The Colorado President’s Advisory Council for SECURA Insurance met Nov. 4 via Zoom.
Agent Representatives
Nettie Avery, Continental Insurance Agency; Cory Louthan, The Ahbe Group, Inc.; Kyle Bradley, FUSA Insurance Agency; Scott Carlson, Cherry Creek Insurance Agency; Casey Wiederspan, Crossroads Insurance; Alex Pederson, Day Larsen Pederson
SECURA Representatives
Dave Gross, President & CEO; Larry Wright, Vice President and Chief Claims Officer; Marty Arnold, SVP and Chief Underwriting Officer; Tim Heyroth, Vice President and Chief Sales Officer; Amy DeHart, Vice President and Chief Actuarial Officer; Brett Purcell, Regional Sales Director; Kristin Heiges, Director of Marketing
We kicked off our meeting with showing the updated brand video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMeS5GfOyoE&feature=emb_logo
Watch the video below for an overview and SECURA updates.
Click the links below to navigate to the comment/response section for each topic.
Personal Lines | Commercial Lines | Farm-Ag Lines | Specialty Lines | Risk Management | Claims | Miscellaneous
Personal Lines
(Agent comments with SECURA responses)
1. Comment: We liked that you provided Auto refunds to policyholders.
Response: SECURA mailed dividend checks to all personal auto policyholders this past June – over 62,000 checks! The dividend was a first ever in our auto book, and represented 15% of April and May premium. We appreciate this comment since our internal team very quickly needed to pull together a quality solution.
2. Comment: We would like to write more with SECURA when you open back up.
Response: We’re optimistic about CO Personal Lines opportunities – the loss ratio is improving, so we appreciate your patience while we focus on loss ratio initiatives.
3. Comment: Western slope success – strategic? You have a good product.
Response: Beginning a couple of years ago we included the Western slope in our rating analysis with specific auto and home territories. We are seeing some flow of business as a result be want to do more to recognize the very diverse risk characteristics across Colorado.
4. Comment: What are your rate/retention plans for 2021?
Response: It’s too soon to know what our October 2021 plan will be; we took a very modest +3.6% as the statewide average rate change effective Oct. 15, 2020. We are targeting 66.3% premium retention in Colorado Personal Lines in 2021.
5. Comment: You have a system generated standard score – you would need to change this when you start writing again in the state.
Response: We agree.
Farm-Ag Lines
(Agent comments with SECURA responses)
1. Comment: Center pivots – only cover broad perils – all other cover special perils. DFS will put all pivots (irrigation?) on replacement cost (vs. ACV).
Response: We began to offer replacement cost on irrigation equipment with the 8/1/19 rate change. The insured would need to select the Farm Operations Protector Plus endorsement to pick up the coverage. There is no age limitation on the coverage.
2. Comment: Animal collision coverage (don’t want to cover through blanket) and cargo. Other markets have endorsements so much per head/so much per occurrence.
Response: This item is on our enhancement list. For the last year, we have foregone enhancements in order to bring our Farm policy up to date. We will begin reintroducing enhancements with our 8/1/2021 rate change. We are still in the process of determining which specific items will be included but that will be one item of several under consideration. Whether it makes the final list is dependent on the number of enhancements to be completed, their relative priorities, and available resources.
3. Comment: Damage to property of others ($25k Nationwide)…leasing location (need endorsement for CCC).
Response: We are answering this assuming they are talking about buildings. Under Option 63 there would be coverage of $50,000 included with an option to increase the limit to $100,000. If the Farm Operations Protector Plus Endorsement (FPE 0094) is included on the policy, the limit is increased to $250,000. If you have specific questions, please contact your underwriter for assistance.
4. Comment: What is your ingestion limit on machinery?
Response: If it is insured under an Ag policy, it would be insured under the base form up to the full limit of the item insured. On the Farm side, there are two ways to get ingestion coverage. The easiest would be to add Risk of Direct Loss for Blanket Farm Personal Property and you would have coverage with up to the blanket limit. If you choose to use the Foreign Object Ingestion Endorsement (FPE0096) you would have the option to choose from limits between $5,000 and $50,000.
5. Comment: What is your Ag strategy? Niche? (Marty mentioned Ag Transport) (What don’t you want (large grain elevators, implement dealers, co-ops).
Response: Our Agribusiness strategy is to continue to grow in areas of farm related contractors from construction to field work, Grower/Packer/Shipper’s, food product manufacturing related to farm products, ag retail, and small implement dealers. We do not intend to expand into the grain elevator or cooperative markets in the near future. More detail is available on our Agribusiness Hit List located on AgentLink.
Specialty Lines
(Agent comments with SECURA responses)
1. Comment: What are the top 5 SL classes you are writing?
Response: Currently our top 5 classes in Specialty Include: Sports and Recreation (i.e. Fitness Centers); Tree Trimmers; Human Services (i.e. Food Banks); Contracting (i.e. Fire Suppression) and Outdoor Recreation (i.e. Campgrounds and Ranges (Archery and Gun).
Commercial Lines
(Agent comments with SECURA responses)
1. Comment: We liked that you allowed insureds to reduce receipts.
Response: We appreciate the feedback. The pandemic was not something we could have ever anticipated. We made the necessary adjustments to help you and your insureds get through the challenges that the pandemic created. In addition to adjusting exposures, we offered flexible payment arrangements to help ease the burden during the difficult times.
2. Comment: We like the ability to talk through a risk with underwriting.
Response: Thank you! Relationships are very important to us at SECURA. We encourage our underwriters to listen to the story that our agency partners bring to us.
3. Comment: We would write more restaurants if commissions were higher (think they are written on a CP vs. BOP?).
Response: We do write restaurant business in Colorado on a CP instead of a BOP; however, our CP commissions are very competitive. Please contact your sales manager to discuss.
4. Comment: Nothing but good things to say to date on Bizlink.
Response: That is wonderful to hear; we are excited about what we have built for you and expect it will open up many opportunities for small business success!
5. Comment: When will BizLink be expanded to retail classes?
Response: We are currently working on BizLink Release 3 which includes the addition of retail, office and service BOP classes to the existing Target Contractor classes. We are also working on some user experience enhancements based on direct feedback from our agency partners and also straight through processing for some Specialty Lines classes. In addition, the team will continue to address feedback concerns and suggestions and implement changes/updates accordingly.
6. Comment: What are your thoughts on a Service Center?
Response: We’ve approved the concept of a Commercial Lines Service Center and are in the early planning stages. We plan on rolling out in a crawl, walk, run method starting with about four staff members and a very small group of agencies. The addition of Specialty Lines in that model is under consideration.
Our main objective is to have flexible, thorough, knowledgeable staff members who can provide our insureds with excellent customer service and maintain open communication with our agents. Our rollout would start with commercial classes, account size $10,000 and under. We’re aiming to provide full service including endorsements, certificate of insurance, renewals, upselling/cross-selling and all other insured inquiries. We do not have an estimate live date established at this time, but are working on resource allocation and project mobilization in early 2021.
7. Comment: What are your BizLink eligibility guidelines?
Response: We have numerous resources available for you online including training videos, a training guide, and a complete list of eligible classes. For more specific training, please reach out to your sales manager to set something up.
Risk Management
(Agent comments with SECURA responses)
1. Comment: An open line of communication is key.
Response: Since the time we eliminated the RM position, SECURA RMC’s have done just about as many visits as our vendor (about 40 less). Any time a visit is scheduled, the next call or email is to inform the agent that it has been scheduled. The next steps will be answered in the next question, but any time you need to discuss anything, please contact me, Dom Mongarella, dm@secura.net or 920-224-7449, Michelle, or your underwriters and I will attend to any issues that concern you. Since I’ve taken oversight for the state, I average around 100 calls/emails with insureds and agents throughout the year.
Michelle and I had worked out that I would travel to make agency only visits this year, but we all know what happened to that. As soon as it is safer to travel, we will pick up on that.
2. Comment: What is your standard protocol on agent attending with? (Independent told agent not to come/insured wanted agent there).
Response: As mentioned above, we always inform the agent about a visit being scheduled and we used to invite them to attend if they wanted to. We’re not trying to exclude you, but, we’re currently just trying to limit the number of bodies in an area at one time. We ask that until there is some type of balance to the virus, you work with us on that. If you feel it is critical that you attend, let me know and we can explore other opportunities.
3. Comment: We would like an agenda to be prepared and shared.
Response: That’s an excellent point. I spoke with several members on my team about this and while most insureds have had a RM/LP type of visit, we do get one here or there that asks what to expect and of course we answer. Almost all of our visits are going to cover five basic things – we’re going to verify some information on the application, get a general overview of operations, tour the facilities, take some photos, and hold a closing conference.
We do have a section on the website, https://www.secura.net/my-policy/risk-management-resources/ which addresses that specifically. We are working on some technology now that will generate a visit reminder email to both the insured and agent and we plan to add that link in that email as well.
Claims
(Agent comments with SECURA responses)
1. Comment: All good – no complaints.
Response: It is great to hear that you are not currently having any claims issues.
2. Comment: We are having a third-party outsourcing issue.
Response: We will follow up with you on this issue as we want to better understand the concern.
Miscellaneous
(Agent comments with SECURA responses)
1. Comment: SECURA’s communication was awesome during the Pandemic. We liked the videos.
Response: Thank you for this feedback. We focus our communication to make sure you get the information you need. We’re glad you felt the personal touch with videos featuring our associates, and you’ll continue to see video messages from us in the future.
2. Comment: COVID has been a time to get caught up/take continuing education. You nailed it. Webinars are a great avenue to get CEs.
Response: Thank you for the comment; I am so excited to hear that our webinars are well liked by our agents. We do plan on scheduling more webinars in 2021, so check AgentLink to see the line-up. If there is anything we can do to make our CE training even better, please reach out to Angela Kain, Manager of Agency Training, at akain@secura.net.
3. Comment: What are your staffing/WFH plans?
Response: Returning to work in the office is still a volunteer basis probably until May/June 2021. We will continue to keep all posted.