National Underwriter - November 7, 2011

congratulations on your decision to obtain renter’s insurance. based on your article, I’m not sure that you realized the extent of the risk you were taking in not having the coverage prior to now. Yes, you could have had your belongings stolen, or you could have had your belongings destroyed by a fire that one of your neighbors accidentally started—but those are minor risks.

the bIG rIsK is liability. What if you caused the fire in your apartment building? What if you bumped into an old lady in the local market, causing her to fall and break her hip? What if you forgot to open a drain and flooded adjoining apartments? If you golf, what about damages or injuries you might cause by an errant drive? What if you have some friends over and someone trips on a throw rug and splits their head open on the corner of a coffee table?

All of these scenarios and many others have the ability to greatly affect your life style in the event someone sues you for the damages for which you would be held responsible. I submit that losing $25,000 in personal property has only a short-term effect, while a 6- or 7-figure liability claim (not to mention court costs) would be a life-changing event. Your USAA representative should not have minimized the importance of liability coverage by saying it was included at no charge. Liability coverage is as vital if not more so than property coverage for renters. As agents we need to do a better job of communicating the risks and importance of the liability coverage that renter’s provides.

by the way, depending on your assets/net worth you may want to call UsAA back and increase the liability coverage on your policy, or even add an umbrella policy.

Respectfully,
David Sewell
Commercial Specialist
Farm Bureau Financial Services
West Des Moines, IA

To Bryant Rousseau, Editor in Chief:

How disappointing it was to read your editorial as it appeared in
the October 17 issue of national Underwriter. It demonstrated
to me your lack of understanding of our business along with
a complete disregard for significant injury that your personal
activities could inflict on others.

In my opinion, you should either explain yourself (what was your objective in writing this) or resign. In either case you should learn more about your responsibility in holding high office in a major industry trade publication.

Dan Lewis
Eden Prairie, Minn.

I have never written to a magazine in my life. I don’t want my name and agency published if you choose to print my comments. But your Editor’s Corner in the 10-17-2011 NU magazine really got my attention. this magazine is read by many independent insurance agents and brokers. I looked at your Advertiser Index in this issue and most of your advertising comes from insurance companies or service providers who get the bulk of their business from independent insurance agents and brokers. And yet . . . you go looking for renter’s insurance from direct writers of insurance like UsAA and state Farm. UsAA is a 1-800-who-cares company.

In the future, you will never talk with any person who knows you at UsAA. state Farm would at least know you as a name, not a number. but they don’t have options. You get what State Farm offers with no choices. If you had called an independent insurance agent and broker, they would have probably given you choices. For example, did UsAA or state Farm offer you $300,000 or $500,000 of personal liability insurance coverage for just a few extra dollars? If you knock over a little old lady on a NYC sidewalk and break her hip, is $100,000 of personal liability going to be enough insurance when she and her attorney sues you for negligence?

You confess a lot. You confessed in your first editorial in NU you knew nothing about insurance. You confess you had issues when at Multi-Housing News. You confessed to your readers that you have been an uninsured man. Are you catholic? In my opinion, your recent editorial would have carried much more weight with the majority of your readers if you had included your experience getting quotes from an independent agent and broker. You mention “carrier marketing executives.” And you did not get a quote from an independent agent who represents the companies whose marketing executives approve the advertising budget in your magazine????? How much advertising revenue does nU and its family of magazines derive from state Farm and UsAA?

So sorry Bryant, but IMO, you really missed the boat on this. You can correct your error by reporting on an experience getting a renter’s insurance quote from and independent agent and broker in a future issue of nU.

Love the magazine. nU is the one trade magazine that I always read.

name Withheld Upon request

Bryant,

I just read your article and cannot believe you went with UsAA vs. an independent agency company. Do you think anyone from UsAA or state Farm reads your magazine? What a slap in the face of your readers. If I did not need the information provided by your magazine, I would cancel my subscription. I hope you get more emails on this matter.