I can agree that an office with 50 employees, because ot their economies of scale, may pay a bit less per head than a mom and pop shop. That doesn't mean that a mom and pop shop isn't profitable. If insurance companies take that view individual auto and homeowners would not exist. One fire on your home is costly indeed but insurance companies are in the business to spread the risk.
I dare say that mom and pop shops may be less likely to have a claim than a 100 person office. The 100 person office will probably have more attrition, it will have people that care less about the office they work for and will have more eomplyees that no matter what, are gone at 5 PM, etc. The problem isn't a problem of assuming / spreading the risk, the problem is computer modeling. Computer modeling has created greater risk in the stock market because pf program selling. It sells a company at a certain price, no matter if the company is an up and coming Goggle or an Enron. It is a number and once that number has been hit, equation and bam...it is done.
Yes, you are correct, gone are the days of relationships with those that we do business with and in whom we place our trust.
The years since 1983, the year I started selling insurance have ticked by and I am now 53 years old. Cynical and tired of what has become of the insurance business.
Hey here is a laugh. For year after year the banks chipped away at the laws so that they could sell insurance and securities. Their banner was they could offer competition in the marketplace. Now Walmart want to do a little banking and the ABA is livid. YEs, the banks may have rolled their way into our field but I want to see them stop Walmart. It is a small giggle when Karma plays her hand.
d's insurance store wrote:Get used to it. You refer to 'relationships'...well, the only relationships that really matter are those between you and your clients because they have choices.
Your so-called 'relationship' between you and your E&O carrier is only in your own mind. At one time they may have cared, but right now you're just an actuarial blip on their Excel chart, and insuring professional liability for the smaller 'mom & pop' agencies is a rapidly shrinking field. I'm not defending it...but look at it from their standpoint. They spend the same amount of time underwriting the risk and collect, what, a few thousand dollars in premium. Sure, you run a tight ship, but how about the single agent broker accross town, who plays fast and loose? One E&O claim from that person with a payout of $300K, and the company is suddenly looking at an upside down loss ratio through no fault of yours.
The trouble with people like you and I is we have long memories when relationships between us and the carriers mattered. I have painfully come to terms with the fact my relationships with both my carriers and my clients, in addition to anyone else I do business with, are fragile and can fall apart at anytime through no action of my own doing.
This has truly become a 'watch out for number one' world and no amount of ranting will reverse these gigantic social and business trends.
I've said my peace.
