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Co-op Student Interviews with Agents

Question 1 (Dave): What is the difference of Commercial, Residential, Farm, and Auto policies

Commercial Insurance – Refers to a policy that protects a business from future risks. Coverage can include business property damage, loss of income, legal matters and theft. Commercial insurance also provides liability coverage.

Residential Insurance – Is a form of property insurance that covers losses and damages to an individual’s home and assets within the home. Residential insurance also provides liability coverage against home and property, as well as, personal liability.

Farm Insurance – This coverage combines the standard coverage offered by a personal residential policy with commercial and liability coverage. Farm policies are diverse as each farming operation is unique and needs to be customized.

Auto Insurance – Protects the insured from financial loss in the event of an accident. Auto policies are mandated within the province of Ontario. You cannot operate a motor vehicle without coverage, it is against the law. An auto policy protects you from bodily injury and property damage. Auto policies are also unique in that each policyholder is rated differently i.e.: age, type of use, as well as different coverages.

Question 2 (Becky): What does Renewal, Endorsement, and New policy mean?

An insurance renewal is the standard length of time an insurance policy is in effect without the insurance company adjusting your rate. … But, once you are through the initial policy period, your insurance rate should stay the same through each policy renewal unless you make a change.

An insurance endorsement is an amendment or addition to an existing insurance contract which changes the terms or scope of the original policy. Endorsements may also be referred to as riders. An insurance endorsement may be used to add, delete, exclude or otherwise alter coverage.

A new policy is a contract taken with an insurance company to provide insurance coverage for your home, auto, business, etc. Once it has been in effect for the policy tern it would renew and no longer be considered a new policy.

Question 3 (Andrew): In order for your agents to insure or continue to insure someone, what requirements do the clients need to meet?

We, as a company have Underwriting Guidelines that we must adhere to in order to insure someone, or continue to insure someone. There are guidelines for each line of business that we write. We require the basic information such as name and address of the insured. We run rebuilding evaluators on each building we are being asked to insure, and present the values to be insured. We’ll also make sure we get any miscellaneous property that needs to be insured.

Insurance is a contract between the insurer and the insured. To be valid, they must be between the insurer and someone that is the age of majority (Ontario 18 years old) or older. Some things that would prevent us from insuring, or renewing a policy are excessive claims history, poor payment history, heating oil tanks that do not meet the company underwriting guidelines, poor property maintenance.

In a nutshell, this covers most property and liability that we write. Auto is a different story…

Auto Insurance is heavily regulated in the province of Ontario. All rate and Underwriting Guidelines are filed and approved by the provincial governing body. Furthermore, any changes that we want to make, need to be approved by this governing body. We use a “risk point chart” that grades any driving infractions you may have on your record, and any at fault claims, and if you have too many risk points, we cannot write you. Please drive safe.

Question 4 (Julia): If I was to get in an accident that was not at my fault… and I called it in, how would you base how much I get to get a new vehicle?

If you were in an auto accident and you were not deemed to be “at fault” the coverage that applies to this claim is DCPD (Direct Compensation Property Damage) If your vehicle is deemed unrepairable a value is taken from the market value book (Black Book) which takes into consideration the age of the vehicle, type of vehicle, use of vehicle, number of km’s and general condition of the vehicle. The claims adjuster investigates the claim and if the vehicle can be repaired arrangements would be made. If the vehicle cannot be repaired the adjuster would make an offer as to what we would pay you for that vehicle.

Question 5 (Skylar): Why do you have to go to your clients place to take pictures? Also what do the pictures provide?

Great question a lot of our clients ask this or have a funny look on their face when we ask if we can stop by to take a photo of the property.

The simple reason for taking a photo of our insureds property is so that we can see the condition of the property.

Things like the condition of the roof, construction and age of the building.

A photo can be helpful in the event of a claim and will help the claims adjuster determine what the property was like prior to the loss.

We want to make sure our policyholders are put back in the position they were in before a loss. Going out to see the property and taking photos is one of the easiest ways to do this.