To our policyholders,
I want to address the challenges in the insurance market and how they impact our clients and us.
Higher premiums and stricter rules are what is called a Hard Market in insurance. Our current hard market has many factors: contractor shortages, inflation, and extreme weather events. Bottlenecks in the claim repair processes are terrible. Car rentals cost more, and used car values are up, all due to supply and demand. This affects insurance costs for both our client and us. The overall time that it takes to get anything repaired has not gone back to pre-COVID norms and insurance pays and covers these issues. Supply and demand and inflation go hand in hand and drain the insurance capacity. Insurance departments are being inundated with large rate increases to cover costs. The insurance department is slow to approve, and our carriers are limiting our access to write new policies while they wait for this hard market to end. Average hard market is no more than 2 years.
The current environment does have a silver lining in that assets are worth more, and unemployment is low.
As insurance professionals our role goes beyond challenges. We educate clients on the evolving landscape and provide solid advice. This involves discussing updating coverage for current realities, considering higher deductibles, and explaining how policies are adjusting to higher costs and potential larger claims. We also highlight the need for higher liability limits to match current risks and seek potential cost-saving credits, like updates to roofs, alarms, paying up front, and safe driving apps. We also need to acknowledge tough underwriting accountability in this environment which means advising some customers to stay where they are until updates are done.
In short, while we navigate a tough insurance market, it also presents us with opportunities to educate and support our clients. This will ensure our clients are well-prepared and informed to make the best insurance choices.
Thank you, our loyal customers, for entrusting us with all of your insurance needs.
Larry Rabinovitz
Larry Rabinovitz, CIC
President
