Expertise
Do you want advice from the insurance company that takes care of your insurance needs? Or do you feel comfortable handling your insurance without the assistance of a local insurance agent?
Years ago, consumers who bought insurance expected to discuss their individual coverage needs with a local agent. As time progressed more insurance companies emphasize that you should buy insurance direct to save money on your car insurance. Is this best for your circumstances?
That’s really a personal decision. What you feel comfortable with is the manner in which you should buy. However, at first glance it may appear that there’s no difference between purchasing your car insurance from a local Cincinnati insurance agent, or over the Internet, or over the telephone from companies that advertise on TV.
But there is a possible difference.
It is our personal opinion that when Cincinnati residents purchase a car insurance policy directly from a company that sells car insurance only from a web site or a 1-800 telephone number that a key component is missing from their insurance policy: Something we call insurance advice.
Why is good advice and not just a price important? ™
Insurance is not something that is always easily understood with the various coverage features, and options. If you buy an insurance policy without professional advice, that might be a mistake.
One of our new clients found out why good advice is so important.
On a Thursday afternoon our local insurance office receives a frantic phone call from a new client who lives in Amelia, Ohio because his home was on fire. The good news was that everyone got out safe and there were no injuries.
The bad news: his home was completely and totally destroyed.
Fortunately he received some good old fashion advice from our local Cincinnati insurance agency before he became a client, and this tragic loss will drive home a point on why professional advice and expertise is so important.
When we initially reviewed his homeowner’s insurance policy it became apparent that he did not have enough coverage on the home to replace it in the event of a total loss. His former insurance company insured the home for the purchase price only.
As an agency, we normally complete a replacement cost analysis for most new clients. In Tom’s situation we discovered that his home was vastly underinsured.
In fact, he had about $90,000 less than what he needed to rebuild his home. Noticing this glaring problem one of our agents asked him this question:
“Tom if your house burned down tonight, you have enough coverage to rebuild a three-bedroom one bath home without a basement, is that how you want your claims settled?”
He immediately said no and the reason why is because he was living a four bedroom three bath home with a finished basement. So he recognized the danger that he was in, increased his coverage immediately and did it just in the nick of time.
Shortly after he changed his insurance to our local Cincinnati agency, his home was totally destroyed in that fire mentioned previously. Without the extra coverage, he would have been up the creek without a paddle. He would not have had enough coverage to rebuild his home. His former insurance company took a shortcut because they did not complete a replacement cost analysis. That agent took the easy, but lazy way out and only insured the home for the purchase price.
Our client like most people who buy homeowners insurance in Cincinnati, didn’t know that there’s a big difference between the market value and replacement cost of a home.
That’s what happens when you have an agent or company that only quotes a price and gives no advice. ™
Is that what you want? Or do you want a local insurance agency that will do a complete replacement cost analysis of your home, to make sure that you have enough coverage to rebuild your home after a devastating loss?
If you own a home, when did you last take time to review your homeowner’s policy to make sure that you have enough insurance coverage? Don’t you think that it may be important to do that?
We review homeowner’s insurance policies each week for Cincinnati and Kentucky residents who are considering switching to our company and do you know what we find? Almost 60% of the time we find that they are underinsured in some cases by a significant amount.
Here is a question that you really need to think about. If my home was destroyed tonight do I have enough homeowner’s insurance coverage to rebuild?
If you live in Ohio, Kentucky, or Indiana we can provide a free replacement costs assessment to determine if you have enough insurance coverage. We have a convenient online insurance request form that will take only a few minutes to complete.
If you live in any other state, we are a member of a national referral service where you can find insurance companies who can provide a free replacement cost analysis plus offer the best car and homeowners insurance rates possible in the 47 states in which we are not licensed to offer insurance.
It’s obviously very important to make sure that you have proper coverage. It’s probably even more important that the company who takes care of your insurance in Cincinnati or the Northern Kentucky area is interested in giving you more than a price on your insurance.
We would love the opportunity to earn your business. Click Here if you have a spare 3-4 minutes, we’ll get the shopping process started for you.
Or if you would like to learn the third reason why many new clients choose us to take care of your insurance needs in the states of Ohio Kentucky or Indiana, click on service to learn why low prices on insurance do not mean broken promises, poor service or shortcuts when you have a claim.