday!

Poor baby boomers. They’re getting picked on by all sides.

I just got done reading an MSN Money article entitled, “Too Old to Drive?”

Think our roads already resemble a survivalist obstacle course? Get ready for 2025, when an estimated 40 million baby boomers will clog the left lanes of America, blinkers flashing, one foot trembling over the break.

While I don’t care (at all) for the tone of MSN Money writer, Debora Vrana, the article does raise some valid points about soon-to-be senior drivers.

…Read the rest of this entry »