Zercher & Associates, Inc

06/14/2022

Insurance carriers are continuing to push rate increases as they face increased challenges. Following multiple years of above average loss experience driven by severe storms, intense wildfires, and increased litigation, insurer losses remain at high levels. In addition, non-weather water damage claims account for approximately 20% of all property insurance losses for both personal and commercial lines, surpassing other types of claims in both frequency and severity. These conditions, coupled with global events such as the ongoing pandemic, are major attributing factors to the current tightened / hard market conditions for property and casualty insurance.

Looking behind the scenes at the reinsurance market, rate increases for insurers on their January 1 and more recent 2022 treaty renewals have increased at more meaningful levels compared to very moderate increases delivered in 2020 and 2021. Reinsurers are reevaluating and increasing pricing due to continued negative loss experience and escalation / reopening of already settled catastrophe losses over the past 4 to 5 years.

Specific to the property sector, building cost increases reported by insureds on new construction and renovation projects continues to be a key area of emphasis. Insurance carriers are more closely evaluating and challenging valuations being submitted. As a result, insurers are establishing minimum cost-per-square-foot thresholds, and, in some cases, imposing restrictive policy language to ensure adequate values are reported. Insurer scrutiny and acceptance of reported values is further impacted by high inflation on raw materials, wages, and complications created by supply chain issues.

The casualty insurance market has moderated somewhat—the volatility of past market cycles has largely stabilized—but still the industry still remains negatively impacted by steadily rising claim severity, nuclear verdicts, social inflation, and uncertainty surrounding inflation. Umbrella and excess liability lines continue to receive, on average, the higher percentage increases.

03/17/2020

We are going into unprecedented times regarding Covid 19 and business insurance claims, This article provides some very good information regarding the process and whether an insurance carrier may be held accountable:

Property and liability insurers are bracing for an uptick in claims across virtually every line of coverage due to the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, as companies lose money by shutting down large-scale events and businesses face supply chain troubles. Here, Law360 looks at four types of coverag...

12/31/2013

A little levity for the New Year!:

I laughed out loud at this joke, and I think it’ll brighten your day too…
“A man having purchased a box of very rare, very expensive ci**rs insured them, against fire among other things. Within a month, having smoked his entire stockpile of ci**rs and without having made even his first premium payment on the policy, the man filed a claim against the insurance company.
In his claim, the man stated that the ci**rs were lost “in a series of small fires.” The insurance company refused to pay, citing the obvious reason: that the man had consumed the ci**rs in the normal fashion.
The man sued and won.
In delivering the ruling, the judge agreed that the claim was frivolous. He stated nevertheless that the man held a policy from the company in which it had warranted that the ci**rs were insurable and also guaranteed that it would insure against fire, without defining what is considered to be “unacceptable fire,” and was obligated to pay the claim.
Rather than endure a lengthy and costly appeal process, the insurance company accepted the ruling and paid the man $15,000 for the rare ci**rs he had lost in the “fires.”
After the man cashed the check, the insurance company had him arrested on 24 counts of ARSON! With his own insurance claim and testimony for the previous case being used against him, the man was convicted of intentionally burning his insured property and sentenced to 24 months in jail and a $24,000 fine!”
Funny how the tables turned on him, huh?

06/11/2013

Hurricane season is upon us, check out this link for valuable tips for approaching storms and preventative measures you can take.

http://www.riskconversation.com/family/home/hurricanes.php

These pages will help you protect your family, home and prized possessions under all kinds of circumstances.

06/11/2013

Internet security is a hot topic, is your business' web site sufficiently protected? Take this quick risk assessment quiz and see for yourself. If you come back as a beginner, give us a call and we can help assist in securing your site.

http://www.riskconversation.com/assessors/business_1.php

The brief quiz-style assessments on these pages can serve as a first step in discovering and addressing potential hazards in a variety of areas.

06/10/2013

Hurricane season is upon us, have a commercial property with a high deductible? Contact us, we can help reduce your deductible through one of our carriers!

06/10/2013

Most business' nowadays utilize social media and the internet for marketing in some manner. What most do not realize is that their current liability insurance policy may not fully protect them against certian claims made against their company. If you do business on the internet and are not sure if you are adequately covered, give us a call and we will be more than happy to provide a no obligation review of your current coverage and provide and needed recommendations.

02/25/2013

We are seeing increases across the board, not just in property insurance. Think you rates are too high, give us a call and let us compare your rates to what we can offer.

01/04/2013

Are you sending employees on business trips? If so, it appears you may have to start having policies regarding what they can and can't do in the hotel room!!

http://www.businessinsurance.com/article/20121218/NEWS08/121219896

Risk management in theory and practice, including evolving risk strategies, risk financing, the risk management profession, risk analytics and core property/casualty coverage issues.

01/04/2013

Social media is not always best for people, but can be beneficial to carriers:

http://technorati.com/social-media/article/partying-tweets-sink-damages-award-for/

A jury lowered a damages award to a woman whose tweets were not in line with her lawsuit following an accident.

11/21/2012

May everybody have a safe and Happy Thanksgiving. Please be careful if your are traveling to see loved ones.