Insurance dollars are not happy dollars and sadly my job has become helping my clients find the least worst insurance company.
I sold my agency when I realized the business, meaning the insurance companies, were making me feel bad about myself. Town of 2000, far Northern suburbs of Philadelphia PA, knew everyone, and when the property casualty companies were going through their upheavals because they just could not help themselves when they lowered prices one year and then several years later when the losses were more than expected they started cancelling large groups of my clients when they hadn't even filed a claim. One of several client migrations; sounds like you have had more than you like.
The marketing people for homeowner and auto companies are pretty dumb from my experience, they just should have slowly raised their rates. Instead they kept whipsawing the public and lots of people were inconvenienced by their incompetent marketing. First they want your car insurance. Then they don't. Then they want it back...I really got disgusted with them, and I had good books of business with quality companies like Travelers, Maryland Casualty, TransAmerica and Prudential. All of them seemed to not be able to manage their businesses profitably. Yet I as their agent was of course required to, and having started out as an underwriter, I had a ten year overall agency loss ratio of 32%. So the insurance companies were sure making enough money in my area, from my clients. Anything over 65-70% loss ratios they start losing money so mine was half that. Yet my clients got jerked around just like others. It was stupid.
So I left the property casualty business with a sour taste in my mouth, not for the clients or the insurance process, it was dealing with idiots who were making blanket decisions about my profitable insurance clients, and never for sure to their best interests. I was defending my clients against the insurance companies, what a tiring and aggravating place to be. I'm hoping it has improved since I got out but likely it hasn't. They just keep trying to put more exclusions in the policies each year. As they manage overall risk, and in my experience, this is not an industry that has earned our trust from a marketing standpoint. Processing? They have millions of rules designed to get things right internally.
Humblebub, how is insurance in Canada different from the US? More freezing exclusions? Wondering how you keep your municipal water/hydrant systems going in super cold weather. I was an active volunteer fireman for ten years until I ruined my back but it was always an issue of finding water. Either bring it or find it.
I've lived in protection class 2, 6 and now 9. The current being unprotected, no fire hydrant, but volunteer fire company within so many miles.
I think a Class 10 is basically you are on your own being pretty far from a volunteer fire company, in some cases, very far.
Yeah, I bet the class 10 homeowners really have a hard time of it. When loss ratios rise, the higher risk business is usually the first to get axed.
If money were no object, which it sure is for most of us, you go to a company like Chubb, or perhaps to their agent, and you pay 5 thousand dollars for your 3 thousand dollar policy and are likely well cared for. Must be nice...
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