Scaring Them To Tell The Truth

[insurance1822]

ha...or a recently married couple & the woman just changed her name. You know she has accidents, but they aren't matching w/ her married name. When the system asks who is "Jane Smith..." aka her maiden name ...hehe

...that's how the Allstate guys write business.

 

[HCCIA]

One of our carriers picks up ALL household members automatically. We have to go into their system to exclude or defer them. Pretty slick!

 

[indienoise]

One of our carriers picks up ALL household members automatically. We have to go into their system to exclude or defer them. Pretty slick!

That's pretty standard anymore, isn't it?
I have one carrier that is super thorough with potential household members. I commonly have to go through a list of a dozen people...landlords, prior residents (when the insured has lived there 5+ years) etc etc.

 

[GXR2]

thanks for the dissertation. In my situation, the kid "lived" in the town his school was. Paid rent at his own off campus apartment 365 days per year. He got a good lawyer & the company caved.

That's not enough to be assured. He could still be just away at school.

Two questions to ask your insured in situations like this- Are you still claiming your child as a dependant? Has your child "permanently" moved out of the house?

If he was indeed permanently living on his own he would have, or need, his own insurance policy.

It doesn't take a lawyer to see he was just away at school.

 

[insurance1822]

You're right. Not sure what I was thinking but now it's clear. Thank you.

 

[Derrick]

I went through this yesterday. After I asked all underwriting questions, I had a good ~$1,000 every six month personal auto case. I run the reports and it shows someone else who's living at the home. I ask her if she's sure nobody else is living there. She says she has no idea who that is, and she assures me it's just her and her children.

Whatever. I wrote her up but I sent an e-mail to underwriting that if they are concerned to take a look. It's a non-standard carrier anyway and I don't think, barring huge accidents, tickets and claims, they would have rated it too differently.

She's one of those kind of customers that I just can't tell if they are flaky or not because they act like a good person but something just seems off.

 

[GXR2]

.... She's one of those kind of customers that I just can't tell if they are flaky or not because they act like a good person but something just seems off.

This the problem that us agent have to deal with. Progressive and other carriers denying claims due to unlisted drivers can mean potential E&O lawsuits fir the agent. Especially when the insured are lying.

Remember my moto - You have to always cover your backside. Clients will lie, blame you.. Etc..

So in insurance1822 case above, let's say the insured was a lying SOB and told you their youthful child at school was permanently own their own.

Tell your insured you need to have a copy of their students child's Dec page on file OR you will have to list him/her as away at school.

This will do two things... Force your insured to get the Dec page so they don't have to pay the extra premium, or force the SOB to come clean and tell you the truth the're away at school.

Remember my second motto - Document, document, document to cover your backside. Save emails and signature pages for at least 4 years. If you corrispond on the phone, follow it up with an email to the insured to confirm your phone conversation. Keep th email in their file.

DERRICK -

In your case trust your gut. If it smells fishy, its a fish. Draft up a really quick, simple one page statement that basically says ... The insured acknowledge and agrees that all listed on the policy are the only drivers or household members, and understands to notify the insurance company within 24 hours if they aquire additional household members or permanent drivers,... Something like that ... have them sign that along with the application... This is to protect YOU.

 

[insurance1822]

Churn & Burn brah. I've been writing business for almost 10 years now & I'm still free from any E&O claims.

 

[Gulfman]

You can subscribe to RealComp and look for undisclosed drivers, the cost is $27 month and worth it. It could become an E&O issue for you so why chance it. You can't catch it all but you will be at least uncovering the most obvious.

***All this reminds me of the CYA rule.

What about a personal Dec. Page Signed by insured and emailed back to be included in their file. Would that work?

 

[txagt39]

What's real comp? I meen...the carrier's do that anyway for us

No unfortunately they don't all do this for you - sometimes you have to do it yourself. My primary company does not do it they just write it then pay, pay, pay then sent intent to non-renew is a non-rated driver is involved in an accident. Some agents evidently think all carriers do it for them, but I assure you they do not.

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***All this reminds me of the CYA rule.

What about a personal Dec. Page Signed by insured and emailed back to be included in their file. Would that work?

Anything and everything you can do as the agent when doing field underwriting, which is why carriers pay agents a commission, is better for you and yes, it is all about CYA. If you are writing business and not getting all the correct information because you never asked about "bobby joe" driver then it can come back on you, will it always NO, of course not but if it affects your loss ratios then it does affect you - ultimately. When you can look up drivers in the household and ask about the people who show up, why wouldn't you want to know and keep out the liars and cheats - they are problems waiting for a place to happen, then it's your fault because you didn't ask.