Kari Brough - Insurance Agent

04/27/2026

Lesson #3: How to Protect Yourself From Insurance Premium Fraud

The insurance industry is built on trust. Most professionals do the right thing. But there have been cases where an agent collects premium from a client and never remits it to the insurance carrier.

When that happens, the business owner is often the one left exposed.

Here are a few simple ways to protect yourself.

Start with trust, but verify.

Trust your insurance professional, but never rely on trust alone. Verification is not distrust. It is good business practice.

Always obtain a copy of the issued policy.

A certificate of insurance is not proof of coverage. You should receive the full policy or a formal binder directly from the carrier or wholesaler. If you paid a premium and cannot obtain a policy, that is a red flag. Some non-standard policies can take 30 days or more to receive from the carrier. Follow-up.

Understand where your premium is being sent.
Ask who the carrier is and how payment is handled. In many cases, premium should be paid directly to the carrier or clearly identified premium trust account, not to an individual.

Do not confuse insurance with business controls.
You would never hire an employee, skip a drug test, and wait for your insurance company to tell you if they are doing drugs. You screen your employees because that responsibility belongs to you. Financial controls around insurance payments are no different.

Confirm coverage before assuming risk is transferred.
Insurance transfers risk only after coverage is properly bound and issued. Until that happens, the risk stays with the business owner.
Risk management is about preventing what you can and transferring what you cannot. Strong businesses take safety, standards, and financial controls seriously. Those same businesses are the ones that ultimately earn more control over their insurance costs through loss‑sensitive and alternative risk programs.

Good insurance professionals welcome these questions. They understand that transparency protects everyone involved.

If you are unsure whether your coverage is actually in force, or you have never received copies of your policies, it is worth slowing down and asking for clarification.

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04/27/2026

Lesson #2: A Driver’s License Isn’t Enough

If your employees drive for work, checking their Motor Vehicle Records is your responsibility, not the insurance carrier’s.

Too many business owners submit a driver’s license to the carrier and wait to see if the driver is “acceptable.” That is not risk management. That is outsourcing responsibility.

You would not hire an employee and let the insurance company decide if they are doing drugs. You drug test them yourself. MVR screening is no different. It is part of hiring, supervision, and safety standards. Courts have made it clear that when an employee causes an accident, the question becomes what the business owner knew and what they should have known.
Insurance is not meant to find your safety gaps. It is meant to respond after a loss.

Risk management is about preventing what you can control and transferring what you cannot to the insurance carrier. Reviewing MVRs, setting driver standards, and monitoring behavior over time are all within your control.

The most successful businesses take safety seriously. They set clear standards and enforce them. Those are also the businesses that earn access to loss sensitive insurance programs and more control over their long‑term insurance costs.

If your agent is not talking with you about MVRs and driver responsibility, it may be time to start asking better questions.

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04/08/2026

Lesson #1 - Contractors Edition

The Lowest Bid Isn't the Best Work - And The Same is True for Insurance.

When a contractor puts in a bid, they are really pricing the quality of their work. And let’s be honest, the lowest bid is not always the best work. I’ll say it again because it matters. The lowest bid is not the best quality.

So when you ask an insurance broker to quote your coverage, are you just looking for the cheapest option? A cheap quote usually means it’s missing something important. That doesn’t mean the most expensive policy is automatically better either. What really matters is the work behind it.

A good insurance professional takes the time to explain the differences and show you what proper coverage actually looks like. There is a lot of effort that goes into building the right insurance program, just like the quality work you put into your own projects.

If your current agent is not teaching you the difference, it might be time to start asking a few more questions. If you want a second look or a conversation about whether your coverage truly fits your business, let’s talk.

03/17/2026

One of the biggest insurance misconceptions I see is this: flood damage is covered under my homeowners policy.
In most cases, it is not.

Standard homeowners, renters, and business insurance policies typically exclude flood damage. Flooding is defined as water entering a building from the ground up due to heavy rain, storm surge, overflowing creeks, or drainage issues.

So what needs to happen before you need coverage?

✅ Flood insurance must be purchased in advance
Most flood policies include a waiting period before coverage begins. Once a storm is forecasted or flooding has started, it is too late to buy protection.
✅ You do not have to live in a high risk flood zone
Flood losses happen in moderate and low risk areas as well. In many cases, policies in these areas are more affordable.
✅ Know your coverage options
Flood insurance may be available through the National Flood Insurance Program and through private insurers, each offering different limits and features.

Flood insurance is not about predicting a disaster. It is about understanding a coverage gap and addressing it before it becomes a problem.

03/16/2026

Pro Foal Coverage - is it worth it?

Pro-Foal is short for “Prospective Foal” or Embryo coverage. We are insuring that foal while it is in utero until the day it’s born, or until it’s 1st birthday.

This one is tricky and sometimes hard to make it make sense. The rates are a lot higher than your typical equine mortality. They hover around 20% as compared to 3 to 3.5% for your performance horses.

This is my mare, she is in foal to Tres Seis and due in less than 2 weeks. I’m beyond excited, but as a novice breeder having insurance gives me peace of mind.

I chose to pay a 20% rate for the insurance carrier to take on 80% of the risk. Not to mention, the foal in utero is insured until her 1st Birthday! 🥳 (Notice how I projected that it will be a filly? 🤣)

Just to get a quote, there are hoops to jump through. I know of 2 carriers that write this coverage and both have to be underwritten to receive a quote. So be ready for all the questions.

The basic guidelines are this:

⏰Mare must be confirmed in foal at 42 days and be no more than 100 days gestation to start coverage.
💰Quarter Horses can be valued at 2x the stud fee
🤰The mare carrying the foal must be insured with the same carrier that is offering the coverage on th embryo.
🐴 Max age for the carrying mare is 17, they can review for mares older that this.

Let me know if you have any Pro-Foal needs.

03/13/2026

💡 Insurance Tip 💡

Your Horse Trailer is not automatically covered for physical damage just because it is hooked to your truck. It is covered for liability, (e.g., you hit another vehicle or damage someone’s property with your trailer). The damage to YOUR trailer is not covered unless your policy lists the trailer specifically and it has Comprehensive and Collision coverage.

Even if your trailer is listed with comp and collision, your horses are not covered in the event of an accident. The only way to cover them is to have a mortality policy on each horse.

If someone else hits you, there is a small chance you can get coverage out of the at fault drivers insurance. I wouldn’t bet on it as 1 in 7 drivers are uninsured and 1 in 4 carry minimum liability limits.

01/15/2024

01/07/2024

Looking for Equine Insurance, who is your favorite…

Some people are looking because they are unhappy with their current insurance due to a bad claims experience.

The value you insure your horse at is what concerns me. If done incorrectly, you could be setting yourself up for disappointment.

Value starts with what you paid. Most carriers will use 100% of the earnings to add value. Very few if any will take a random number that you think your horse is worth. Let me re-phrase - they will let you pay the premium, but god forbid your horse dies you better be prepared to show proof of what your horse is worth. Upon death, they will ask for a bill of sale, canceled check, or wire transaction.

If you are trying to insure your horse for more than what you paid, there should be a Justification of Value form. The underwriter will use that to agree to the value.

Obviously we hope you never have to deal with a mortality claim. But, why pay thousands of dollars every year on a premium that will not get you what you expected?

The horse market is crazy high right now. We have been hearing the numbers. There are many 6 figure transactions and some 7 figure. Equine Insurance is about YOUR insurable interest, not the amount it would take to REPLACE them. Some horses, no amount would replace them. They want to know, how much are you out on this horse…not the next one.

11/30/2023

“My Insurance Company sucks! Will you quote my insurance?”

If I only had a dollar for every time I hear this. Times are changing, what once used to be covered, no longer is. This goes for all Insurance. This year has been rough. Prices have skyrocketed, a lot of Homeowner’s companies quit writing any new business around June. When they start writing again, they are offering less coverage. You may not get Replacement Cost on your roof. If you don’t know what this means, let’s talk. You need to understand your policy and what coverage you have. Don’t just look at the price!

North Texas Homeowners, get used to 2% Wind/Hail deductibles. Very few still offer 1%. These companies are super picky over what they will write. Have you looked at the aerial view of your home lately? I encourage you to get on Google Earth and take a peek. Most Insurance companies are already doing this. Trees shouldn’t be touching your roof. Your roof needs to be in good shape. They are looking for things like Trampolines and pools.

Do what you can to minimize the chance of a claim. We cannot control Hail, but we can wrap our pipes when we know a freeze is coming. Maybe you need to do some maintenance on your roof. If you know you have electrical issues, be proactive and get it fixed. Do YOUR part!

11/21/2023

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