In my 51 years as an agent I find people always will blame someone else, usually the agent. If there is a loss they will say they didn't get a cancellation notice etc. I got sued years ago because an insured came in the office to insure a mobile home but didn't have the description, or serial number. My CSR gave her the application and highlighted in yellow the information needed in order to bind coverage. The insured paid the down payment of $89.00 and said she would bring the information to bind coverage. The insured never brought the app in and three weeks later her dad called me on a Friday afternoon at 4:45 and said the home had just burnt to the ground. I couldn't find an app or file so I told him it would be monday morning before I could get something done. When my CSR came in monday morning I told her she better have a file and app on this insured. CSR said sure here is a copy od the app, but the insured has never brought in the info. I was sued and my e&o carrier hired an attorney to represent me. After a day long deposition from everyone involved I waited for the outcome. A week later my attorney called and said the other attorney was withdrawing the suit. I was afraid that accepting the down payment would be a problem but my attorney said in Georgia accepting the down payment doesn't bind the risk if you don't have the info you need. My attorney charged my e&o carrier $7,000 to prove I wasn't negligent. I say all of this to say it's usually the problem customer that will try to blame you are when they won't cooperate it's better to get rid of them.
Non Renewing HO3, cannot reach policyholder
- Thread starter RickyG
- Start date
- 4,932
I am told, legally speaking, PC agents with 1 or 2 lines of personal lines are considered to be more order takers than advisors held to higher standard like might be the case with a commercial client or someone with 5 lines of business. So, calling some, but not all of your clients (big/small, 1 line of business versus others) creates an E&O exposure you dont already have merely be being seen as an order taker where plenty of bills, warnings & precancellations have went from carrier. Not saying it wouldnt come up in court, but many carriers frowned upon late pay calls unless the agent is doing it with every single client on every line of business, etc
- Thread starter
- #13
RickyG
Expert
- 79
Interesting, thank you for the detailed reply.
- Thread starter
- #14
RickyG
Expert
- 79
Man what a nightmare. Did your E&O Insurance coverage increase due to this situation?
The e&o carriers in Georgia not the companies tell agents not to call someone if the payment is late or the policy is going to cancel. There have been many cases where a lawyer proved that an agent didn't call an insured because they were late but the agent had called other insureds and in each case if the agent doesn't call all insureds the courts ruled against the agent. So you either call all insureds or you will lose. It doesn't matter how large or how small your agency is or how many lines of coverage you provide.
you're willing to fraudulently place a policy, but not drive to the customer's house?
- 2,365
There are a number of issues with this "theory"
1. What are the chances that an agency never actually calls anyone to tell them they missed a payment? I mean their largest client? Their best friend? A referral from a Real Estate Agent? A Spouse? Etc? Think this one through. "Sir are you saying you have never called a client, any client to tell them that their insurance payment was missed?"
2. The theory rests on what seems to be successful lawsuits against agencies [In other words agencies successfully sued for money] with no bearing on the Frequency or likelihood of potential litigation. If you are away on sabatical and fail to open your mail, your email, and your voicemail for three weeks and find that your house burns down and your insurance was not inforce are you more or less likely to sue your agent if you have 2 emails, 1 text, and 1 voicemail from the agent?
3. Does that feel like the right thing to do?
Policy Monkey
Super Genius
- 159
Option A is not an option. An agent can not legally accept an offer nor sign for the client without consent. (Even with consent, signing for them may not be legal.) The best advice so far, thanks to @marindependent, is "Document, document, document". Make notes of every call, voice message, text and email. This can save your bacon if there were to be an E&O claim.
Policy Monkey
Super Genius
- 159
That does happen. Or they could be on vacation. Or they could be in the hospital. (With all the seniors here in Florida, we see that a lot.)
