Why you need an agent
Why you need Mary even more
Robert Carper

Recently, I visited my insurance agent. We will call him Bill. He has been my agent for some time and I consider him a good one (He keeps my policies up to date and even called me when I got sick). I don’t see Bill that often but I don’t really need to see him that often. The reason I don’t need to see him is he has a very capable staff person named Mary, among others. My years of insurance experience have brought me to an acute appreciation of the “Mary’s” in the agent’s office. I found that they know quite a bit and in many cases are more prepared and knowledgeable than the position dictates. I have seen it with my own eyes. I actually hired one such person when I was a agent.

Why, you ask is Mary so valuable? For one, she sees and knows the customer, she also knows the mechanics of the agency and how it works. Her expertise is not limited to internal workings of the agency but much more than that. When I need something addressed or did not understand something regarding my own policy, I call her and there was always a stellar outcome. Let me offer a more enlightened perspective on the “Mary’s” of the insurance agency world. When I was an underwriter and when I served in casualty and property claims, whenever I had a question regarding a risk, I could always call and get a clear idea of type of risk I was working with from such people as Mary. In many cases she knew the prospect or insured in a much more detailed manner than anyone else. Likewise, when I conducted a underwriting post-claim risk assessment or needed to contact someone or wanted initial claim data and so much more, I would call and speak to the “Mary” of the office. So not only does the agent need a Mary but so does the underwriter, so does the claims person and in many cases so does the insured as well as the claimant. Let me parenthetically add that Mary could be “Larry”, obviously, gender does not matter.  It is the results and the role they serve in which is paramount.  Service is what service does. I’ve often said that insurance is intangible. You can’t spin around in your chair and grab a couple of cans of insurance and give it to the customer. It is a promise. It is security and piece of mind. It is Mary!!!

 

Robert

 

• By car insurance industry estimates, you will file a claim for a collision about once every 17.9 years. That's if you're an average driver, which, must of us like are.

 

• So if you got your license at age 16, the odds are quite good that you'll experience some kind of crash by the time you're 34, at the latest. Over the course of a typical long, driving lifetime, you should have a total of three to four accidents.

 

 

• The National Safety Council reports that cell phone use while driving leads to 1.6 million crashes each year. Nearly 330,000 injuries occur each year from accidents caused by texting while driving. 1 out of every 4 car accidents in the United States is caused by texting and driving.

 

 

• In 2013, the average auto liability claim for property damage was $3,231; the average auto liability claim for bodily injury was $15,443 (ISO, a Verisk Analytics company).

 

 

• In 2013, the average collision claim was $3,144; the average comprehensive claim was $1,621 (ISO, a Verisk Analytics company).

 

 

• In 2012 there were 5,419,000 police-reported motor vehicle traffic crashes, 33,561 people died in motor vehicle crashes, up 3.3 percent from 32,479 in 2011. Of total crashes in 2010, 1,542,000 caused injuries and 3,847,000 caused property damage only.

 

 

• The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates about 10 million or more crashes go unreported each year.

 

 

• Alcohol-Related Crashes: In 2012, 10,322 people were killed in alcohol-impaired driving crashes (any fatal crash involving a driver with a blood-alcohol content (BAC) of 0.08 percent or higher). Alcohol-impaired-driving fatalities increased by 4.6 percent in 2012, accounting for 31 percent of overall fatalities. In 2010, drunk driving alone accounted for 18% of the total economic loss from motor vehicle crashes, costing the economy as much as $199 billion in direct and quality-of-life losses (NHTSA).

 

 

• Drunk Driving and Speeding: In 2012, 42 percent of intoxicated drivers (with a BAC at or above 0.08 percent) involved in fatal crashes were speeding, compared with 16 percent of sober drivers.

 

 

• Speeding: According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in 2012, 10,219 lives were lost due to speed-related accidents, up 2 percent from 10,001 in 2011. In 2010, speeding accounted for 21% of the total economic loss, responsible for as much as $210 billion in costs (NHTSA).

 

 

• Red Light Running: The IIHS says more than 900 people a year die and nearly 2,000 are injured as a result of vehicles running red lights. About half of those deaths are pedestrians and occupants of other vehicles who are hit by red light runners.

 

 

• Distracted Driving: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) defines "distraction-affected crashes" as those that involve distractions such as dialing a cellphone or texting and distraction by an outside person or event. In 2012, 3,328 people were killed in distraction-affected crashes and 421,000 people were injured. In 2012, there were 3,050 distraction-affected fatal crashes, about the same as the 3,047 that occurred in 2011. The 3,050 distraction-affected fatal crashes in 2012 accounted for 10 percent of all fatal crashes in the nation, 18 percent of injury crashes and 16 percent of all motor vehicle crashes. In 2010, distraction accounted for 17% of the total economic loss, responsible for as much as $170 billion in costs (NHTSA).

 

• Cell Phone Use: In April 2014, NHTSA released the results of the latest National Occupant Protection Use Survey (NOPUS), which found that in 2012, 1.5 percent of drivers were text-messaging or visibly manipulating hand-held devices, up from 1.3 percent in 2011. NHTSA says that the 2012 increase was not statistically significant. Driver use of hand-held cellphones was 5 percent in 2012 for the fourth year running. Hand-held cellphone use was highest among 16- to 24-year olds (6 percent in 2012) and lowest among drivers 70 and older (1 percent in 2012).

 

 

  

Can a police offer issue a ticket if he or she did not witness the accident?

   

  Question :
Can A Police Officer Issue a ticket If they did not witness the event?
Scenario, accident occurs, minor in nature, both parties decide to wait for the police to    come and write a report. When they came they wrote a ticket for failure to yield right of way on one party.

  Answer:
 Yes, a misdemeanor/minor crime/infraction citation does   not mandate an "in presence" requirement, meaning the officer does not have to witness it to have probable cause to charge for an accident.

As always, I urge you to check with your legal resources to confirm the aforementioned as sometimes the legal definition differs from jurisdiction to jurisdiction

 Robert