From the Front Lines: Personal Auto

How did you get started at your agency?

I’m going into my fourth year in the industry now. I started out in the mortgage world, but I realized it really wasn’t for me. My grandfather told me to look into my insurance license, so I did. I was able to get in with an Allstate agency, but after a year, I just wasn’t happy with it—you just have that one product to sell, and I wasn’t really able to help my clients when rates changed. I was able to join Atkinson Insurance and I’m about to have my two-year anniversary.

Why personal auto?

It’s something we all have to have. One of the big driving factors for me is just making sure my clients are properly insured because what used to be a simple bumper replacement is costing thousands of dollars more. Claims are not as cheap as they used to be—they’re costing hundreds of thousands of dollars per year for the insurance companies.

Biggest personal auto changes?

Ridesharing endorsements for people who are doing Uber and Lyft. There used to be no coverage available if you were using your car as your own personal business. In the society we live in, where everybody’s doing ride-sharing and Amazon’s hiring people to deliver their packages, insurance is a little slow to adapt. Someone has to come up with new coverage options for people who are basically running a small business out of their car and can be on the road for eight to ten hours a day.

Biggest personal auto challenges?

Trying to get people to understand why they need to carry higher limits. In Virginia, the minimum limit is $25,000, but that can be quickly exhausted for bodily injury. It might not happen to you, but it very well could. Making sure you’re properly protected and carrying higher limits means paying a little extra. If you don’t, the claims can hurt any sort of nest egg you have saved up.

Another challenge is all the direct services where people can go online and basically write their own policy. A random person on the street can just go online and say, “Here’s the policy—here’s the price I want.” But it leaves them with a lot of gaps, and they don’t realize what they’re actually doing to themselves for their own liability’s sake.

Future of personal auto?

With the autonomous cars that are out there, the insurance companies are going to have to figure out if coverage will be in effect if you’re behind the wheel, or if there will be an endorsement that will extend when and the car is being driven autonomously. You might need two policies for a single vehicle—one for when you’re driving and one for when you’re not. It’ll be interesting to see how it changes.

Advice for a fellow personal auto agent?

Ask the right questions. Mine for the information that is really important to your client. Also, state minimum coverage is worthless because it doesn’t really provide the proper protection where one accident can ruin you. Always try to express the benefit of carrying the higher limits, which can help you qualify for umbrella policies. All of that will help ensure your clients stick with you because they trust you. You want to be that trusted resource when things go south.

Will Jones is the IA assistant editor.