News

I tend to block out bad news so for most of 2014 I would turn away from the gas station marquis that showed the price per gallon of gas. Lately though, I grin as I drive by the gas station and see those falling prices. Goodness me I think, I am filling my truck for $40 instead of having the pump cut me off at $75!

But then I got to thinking, now that prices are low, how many of us will opt to fill our tanks with higher octane gas for a bit more money but still less than what we were paying a year ago?

Not being very savvy about cars, I often wonder, what is the benefit of higher octane gas? Will it make my truck more fuel efficient and therefore be a more economical purchase in the long run? Or, will it make my truck last longer and protect the engine so I won’t have troubles down the road? And, if I knew these things would I have the will to spend more at the pump now in order to reap a greater reward later?

Naturally, I make the leap to insurance and wonder about the insurance consumer – do they always know what the best insurance product to buy is, not just in terms of what is cheapest, but what policy form will provide the right protection when a loss occurs? This came up recently when I was having lunch with some friends and customers who shared how hard it was to convince a very important and extremely successful client to ‘upgrade’ their personal insurance coverage. They owned a multi-million dollar home and had a very high-end and valuable car collection which they were still insuring with a regional carrier (out of loyalty to be sure). You and I both know that not all insurance programs are created equal, and it behooves us to use our knowledge and expertise to help our customers make an informed choice.

Like my friends, we at the Tuscano Agency face this challenge daily. There are times when you want to add on the bells and whistles coverage because it is clearly appropriate. But, there are also times we must point out that carrier A’s policy is clearly superior because it does not alter the ISO contractual language, include a classification limitation, and keeps the important exceptions to the “Your Work” and “Property Damage” exclusions intact. Together, our mission should be to educate the consumer on why that higher-octane policy will be a better choice in the long run. At Tuscano’s we are all about using our knowledge and skills to provide insurance solutions. As our good friend Warren Buffet likes to say, "Price is what you pay. Value is what you get."

Seems like there were a great number of insurance problems to solve in January because we hit the ground running in 2015! We’ve been seeing and writing a lot of trucking as well as the cargo, GL and for some classes, the Work Comp to support it. We’ve been also having a lot of success writing contractors big and small (and we are excited to offer you that clearly superior policy coverage when it is available). Vacant business is going gangbusters and we can write in all of our marketing regions. Call us; we are here to help you when an account does not quite fit the standard markets.

Stay warm – play hard!