Welcome to Wayne’s Claims World!

In this series, we share information on claims trends as well as tips and resources for our agents to better protect themselves and their clients if they face a claim. This month, we’re diving into an important and timely topic: thermonuclear verdicts and their impact on the industry.

Thermonuclear verdicts are extraordinarily high jury awards, often reaching into the millions or even billions of dollars. As the hard market intensifies, it’s crucial for P&C agents to understand the evolving risks that are shaping our industry.

We delve into key issues surrounding thermonuclear verdicts, such as third-party litigation funding and traumatic brain injury (TBI) claims, all of which have significant implications for risk management and insurance stability.

Understanding the dynamics of these hot button issues can help mitigate their impact on P&C clients. We break down each of these categories to help inform our agents on how to best navigate this landscape with their clients.

Through proactive measures and strategic planning, agents can navigate these complexities — ensuring stability and continued growth for their clients even in an increasingly litigious environment.

Check Out Wayne’s Tips on Mitigating the Impact of Thermonuclear Verdicts

Agents, if you have any claims, please inform us immediately.

Disclaimer: The information and recommendations in this blog are not legal advice and are not intended to constitute legal advice. If anyone reading any part of this blog believes that they want legal advice or need legal advice, they should seek legal counsel with lawyers who are licensed to practice law in their State. The recommendations in this blog are for general informational purposes only.

As a benefit of partnering with NSM Insurance Group, Wayne is available as a resource to help agents and their insureds at any time! Wayne can assist in many ways, from reviewing manuals to visiting a site to discuss loss mitigation.

Wayne King
wking@nsminc.com
(860) 707-6273

The post Mitigating the Impact of Thermonuclear Verdicts appeared first on Novacore.

Welcome to Wayne’s Claims World!

In this series, we share information on claims trends as well as tips and resources for our insureds to better protect themselves if they have a claim. This month, we’re diving into an important and timely topic: hurricane preparedness. 

Hurricane season, which officially runs from June through November, is always stressful for insureds — and in 2024, they need to be prepared for what’s predicted to be one of the most active, severe and potentially damaging seasons in history.

Colorado State University’s tropical meteorology project team is forecasting a “well above-average” Atlantic hurricane season with 11 hurricanes, including five major hurricanes that will be Category 3 or stronger. On top of warmer ocean temperatures, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) warns there is a 69% chance of a La Niña climate pattern developing by the summer, which would further intensify the season’s storms and the destruction they cause.

Hurricane preparation is key to avoiding or minimizing costly claims. 

Now is the perfect time for agents (and your insureds) to review the important steps to take before, during and after a hurricane — as well as what to do after a loss occurs. 

Check Out Wayne’s Tips for Hurricane Preparedness

Agents, if your insured suffers damage to their property as a result of a storm, please inform us immediately.

Disclaimer: The information and recommendations in this blog are not legal advice and are not intended to constitute legal advice. If anyone reading any part of this blog believes that they want legal advice or need legal advice, they should seek legal counsel with lawyers who are licensed to practice law in their State. The recommendations in this blog are for general informational purposes only.

As a benefit of partnering with NSM Insurance Group, Wayne is available as a resource to help agents and their insureds at any time! Wayne can assist in many ways, from reviewing manuals to visiting a site to discuss loss mitigation.

Wayne King
wking@nsminc.com
(860) 707-6273

The post Preparing for a Particularly Severe Hurricane Season appeared first on Novacore.

By Joe Mossbrook, HabPro Insurance Program Director

With stricter underwriting standards and extensive restrictions across classes and geographies, it’s no secret carriers have been pulling back from the habitational real estate market. Now, as many agents face renewal rates that are 20 or 30 percent higher than previous premiums, producers are left to reevaluate how to bind their accounts — and meet the needs of apartment, condominium and multi-dwelling building owners.

Recognizing these difficult market conditions, our team at HabPro Insurance — a premier provider of real estate insurance, specializing in non-coastal apartment complexes and condominiums on a non-admitted basis — has revamped our program to meet emerging challenges for both agents and insureds in this space.

A superior product with more coverage and capacity

Every great product is rooted in partnership with its stakeholders. Similarly, our foundation of highly successful agent relationships, in conjunction with our expertise in the industry, has helped us build and continually expand our HabPro program according to needs in the market. Working with agents and their clients to address pain points and priorities — including the urgencies they are currently facing — plays a significant role in driving the evolution of our program.

Simply put, while some carriers are retreating from the habitational market, HabPro is strategically running full speed toward it — free of the challenges that many legacy providers face.

To meet the demands of today’s hard habitational property market, we recently teamed up with a market-leading, A+-rated carrier through a proprietary partnership. This new relationship enables us to expand our footprint, write Excess & Surplus risks closer to the coast, provide more diversified coverage options, write larger TIV and schedules on a referral basis, increase capacity and offer new opportunities to place apartment and condo risks.

These enhancements allow us to offer even more robust and competitive package and mono-line property coverage to even more clients — garden style apartments, student housing, condominium associations, multi-family homes and many others — helping agents open new doors when others seem to be slamming shut. Simply put, while some carriers are retreating from the habitational market, HabPro is strategically running full speed toward it — free of the challenges that many legacy providers face.

Fast, top-notch service

While the program must fit the bill, service is always where the rubber meets the road. Our job is to make agents’ jobs easier, and we take that responsibility seriously. That’s why HabPro is distributed through a limited access appointment and provides agents their own dedicated underwriter with expertise in the habitational market. This enables us to take a hands-on approach in helping agents navigate the ever-changing complexities of the industry, ensure 24–48-hour turnaround times and deliver comprehensive service at every juncture, from preparing quotes to issuing policies, fulfilling endorsement, billing and other service requests.

That’s also why we have a dedicated in-house claims handling and management team, which means hassle-free claims and clear communication during what we know is often a dreaded exercise for insureds.

Gold standard service like this — a differentiator for HabPro — can also set agents apart from their competition in the eyes of their clients, making it a win all around.

Flexibility to get the job done

Accounts will always have their own challenges (some more than others), but at HabPro, we see them as opportunities to get creative in finding different ways to bind a policy. In addition to having extensive experience writing policies for traditional and non-traditional accounts, working on a non-admitted basis means we have significantly more flexibility than the standard markets in writing accounts. In fact, we have exclusive forms that help us meet the needs of every apartment and condo risk.

We are often told HabPro is the solution agents have been looking for — which was the case with a new agency we recently appointed in California. In a number of months, we bound more than 40 accounts for this group, totaling more than $500,000 in premium.

The only thing that outshines our capacity to find solutions that work for agents and their clients is our commitment to doing so. When we say we partner with agents, we truly mean it. We put the entire strength of our team behind finding a competitive fit for every account and do whatever it takes to help agents get the job done.

With renewals and future business on the line, agents can’t afford to do just more of the same. Whether it’s tapping into a robust new program, discovering an out-of-the-box approach or joining forces with an insurance partner that is fully invested in their success, our team at HabPro will help them deliver.

The post Amid habitational market hardening, HabPro rolls out enhanced program to help agents deliver appeared first on Novacore.