All Forum Posts by: Tony Wilcox

There are many contributing factors into why this is happening nationwide, and not just CT. 

Carriers catching up to inflation (insurance lags behind inflation), and cost of replacing roofs/cars/houses.... It costs more now to replace/fix a car. Body shops are taking forever to fix them and car rentals are taking longer, which the carrier is paying for is just one example of many. Roofs are double what they used to cost 5-10 years ago. 

They say there have also been more severe weather events. This means events that cause over $1B in damages. I am not sure if there are more events, or materials/labor just costs more for them to say it is a severe event. I posed this question to the head of Travelers personal insurance department at their HQ. He couldn't give me an answer on that!

Carriers cannot match what is needed to charge in certain states that limit what they can raise their rates too. This causes them to add restrictions, or just pull out of the market all together. If you are losing billions of dollars and can't match the rate required due to the state insurance department not allowing it, there is no need to continue business. 

All coastal states have a possibility to be hit by a major weather event. You might think CT doesn't have any, but being on the coast there is always a change of a hurricane, or other severe weather events. 

Many carriers, like Progressive, insure nationwide, and when severe weather events hit an area, it wipes out all premiums they had nationwide. This also causes them to raise rates or just get out all together. 

Insurance also needed a reset after they were insuring homes at $700-1,000/year ($300,000+ dwelling coverage) with a $1,000 deductible. Think, how can they cover expenses insuring homes at this amount with a deductible the same as your car! 

I know none of this will make anyone feel bad for the carriers, but they are a business and they are just matching what it costs to not lose billions of dollars. 

This is my last comment on the matter. I can't believe I spent this much time debating something that is well known in the industry.

You are not required to report claim inquiries to the carrier. The carrier reps themselves (Travelers, Nationwide, Progressive, SafeCo, and many more) who come into my office all say the same thing. I am not sure where this info is coming from. As mentioned before, Travelers even has a hotline if you are a current carrier that you can call, they will look at your policy and tell you if you think you should file a claim. If you decided not to, they will not file the claim on the clients behalf. No harm no foul. If this was required to be reported to CLUE don't you think Travelers would be reporting these claims when people call the carrier directly? 

Ken, the only clients losing money are with agents who report every claim inquiry to the carrier costing their clients money for no reason on $0 claims when the client didn't even want to file a claim...

Ken I am part of many insurance groups in the midwest, along with being an agency of the year in 2024 that was selected by the carriers themselves, out of thousands of agencies. So I think I know what I am talking about. 

The only thing that might be correct in what that Allstate agent said is it could be an Allstate ONLY thing. However; a claim being filed JUST to talk to an agent on if you want to file it is not an insurance industry wide thing. 

Also Travelers has a whole hot line to call if the client should file a claim. Unless you actually file the claim with them it is not filed. Hope that helps. 

That's great Ken, but no need to watch that video. We will just have to agree to disagree here. Also I wouldn't stay with any agent that does this.

Having dealt with FEMA in flood situations, they are the LAST people you want to rely on if you need help. They won't pay you anything on that if there was an EQ disaster. I will say there isn't anything that will help you on a policy for earthquakes except for adding the endorsement or a separate eq policy. It's pretty standard to have the higher deductible on those as well. Not sure the type of home, but sometimes you can decline masonry cosmetic coverage that can help with the rate. Long story short if you are worried about the deductible, I would not considering it's meant for a total loss situation. Just my opinion

I talk to clients weekly about possible claim situations. That is one of the points of having an agent. By just talking to them doesn't mean a claim is filed. I am just trying to educate you on the process. If your agent files a claim everytime you just want to talk to them about a situation where there might be a claim, and not sure if you even want to claim it, I would consider that a problem if I were you. 

I just sent you a DM Joseph. There are numerous carriers that won't limit you that.

 Ken, I am sorry but that is just wrong. It's only considered a claim against you if the claim if fully filed to the carrier. This is not a debate, I haven't been in the business 30 years, but 10+ along with thousands of investor policies as well. Just giving you the truth.

 Your biggest issue would be having available options after a claim. I agree it's too small in my opinion as it would take away flexibility at renewal. Many carriers won't take new business on a risk that has a water claim within 2-3 years. So if your rate did go up it would limit you on being able to shop. Hope this helps

 You can talk to your agent without filing a claim. Once a claim is entered and filed to the carrier and an adjuster is assigned is when it's reported if a claim if paid out or not. Sounds like your agent FILED the claim and didn't advise you on what to do.