Liberty Mutual rental - $94 a year ??

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etimer
Insurance Journal Addict
Posts: 208
Joined: Fri Feb 11, 2005 5:53 am

Liberty Mutual rental - $94 a year ??

Post by etimer »

I have a client that had their renters ins. with me through Safeco. Her father takes care of her finances and just went with Liberty Mutual for $94 a year. Safeco is a Liberty Mutual company but can't come close to $94 nor would I want to write a $94 policy. This policy is always running late and about 4 years ago was involved in the apartment complex fire. For the work who would do it for a $94 premium and how I am not sure how the ins. company makes any money on $94. I understand the law of numbers but nothing from nothing is still nothing.

I write minimal of personal lines. I looked at a renters policy I did 10 years ago and back then it was above $100 a year.

Her father used to have his auto / home with Encompass through me. Then the insurance company found out that there was an accident with his one car. The ins. company knew that the daughter was using the car and the garaging location was noted. What got the encompass risk manager involved was that the daughter had a boy friend living with her and during the accident the boyfriend was driving the car. It was the second accident with the car and Encompass said to get her own policy.

The father went shopping, not for her but for his policies and Liberty Mutual came in less....he moved the auto and home. Fine with me. I never liked the situation of the daughter / boyfriend. Now the question is does Liberty know about the driving situation. The father is pushing permitted driver to the limits and when the big claim happens I wouldn't want to be near it. :)
d's insurance store
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Joined: Tue Mar 14, 2006 11:04 am

Re: Liberty Mutual rental - $94 a year ??

Post by d's insurance store »

Etimer...you're just not as old and jaded and cynical as I. Just give it a few years and something like this just becomes conversation with a like minded agency owner who is willing to commiserate with you, unless your spouse is sympathetic to these kinds of stories over dinner.

There was a time in my earlier career where I felt the need to 'right the wrongs' when uncovered and help the industry find a more stable moral and ethical footing. In this kind of instance, I'd be making calls to underwriting managers, collecting policy numbers and names and snitching on the perps. Now....YAWN!

In personal lines mostly, and commercial lines to a significant degree, lying, cheating and misrepresentation run amok. I just do my best to avoid being the insurance agency involved when the claim takes place and the inevitable contradictions manifest. I'll concede there are a small number of times when it's just plain ignorance on the part of the insured public and not malicious behavior, but everything from undisclosed drivers, to business categories left unsaid, to coverage manipulation, to agency and agent complicity to you name it just rots the system.

Your narrative has revealed enough that you, and someone with the business integrity like myself would just let this risk float on by to some other insurance home. I'm not trying to make myself into some sanctimonious jerk that will never cross any lines, but from a strict business standpoint, and being within five years of getting out, I just want to tread water and avoid the lunacy of what this (and other) business is evolving into.
etimer
Insurance Journal Addict
Posts: 208
Joined: Fri Feb 11, 2005 5:53 am

Re: Liberty Mutual rental - $94 a year ??

Post by etimer »

Well I am into my mid-sixties so I would say I fit into the cynical mold. Plus being in the insurance business since 1984 I can definitely say I am cynical.

I only posted to vent a bit and wonder just what the heck the insurance agent did to get a $94 renters premium.

There is a guy I know that has been after me for a while to get a valuation on my book. Never thought of retiring but lately all the crap is getting too deep and retirement may be an answer. My book is 90% commercial and most of that is construction. There are still big contractors out there that send examples of what a subs COI should look like. The Acord sample is normally very old, outdated and full of nuanced wording for things that can't be done. It leaves me constantly giving teaching lessons about insurance, playing pickle in the middle between client and prime contractor.

In the end, I write the COI how I write it and not what some prime contractor wants. I stand on that rock and don't move.

https://www.irmi.com/online/newsletters ... spx#editor

"Why is it that so many contracts still require insurance policies and endorsements from the 1970s? The 1986 commercial general liability policy included the contractual liability endorsement, the broad form property damage endorsement, and "x,c,u coverage" within its standard terms and no longer provides for a "combined single limit" for the coverage, yet you still see all of this required in contracts. This is probably my biggest pet peeve, and it presents a huge potential problem for contracting organizations. "
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