How insurance carriers can improve customer service

The U.S. Auto Insurance Study, now in its 25th year, measures customer satisfaction with auto insurers based on performance in seven core dimensions on a poor-to-perfect rating scale. The highest-ranking auto insurers by region are as follows: California: Auto Club of Southern CA (AAA)Central: Shelter (for a fourth consecutive year)Florida: Auto-Owners InsuranceMid-Atlantic: Erie Insurance (for a third consecutive year)New England:… Read more →

Why insurance needs to support fire and rescue (hint: It’s good business!)

J.D. Power recently published a report on the state of the Property and Casualty Insurance industry. The report highlights that while the insurance industry has evolved over the years, the pace of change in P&C insurance is rapidly increasing.  Insurance is now less about serving the needs of traditional business, and increasingly about navigating and responding to social, political and… Read more →

Not all insurance companies are created equal

Progressive Casualty Insurance is facing a class action lawsuit filed by a New York policyholder.  The lawsuit alleges that Progressive Insurance undervalues and underpays claims deemed a total loss.  Instead of using standards of appraisal, the insurer used a “projected sold adjustment” with deceptive and unclear methodology according to court documents. Fire departments and first responders know all too well… Read more →

Fire Departments assisting insurance innovation

“InsurTech”, the combination of “insurance” and “technology” emerged around 2010 following the wave of “FinTech”.  As an old industry, technologists began to see the field of insurance as ripe for innovation. In the first decade, a lot of InsurTech companies were consumer facing, those designed to give users faster, easier access to insurance, for example, or algorithms to help customers… Read more →

Deadly Unprepared

Hundreds of pages of documents from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) were released last Wednesday detailing the final fatal hours of the commercial scuba diving vessel Conception that was engulfed in flames off the coast of Santa Barbara on September 2 of last year. The Associated Press reports that while the cause of the fire remains undetermined, witness testimony… Read more →

Volunteer departments bracing for financial crisis

Volunteer departments across the country are bracing themselves for a financial crisis as traditional forms of fundraisers are cancelled as a result of Covid-19. Local and national news sources in Pennsylvania, Kentucky and Indiana, Mississippi, New York and others are reporting upon the serious challenges threatening the safety and survival of their volunteer departments. While volunteer departments in New York… Read more →

Fire Departments Billing for Accident Clean Ups.

Cost recovery for fire-based emergency response services is becoming a more familiar concept for cities, counties and their fire departments. Fire-based billing for emergency medical services is already an SOP for many fire departments, and a variety of companies can assist them with billing the individuals who receive the medical services. Newer to the fire service is the concept of… Read more →

Citizens Accept Cost Recovery When They Understand Its Purpose

When citizens first hear about motor vehicle emergency response fees, they may oppose the concept. They become more accepting when they understand that only at-fault, nonresident drivers will be responsible for the claim — not every driver involved in an accident. They are usually concerned about the impact the emergency response claims will have on their insurance rates. For most… Read more →

Six Amazing Podcasts for Firefighters

Being a firefighter is a difficult profession. As a firefighter, staying on top of your game – week in, week out – is challenging. Staying positive after seeing destruction and even death, followed up by incident reports, training and family… How do you keep going? Keep learning. Keep improving. Keep moving forward. So how you do you stay motivated and… Read more →