The Importance of Insurance Agents

Insurance Agents and Personal Injury Attorneys

We have a lot of indirect interaction with insurance agents.

Insurance agents sell our client's auto insurance. Part of that sales process is evaluating client needs. These client needs fall into a number of categories.

• Collision

• Comprehensive (“other than collision”)

• Liability

• Personal Injury Protection (PIP)

• Uninsured/ Underinsured Motorist (UM/UIM)

Insurance agents are also one of the first people clients call when they get into a wreck. They want to confirm benefits and figure out things like whether they have rental car coverage.

Recognizing our Roles and Knowing When to Make Referrals

Because I'm a lawyer, I get asked a really broad array of legal questions by family, friends and clients. Many of them are significantly outside the scope of my practice.

I suspect the same thing happens to insurance agents. Their job is really to educate clients about insurance options and to bind coverage. It's not to answer more detailed questions about personal injury claims. It's nice when agents recognize that and refer their clients to us for consultation.

(That kind of recognition – appreciating what you know and what you don't know – is really a sign of competence and expertise.)

Current Coverage Observations

I see a lot of policies now with $100,000 in property damage liability coverage. There are definitely cars worth more than $100,000 on the road. But, almost everyone driving a car worth more than $100,000 has adequate coverage for that car. I don't think I've ever seen a case where a personal injury attorney has pursued an at-fault driver's individual assets when they didn't have enough property damage coverage.

If someone can afford $100,000.00 of property damage liability coverage, great. Just as long as it does not come at the expense of more important coverages like uninsured/underinsured motorist.

Another issue we’ve seen a lot lately deals with umbrella coverage. By default umbrella coverage increases liability limits. But it doesn’t increase uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage unless specifically requested. And that’s a big deal.

Maybe the most important coverage an insured can have increased by an umbrella policy is uninsured motorist (UM) and underinsured motorist (UIM).

Importance of Practical Insight and Call to Action

Insurance agents have access to a ton of information from insurance companies. I think it's really important for insurance agents to understand this information but also to have access to "boots on the ground" information from personal injury attorneys who deal with it every day.

That's why we're conducting outreach to our clients’ insurance agents to make sure that they know that we are a resource for them, both when they're helping clients make determinations about how much coverage they need and also to consult with their clients after they're involved in a collision.

We’d appreciate it if you sent us your insurance’s agent contact information including email address. We’d like to provide information and let them know that we’re happy to serve as a resource if they receive questions about personal injury they’re unable to answer.

Thank you!