Top 3 Problems With Insurance Schedules
Posted by Milissa Malloy on Wed, Jan 25, 2012 @ 08:03 AM
After 10+ years of helping people document and appraise their valuable articles and collections, we have seen many insurance schedules and realized there are several problems and frustrations that derive from these important lists such as:
1.They rarely get updated-Typical scenario: Client A provides a general list of items they want to insure at the policy inception. The values from these items come from either purchase prices or prior appraisals that may already be a few years old. Fast forward 8 years and the list is still the same. The values have not been updated and they have neglected to add the 2-4 new items they purchased every year meaning there could be anywhere between 16-24 valuable items that are not even insured.
2. The format stinks-Sorry to be so blunt, but it is true. The information listed is typically inconsistent or lacking. For example, I cannot count the number of times I have seen "Oil Painting, $7,500". Well when a fire occurs, how are you going to know which oil painting you lost? The format also does not make it easy on the client or the insurance adviser to easily match items when new values are obtained through updated appraisals.
3. No Portability-It is very common to change your insurance policy over the years, and therefore your insurance carrier. When this occurs, essentially the information on the insurance schedule can get "tossed over the fence" since the formatting does not allow for easy transfer. This can be dangerous and risky if some of that valuable information is lost.
We believe there is a new way to think about Insurance Schedule. Imagine if:
*schedules were updated automatically to reflect market changes and reduce gaps in coverage
*schedules were always up-to-date in real-time regardless if the client changes carriers
*clients could manage and view their schedule in an intelligent format that wasn’t hard to read or inaccurate.
*agents and advisors like you did not have to spend so much time reconciling schedules and appraisals
*clients knew what items needed professional appraisals without being overwhelmed
We want to hear from you! What experiences have you had with insurance schedules? Do you think there is room for improvement? Would you welcome a new way to do things? Please chime in by commenting below.