Every year insurers are rated by consumer reports, and every year USAA finishes among the best for customer satisfaction, despite the restrictions of working over the phone or via webpage. I appreciate the USAA rep attempting to help a client understand that in this process, we all have a duty. And that includes the duty of the policyholder to act in their own best interest. Those who know nothing about our profession are endlessly amazed that somehow we are not able to sell insurance products to those who don’t want them. Why would anyone be underinsured? Why would anyone be absent flood or earthquake? Why would any human not carry life insurance? Why would anyone have inadequate liability limits on their car? Why would they pass on long term care? For that answer you’ll have to ask the client. I suggested that my client consider whether or not his family needed these forms of protection.
But hey, push any harder and I am just a salesman, right? My client didnt ask why I thought he should learn about those things. He didnt ask how I addressed those exposures in my life or on behalf of my family. In fact, it was as if he had not done ANY HOMEWORK regarding how to best protect his family, his assets, his future. As an agent in an office, I think I have an advantage, and more exposure too, over the USAA rep. But again, most insureds put first and foremost some other priority – cost.
Give it a rest. All you have done is rant & rave. Get off your soapbox. You rail against the insurance industry, but it’s all emotional, nothing substantial. Thank goodness for the posters that provided you with factual information, you threw them a bone and then continued on your way. Big deal. Guess your last post wasn’t way back when, was it?
Search bdjs5 on yahoo and there are multiple responses. I used your name as a matter of respect. As a matter of privacy, I would never violate our company code to access any information on you.
I work at USAA as a licensed agent. I have also seen first hand how USAA tries to find coverage for our members in the event of a loss by looking at the situation from any possible way. USAA has had high rankings and awards for claims handling and customer service for many years. This company has so much respect for our members. USAA boasts with pride because of the service and products we provide to our military and their families. Please do not discredit this as this is sacred to USAA.
It is difficult for any person not in the insurance industry to know all they should to make sure they get the right coverage. But as an agent, we educate our members and give the them choice as to what coverages they take. But unfortunately, so many times it does fall to the cost rather than the value.
I have read so many articles about people’s lives and homes devastated by the California wild fires, the flooding in many states, the hurricanes in our coastal states… I want to know if everyone is understanding this and calling their insurance company to make sure they have enough coverage to rebuild their home? Or buying flood insurance because we all now know, some by learning the heart-wrenching way, that your homeowner and fire policies do not cover any type of damage from rising water, aka Flood.
The National Flood Insurance Program offers a maximum of $250K Building and $100k Contents. However, there are companies who offer excess flood coverage. The official web site for the National Flood Insurance Program is http://www.floodsmart.gov – you can rate your risk and even get an estimated quote.
Everyone is a consumer, and we all want the best bang for our dollar – especially in our current economy. There is so much information available on the internet and just by asking others.
It is extremely sad when anyone, a USAA member, a State Farm customer, a Geico client – anyone – has a loss of any kind. I and so many other agents are here for our customers to help guide them through the somtimes confusing and overwhelming world of insurance.
I am an agent in Michigan and up until 2005 I lived in a coastal area in Florida. I had gone through the Hurricanes in Florida and saw first hand with friends and family that lost everything. I saw what happened when they didn’t have the correct coverage’s and also when they did have the correct coverage’s. So having seen this first hand I make it a point to try and teach every customer or potential client what insurance means. Try to give them simple examples of how a coverage works and try to make sure they know what they need and what happens if they don’t have the correct coverage. As I talk to customers and anyone else that is a potential client, the overwhelming response is I didn’t know that. This is very disturbing to me. I have read several posts from people that are agents that do the same thing that I do. Explain the coverage’s to the customer. I think every agent needs to take a good look in the mirror and make sure they and their staff are doing this on a consistant basis. The customer’s trust us and they expect us to be up front about everything. I know all egents aren’t doing the “teaching” or I wouldn’t hear 90% of the time that I didn’t know that.
Now with that said, probably the most frustrating part for me is when someone knows that they have a hole in their coverage and they do not want to correct the problem because their payments will go up, or as others have said lead a horse to water. At the end of the day, I know deep down that I have tried to help and educate my customers and potential clients and I hope and pray that they do not find out the hard way that they should have spent the extra money to cover themselves correctly.
As long as an agent can look themselves in a mirror and say I tried my hardest to make sure that I explained everything to a customer and the customer decided not to take the coverage. Then I can say with confidence that I did my part and the customer made the choice.
now we turn our eyes to the midwest and the flooding there. how many of them had the proper insurance? how many farms lost livestock and crops? how many of them chose to have the correct coverage for this event? the midwest flooding is not over either. many folks along the mississippi and the missouri rivers and sandbagging still. the lower end of the rivers, are they ready? new orleans? if they did not see it before, they might see it again.
i am an agent, but i handle the auto side. i do work for a major company. i can feel for those that lost homes due to a hurricane. i was stationed in key west when andrew came thru. i lived through a couple others as a kid while living in florida with my parents and relatives. i think that many folks have to rethink, that a flood can come from anywhere. not just from a hurricane, snowmelting north but even a simple river that can’t handle a large amount of rainfall or the plains that were hard and dry, that can’t soak of the rainfall.
simply put, even though we can express our concerns to the customer/policyholder, unless they take the coverage – we can’t help them any further. if they never any form of coverage at all, why should i as a taxpayer keep paying taxes to help fema help yourself?
so as an agent, let’s keep them informed and document – because they will say we never said anything to them (policyholder).
If you are building under sea level and living near a coast line, I suggest flood insurance. Simple. If you do not purchase it like the midwest victims of the Mississippi flood, you should NOT look to the govt. and my taxes to rebuild your home. Tired of stupid people.
Perhaps you should do a little research, AZInsMan before you refer to “stupid people”. The retired US Navy Admiral carried both flood insurance and home owner’s insurance. His flood insurance (tax payer money) paid their part. USAA paid a fraction of their part. Further, I doubt the US navy would promote a stupid person to the rank of admiral.
Interesting facts being bantered about. The Navy Admiral carried flood insurance. His limits were the maximum availalbe; $250,000 for the home and $100,000 for the contents of the home. From the articles posted, he carried a greater amount for his homowners insurance than his flood insurance. Why? Excess Flood insuance is availalbe.
Collusion. Interesting comment. Mortgage representatives will tell the client that flood insurance is not required. What they are saying is we don’t require you to carry flood insurance as a condition of your mortgage. Homeowners, hazard, insurance is a condition of the mortgage. The bank wants to ensure that their collateral is protected.
Everyone is in a flood zone of some type or another. The only differences is the fequency of the flooding.
The next time your loan officer or loan processor says you don’t need flood insurance, you can set them strainght with a simple question. You say I don’t need flood insurance, what happens to your colleteral when the house floods? Would the bank error and omissions policy cover for the error in judgement by a representative of the bank?
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Every year insurers are rated by consumer reports, and every year USAA finishes among the best for customer satisfaction, despite the restrictions of working over the phone or via webpage. I appreciate the USAA rep attempting to help a client understand that in this process, we all have a duty. And that includes the duty of the policyholder to act in their own best interest. Those who know nothing about our profession are endlessly amazed that somehow we are not able to sell insurance products to those who don’t want them. Why would anyone be underinsured? Why would anyone be absent flood or earthquake? Why would any human not carry life insurance? Why would anyone have inadequate liability limits on their car? Why would they pass on long term care? For that answer you’ll have to ask the client. I suggested that my client consider whether or not his family needed these forms of protection.
But hey, push any harder and I am just a salesman, right? My client didnt ask why I thought he should learn about those things. He didnt ask how I addressed those exposures in my life or on behalf of my family. In fact, it was as if he had not done ANY HOMEWORK regarding how to best protect his family, his assets, his future. As an agent in an office, I think I have an advantage, and more exposure too, over the USAA rep. But again, most insureds put first and foremost some other priority – cost.
Give it a rest. All you have done is rant & rave. Get off your soapbox. You rail against the insurance industry, but it’s all emotional, nothing substantial. Thank goodness for the posters that provided you with factual information, you threw them a bone and then continued on your way. Big deal. Guess your last post wasn’t way back when, was it?
BDJS5, I can’t say for sure where Loyal agent came up with a name, but a Google search of bdjs5 brings up Jackson pretty easily. Hope that helps.
Search bdjs5 on yahoo and there are multiple responses. I used your name as a matter of respect. As a matter of privacy, I would never violate our company code to access any information on you.
I work at USAA as a licensed agent. I have also seen first hand how USAA tries to find coverage for our members in the event of a loss by looking at the situation from any possible way. USAA has had high rankings and awards for claims handling and customer service for many years. This company has so much respect for our members. USAA boasts with pride because of the service and products we provide to our military and their families. Please do not discredit this as this is sacred to USAA.
It is difficult for any person not in the insurance industry to know all they should to make sure they get the right coverage. But as an agent, we educate our members and give the them choice as to what coverages they take. But unfortunately, so many times it does fall to the cost rather than the value.
I have read so many articles about people’s lives and homes devastated by the California wild fires, the flooding in many states, the hurricanes in our coastal states… I want to know if everyone is understanding this and calling their insurance company to make sure they have enough coverage to rebuild their home? Or buying flood insurance because we all now know, some by learning the heart-wrenching way, that your homeowner and fire policies do not cover any type of damage from rising water, aka Flood.
The National Flood Insurance Program offers a maximum of $250K Building and $100k Contents. However, there are companies who offer excess flood coverage. The official web site for the National Flood Insurance Program is http://www.floodsmart.gov – you can rate your risk and even get an estimated quote.
Everyone is a consumer, and we all want the best bang for our dollar – especially in our current economy. There is so much information available on the internet and just by asking others.
It is extremely sad when anyone, a USAA member, a State Farm customer, a Geico client – anyone – has a loss of any kind. I and so many other agents are here for our customers to help guide them through the somtimes confusing and overwhelming world of insurance.
I am an agent in Michigan and up until 2005 I lived in a coastal area in Florida. I had gone through the Hurricanes in Florida and saw first hand with friends and family that lost everything. I saw what happened when they didn’t have the correct coverage’s and also when they did have the correct coverage’s. So having seen this first hand I make it a point to try and teach every customer or potential client what insurance means. Try to give them simple examples of how a coverage works and try to make sure they know what they need and what happens if they don’t have the correct coverage. As I talk to customers and anyone else that is a potential client, the overwhelming response is I didn’t know that. This is very disturbing to me. I have read several posts from people that are agents that do the same thing that I do. Explain the coverage’s to the customer. I think every agent needs to take a good look in the mirror and make sure they and their staff are doing this on a consistant basis. The customer’s trust us and they expect us to be up front about everything. I know all egents aren’t doing the “teaching” or I wouldn’t hear 90% of the time that I didn’t know that.
Now with that said, probably the most frustrating part for me is when someone knows that they have a hole in their coverage and they do not want to correct the problem because their payments will go up, or as others have said lead a horse to water. At the end of the day, I know deep down that I have tried to help and educate my customers and potential clients and I hope and pray that they do not find out the hard way that they should have spent the extra money to cover themselves correctly.
As long as an agent can look themselves in a mirror and say I tried my hardest to make sure that I explained everything to a customer and the customer decided not to take the coverage. Then I can say with confidence that I did my part and the customer made the choice.
now we turn our eyes to the midwest and the flooding there. how many of them had the proper insurance? how many farms lost livestock and crops? how many of them chose to have the correct coverage for this event? the midwest flooding is not over either. many folks along the mississippi and the missouri rivers and sandbagging still. the lower end of the rivers, are they ready? new orleans? if they did not see it before, they might see it again.
i am an agent, but i handle the auto side. i do work for a major company. i can feel for those that lost homes due to a hurricane. i was stationed in key west when andrew came thru. i lived through a couple others as a kid while living in florida with my parents and relatives. i think that many folks have to rethink, that a flood can come from anywhere. not just from a hurricane, snowmelting north but even a simple river that can’t handle a large amount of rainfall or the plains that were hard and dry, that can’t soak of the rainfall.
simply put, even though we can express our concerns to the customer/policyholder, unless they take the coverage – we can’t help them any further. if they never any form of coverage at all, why should i as a taxpayer keep paying taxes to help fema help yourself?
so as an agent, let’s keep them informed and document – because they will say we never said anything to them (policyholder).
If you are building under sea level and living near a coast line, I suggest flood insurance. Simple. If you do not purchase it like the midwest victims of the Mississippi flood, you should NOT look to the govt. and my taxes to rebuild your home. Tired of stupid people.
Perhaps you should do a little research, AZInsMan before you refer to “stupid people”. The retired US Navy Admiral carried both flood insurance and home owner’s insurance. His flood insurance (tax payer money) paid their part. USAA paid a fraction of their part. Further, I doubt the US navy would promote a stupid person to the rank of admiral.
Interesting facts being bantered about. The Navy Admiral carried flood insurance. His limits were the maximum availalbe; $250,000 for the home and $100,000 for the contents of the home. From the articles posted, he carried a greater amount for his homowners insurance than his flood insurance. Why? Excess Flood insuance is availalbe.
Collusion. Interesting comment. Mortgage representatives will tell the client that flood insurance is not required. What they are saying is we don’t require you to carry flood insurance as a condition of your mortgage. Homeowners, hazard, insurance is a condition of the mortgage. The bank wants to ensure that their collateral is protected.
Everyone is in a flood zone of some type or another. The only differences is the fequency of the flooding.
The next time your loan officer or loan processor says you don’t need flood insurance, you can set them strainght with a simple question. You say I don’t need flood insurance, what happens to your colleteral when the house floods? Would the bank error and omissions policy cover for the error in judgement by a representative of the bank?