St. Louis Insurer Provides New Benefit for Police and Firefighters
St. Louis-based insurer Stucky and Company have unveiled a new insurance program, designed for police officers and firefighters, the Insurance Journal reported today.
The Shield Insurance Program is a new homeowners and auto insurance program, which offers hefty discounts to police and firefighters—up to 40 percent, in fact.
The program also includes:
- a $10,000 firearms limit
- protection from credit card fraud and identity theft
- free roadside assistance
- a disappearing deductible
- a lifetime repair guarantee
- a $10,00 supplemental death benefit
"We believe that police and firefighters are deserving of special consideration. Not only do they put their lives on the line everyday, but their occupational training and experiences prepare them to deal with and prevent many of the same hazards they're insured against," said Dwight Stuckey, company CEO.
Accordingly, the Insurance Journal reports that Stuckey and Company applies credits for a "responsible lifestyle", which includes safe driving, training, education and theft protection, and that these credits are available to anyone throughout the police or fire department.
At first glance, I thought this program was pretty cool. Then (because playing devil's advocate is one of my favorite games), I started to think that the whole "responsible lifestyle" credit didn't make much sense at all. After all, fighting crime and fire is a tad more dangerous than say, being a copywriter for InsureMe. I don't get any such discount for my low-risk job, or my low-risk life practices, such as avoiding rollercoasters, small airplanes and operating appliances around water. Nope, no extra discounts for Megan.
Despite the discrepancy in terminology, however, it seems like a great program—police officers and firefighters are rewarded for their work in the community and Stucky and Company will undoubtedly write more policies as a result.
I'll be interested to see if other insurance companies follow suit with similar programs. I could see if these kinds of discounts started to crop up in metropolitan areas, but what about rural areas? It brings to mind a very small town outside of Iowa City, Iowa, where the fire department consists solely of volunteers—Qwest repairman by day, firefighter by night. It's not exactly high-risk Chicago or New York City, but will these men and women ever see a sizeable insurance discount for their service?
Perhaps not.
But I would argue that regardless of company size, these unique benefits may up the ante in terms of competition amongst insurers. Not only will these types of discounts draw in new clients (and keep them there), but the companies insuring these folks will own some pretty hefty bragging rights—I can see the TV ads now: "Insuring more of our community's civic workers..." and on and on.
Kind of gets your mind going, no?
