X-date

JimmyUt

Guru
1000 Post Club
2,574
Utah
I am new to the P&C game, and I realize the importance (at times) of having someones x-date so you can market more effectively. That being said, I hear agents on here talk all the time about doing that, and I am curious as to why they are not just selling them. Am I missing something here, or when they say they are x-dating someone, is that only because they could not close them now. If you have a better product that costs less, why wouldn't someone change immediately, rather than wait until they renew? My limited experience is that most people pay monthly, so I can't imagine it makes a difference. I would appreciate any input.
 
I don't do a lot of P&C x dating, but in the commercial insurance arena, it takes longer to prepare the quotes and get them ready to present. X Dating is a nice way of introducing yourself, and being able to contact them before they get the next years premium bills and are thinking about shopping the insurance around.
 
There are 2 Types of X-dating.....

First one is for when a accident or ticket falls off their record, these are KEY People, because NOW you can save them money because as you know, the surcharge generally wont fall off their policy until renewal.

Second X-date is simple policy renewal, I honestly dont do this, lots of work, people will buy from you now and not on renewal date so much.

Commercial X dating is huge thou, it can take 30 days to get a quote back in some cases.....plus on commercial, the short rate can be HUGE
 
I've wondered the same thing and having managed a small Allstate office once upon a time and talking to some of the older agents, my best guess is that they are stuck in doing things the way they used to have to do it.

Once upon a time in a sales environment far far away there was a penalty system in place such that if someone cancelled their car insurance two months early, they might not even get a refund of premiums or if they did, it was so small it created a huge incentive to keep the policy through the x date (or so I've been told). I could see how that was a hurdle, but from what I understand (and I know this to be the case in NY), that's gone the way of the dinosaur which keeps people from having an incentive to wait. If P&C folks in any state can either confirm or dispel that myth for their state (and state their state (hehe)), that would be great.
 
Yes, xdating in P&C started because most carriers used to short rate cancellations, effectively a significant penalty. It is usually hard to justify causing someone to be short-rated. Fortunately, in personal lines, most carriers have dropped short rates for early cancellations, or have at least lowered the fees to make it more reasonable to do a mid-term change.

Commercial lines pretty much requires x-dating.

Dan
 
Not to mention that NC has a short rate in place statewide. It causes an issue for people looking to jump over to a better place. It made me wait about 2 months to go from travelers to USAA.
 
There are 2 Types of X-dating.....

First one is for when a accident or ticket falls off their record, these are KEY People, because NOW you can save them money because as you know, the surcharge generally wont fall off their policy until renewal.

Second X-date is simple policy renewal, I honestly dont do this, lots of work, people will buy from you now and not on renewal date so much.

Commercial X dating is huge thou, it can take 30 days to get a quote back in some cases.....plus on commercial, the short rate can be HUGE

Quick question. If the commercial account is paying a monthly premium, I would imagine there would not be a problem in switching, am I correct? Does the short rate problem only apply if they pay annually or semi annually? Most businesses I have run across seem to pay monthly.
 
Mostly accurate advice IMO.

After writing P&C in 4 states from CA to KY, I don't think there is a blanket rule here guys. Depends on the Insurance laws in each state & the policy language of the issuing company.

So I would be careful on the assumption that no Penalty for cancelling a P&C policy before the X-Date.

In TN I've been told that with Allstate, if you cancel a policy less than 30 days before the X-date there is no refund....Also if one adds or removes a car within the 30 days on an existing Allstate policy there is no Charge for adding nor a refund for removing one. Allstate has one policy for up to 4 cars in TN. PIF is counted differently with Allstate:)

Plus if a 12 month Boat policy, the policy says the premium is fully earned in 6 months. So no refund if cancelled in the last 6 months. They used to have an RV policy that said the same thing.

Read the policy &/or know your competitions policy is my advice. An assumption could cost your customer money and you could end up the bad guy.
 
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