Posted On: August 25, 2008, 11:10 am CDT

Posted By: Interested party

I have been a faithful reader of Insurance Journal on line for many years and I believe that this subject has had the greatest number of responses that I can remember. I am not an agent or adjuster but I do have a chip in the game. Number one, insurance carriers are not in the disaster recovery business, they are in the finance business. Prior to the internet most insurance was sold over the telephone unless you were with a premium carrier such as Chubb, AIG and others. No visit by the agent. Everything based on percentages. If you were a first time home buyer you probably called your parent and asked what company they used! Or you called your existing agent when you were buying a new house and his first question usually is Has the house been appraised by the mortgage company yet? Using the appraised value of real estate transaction is not the right way to underwrite the replacement value of the house (schedule A) and using a percentage of schedule A to determine the contents (schedule C) value coverage is out of date and a joke. And using drive by appraisals that cost the carrier $35 a piece to determine the ucrrent value of schedule A is not right either. But time is money!

What the industry needs to do is get both the homeowner and agent to both participate in the actual underwriting process. And I asgree with others that the homeowner needs to step up and be proactive. And a home inventory booklet that the carrier provides is not going to cut it anymore. Certainly Katrina made sure of that! All we have heard about is the homes that have been lost (shelter our number one need) but what good is a home when you having nothing to put inside of it? For those readers who follow Insurance Journal you will know what company I'm with in the next three to four months because we are going to provide a professional and affordable solution to the insurance to value issue that faces all homeowners throughout North America.