Insurance Landscape Maybe Changing?

[myrdale]

I have my Home and Auto insurance with Farmers. I am happy enough with them. They did cover a new roof after a hail storm two years ago, so I am really happy with them.

Today I went by the local office to pay up. $1,000 for six months auto and $1,100 for one year home. Boom, done, over with.

Well the office was closed. There was a sign up, "Closed for renovations".

So I went to another office here in town. And it was an interesting conversation I had there.

It seems, my agent up and quit. My agent actually wasn't my agent, but the office manager. The office may or may not be in the process of being sold. But across the board agents are quitting left and right. Farmer's has recently cut commissions for their agents (who really are just contractors).

When she asked how long I had been with them I told her since ALFA wanted to drop me over my siding (which I was in the process of replacing) and then over the garage doors (which I budgeted tor replace the next year).

It seems, across the board, the insurance agencies are trying to clean up bad accounts (bad underwriting). It's been going on for a little while, they (insurance across the board) are throwing the good out with the bad.

I don't know if this will have any impact on any of us, but I thought it was interesting. It smells funny. I guess we will see.

[ua_guy]

What's an insurance agent?

Let me get this straight. You took, like, cash-money, or a paper check, and walked it into this person's actual office to pay a bill. ???

LOL

[QuarterMillionMan]

In California I think State Farm uprooted doing business. I think it was home owners insurance. For LTC John Hancock waved the white flag. Only about 5 LTCs’ remain nationwide.

[Fishindude77]

Insurance is a highly competitive, tough business. You have to have enough customers paying their bills and not making claims to cover the expenses of those making claims. It's been really difficult for some insurance companies to remain profitable in many areas due to things like; wildfires, hurricanes, floods, etc. Shouldn't be a big surprise they are bailing out of some areas, lowering overhead, etc. in order to survive.

There is also a mentality in todays society "if I'm insured, everything should be covered, and I'm not responsible for anything". Lot's of borderline false and false claims get made which further erode profitability for the insurers.

[myrdale]

What's an insurance agent?

Let me get this straight. You took, like, cash-money, or a paper check, and walked it into this person's actual office to pay a bill. ???

LOL

An insurance agent is someone who sells insurance. Sometimes they sell for a single company, and other times they sell for multiple companies. Most sell home owners, auto, and life policies.

You can pay your bills on line or mail them it. It is my personal preference to pay by check. The mail service has gotten so bad in Georgia, there is a 50/50 chance they will receive your payment within 6 weeks of mailing it. By stopping at their office, I know it is paid, and I walk out with a receipt in hand. It is a nice paper trail in the remote chance there is ever an issue.

[disneysteve]

An insurance agent is someone who sells insurance. Sometimes they sell for a single company, and other times they sell for multiple companies. Most sell home owners, auto, and life policies.

You can pay your bills on line or mail them it. It is my personal preference to pay by check. The mail service has gotten so bad in Georgia, there is a 50/50 chance they will receive your payment within 6 weeks of mailing it. By stopping at their office, I know it is paid, and I walk out with a receipt in hand. It is a nice paper trail in the remote chance there is ever an issue.

Paying online gives you instant confirmation of receipt and a "paper" trail without having to drive anywhere or write a check.

The only insurance policy we have for which we have an actual agent is my disability insurance and I'm about to cancel that. I took out that policy in 1990 when online business didn't exist. Every other policy we have is handled 100% online (and even that one is paid online) and all but one of them was purchased directly online. No agents involved. No commissions being paid to people to do the same exact things that I can do myself for free. It amazes me that insurance agents are still as prevalent as they are. The need for them to exist in significant numbers is long past.

[disneysteve]

It seems, across the board, the insurance agencies are trying to clean up bad accounts (bad underwriting).

Sounds like a great thing to me.

[ua_guy]

An insurance agent is someone who sells insurance. Sometimes they sell for a single company, and other times they sell for multiple companies. Most sell home owners, auto, and life policies.

You can pay your bills on line or mail them it. It is my personal preference to pay by check. The mail service has gotten so bad in Georgia, there is a 50/50 chance they will receive your payment within 6 weeks of mailing it. By stopping at their office, I know it is paid, and I walk out with a receipt in hand. It is a nice paper trail in the remote chance there is ever an issue.

Yes I know what an agent is. Also, brokers. IMO, In a digital world, they are mostly outmoded except for speciality coverages and/or if an insured doesn't want to go to the effort of getting quotes for themselves. Otherwise, agents typically add overhead expense unnecessarily to policy premiums.

I've paid my insurance online since I've been paying my insurance. The price doesn't change cash, check, or electronic. With a 2% cash back credit card you're missing out on $62 back every year just paying your insurance premiums (1,000 auto 6-month x2, plus 1100 homeowners ins). The payment is posted instantly, you can save and print your receipts, confirmation numbers for the transaction, plus it's logged with your card issuer should you ever need to reference it.

[myrdale]

Yes I know what an agent is. Also, brokers.

Ua_guy, you asked what an agent was. I am confused by what you're asking / point is?

[disneysteve]

Ua_guy, you asked what an agent was. I am confused by what you're asking / point is?

Are you not familiar with sarcasm?

[Fishindude77]

If you ever have a serious, big money claim it can be very beneficial to have a good relationship with an insurance agent.
I prefer to deal with a human, rather than buy my insurance online, low bid.

[myrdale]

Are you not familiar with sarcasm?

I am sorry for thinking it was a legitimate question.

What value does sarcasm add to the conversation? Maybe it was just a joke that went over my head.

[myrdale]

If you ever have a serious, big money claim it can be very beneficial to have a good relationship with an insurance agent.
I prefer to deal with a human, rather than buy my insurance online, low bid.

I agree.

[ua_guy]

Ua_guy, you asked what an agent was. I am confused by what you're asking / point is?

Myrdale, I found it ironic that you made a post about the landscape of insurance changing, while stating you walked into an agent's office to make a payment. It sounds like something my lonely father in law does, in fact, I know he does, he pays his power bill the same way. Because it takes a morning to get around to all the places to drop off checks or cash and he gets to talk to people and feel busy.

The landscape of insurance actually changed quite some time ago away from agents and away from in-person interactions. Agents add expense and insurance is a shark-infested business. When a policy is basically a legal contract, there's only so much additional service and smiling that can be added by an agent, and most people seem to prefer not to incur the expense. Which is why most of that has moved to a self-service model for purchasing policies and filing claims. And that's not even mentioning the direction payment for goods in general has gone over the last 30 years. Largely electronic, or at least via mail. And I used to work on the adjusting side...IMO agents added zero value beyond selling policies.

I felt that adding LOL to the end of the thread might have given you an idea that I was being either facetious, sarcastic, or maybe both....half expected anyone under 100 years old to understand.

So...LOL.../sarcasm. I figured a guy with an avatar of a seditious conspirator against the US would at least have a sense of humor, but I'm not right about everything.

[disneysteve]

If you ever have a serious, big money claim it can be very beneficial to have a good relationship with an insurance agent.
I prefer to deal with a human, rather than buy my insurance online, low bid.

If you ever have a claim, a rep is assigned to your claim and that’s your contact person for the process. We’ve had a couple of significant claims over the years and had no trouble at all not having some salesperson involved.