Is Your Insurance Agent Letting You Down?
· by Matt Fox · posted March 7, 2008
· filed under Insurance Agents category.
Arizona is one of a few states where insurance agents are not required to take continuing education classes to keep their license. On one hand I think this should be changed because of the great disservice so many agents give to their customers. On the other hand I love it because we constantly find little mistakes that other agents miss that help me gain customers for life.
When quoting policies all day we seem to run into the same mistakes from other agents over and over. It’s little coverage options like building ordinance/code, jewelry riders, water backup, personal injury liability, recreational vehicles/ATVs, boats, the list goes on. Missing one could be a huge cost to you when a claim occurs.
Now, you may be thinking, “Well, you’re just trying to sell me more insurance.” And, you would be right. However, wouldn’t you rather have the coverage at claim time? Wouldn’t you at least like to have the opportunity to accept or reject the coverage? Often the coverage missing is only a few bucks a year, maybe $10, $50 or $100 more to add and it will give you $1000, $10,000 or $100,000 in protection.
Unfortunately, since there is so little education required in the insurance industry most agents don’t think about it. Insurance policies are constantly updated, exclusions are added or changed. And so many agents don’t really understand what’s there. They quote what you said because you just want the lowest price. Right?
I can’t imagine the anger someone experiences when the claims adjuster says, “If you read your policy you would know it’s not covered.”
Be careful and remember, your agent only needed to pass the test with 70% to earn an insurance license…10 years ago.
Comments
One Response to “Is Your Insurance Agent Letting You Down?”
Got something to say?
[...] been a critic of the level of education in Arizona’s insurance agents for a while now. Most agent training revolves around selling, not coverage or product [...]