{"id":12686,"date":"2021-11-14T10:16:14","date_gmt":"2021-11-14T09:16:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/?p=12686"},"modified":"2021-11-14T10:16:14","modified_gmt":"2021-11-14T09:16:14","slug":"fleets-59","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/2021\/11\/14\/fleets-59\/","title":{"rendered":"The marriage between fleets and insurance providers"},"content":{"rendered":"

By adopting available technologies, fleets can provide underwriters with factual data to back up their safety protocols that will better protect themselves and their drivers on the road and in the courtroom.<\/p>\n

Choosing the right insurance policy can be a lengthy and complicated process for the average person. For fleets, no matter whether it\u2019s large or small, insurance policies are a vital aspect of the business. Brandon Guiliani, department head of transportation at Seubert & Associates, joined Hayden Cardiff, founder and chief innovation officer at Idelic, to discuss how companies can improve their relationships with underwriters and what they can do to create the most effective insurance policies for their fleets.<\/p>\n

According to Guiliani, insurance carriers have not turned a profit since 2010, despite the continuing increase in insurance costs for motor carriers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe losses are outweighing what they’re charging in rate\u2014that’s causing a hike,\u201d Guiliani explained. \u201cInflation\u2014that’s causing a hike. Nuclear verdicts\u2014that’s causing a big black cloud over our industry. Also, there are more expensive vehicles on the road. Those are just a few of the multitude of reasons why these insurers are getting hit with astronomical increases year after year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nuclear verdicts, Cardiff reports, have grown 235% over the last six years, and they are becoming incredibly common with the average cost of a claim going from $50,000 to 60,000 to hundreds of thousands of dollars.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the last six to eight months, there have been over 300 nuclear verdicts,\u201d Guiliani explained. \u201cWhen you look at years dating back from 2006 to 2011, there were under 30, so our industry as a whole is changing. And, unfortunately, there are a lot of insurance carriers that are now exiting the marketplace, leaving few and far apart carriers that want to take on that risk. Not only that, nuclear verdicts have changed the capacity levels these carriers can offer. Previously, they were offering $5 million of coverage, but because of the nuclear verdicts, they are reducing their capacity to $3 million, $2 million and even $1 million, unfortunately, causing motor carriers to reduce the amount of insurance coverage that they have, which is actually leaving them at risk.\u201d<\/p>\n

To avoid the overall consequences of nuclear verdicts and higher insurance costs, Guiliani suggests fleets evaluate the current protocols in place surrounding safety and driver training.<\/p>\n

\u201cCarriers need to start evaluating what they are doing to prevent these accidents,\u201d Guiliani said. \u201cEvaluating your drivers, making sure that you’re identifying problem areas and putting a proactive approach in place. A lot of our clients have the technology, but they’re not managing it efficiently. Almost like they have it, but only because they were told they needed to have it.<\/p>\n

\u201cDash cameras are a huge topic right now,\u201d Guiliani explained. \u201cA lot of people don’t want them. If it’s out there, and you don’t have it, what do you think an underwriter is going to do when you’re not utilizing all the technology that’s at your disposal? Underwriters are under a magnifying glass and they’re underwriting you extremely hard right now. If you give them any ambition to increase that rate, they’re going to take it because they know it’s not a matter of if but when you’re going to have a bad accident. And unfortunately, if your i’s aren\u2019t dotted and your T’s aren\u2019t crossed, guess what? You’re at fault, and the carrier’s at fault for insuring you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cardiff reiterated that cameras, predictive analytics, machine learning\u2014 all these kinds of technologies are readily available in the market. They help fleets to protect their drivers and help create safer roads for everyone. Underwriters are going to wonder why you aren\u2019t using everything that is at your disposal. By adopting the available technologies, fleets can provide factual data to back up their safety protocols that will better protect themselves on the road and in the courtroom.<\/p>\n

The Texas Department of Transportation worked vigorously<\/a> to get that role changed, where the courts are not using reptile theory anymore and playing off the emotions of the jurors,\u00a0according to Guiliani\u00a0\u201cThey’re looking at true hard facts and what fleets are doing toward prevention,\u201d he said. \u201cThe big draw here is they\u2014 the plaintiff’s attorneys\u2014don’t put the driver or the facts of the case on trial. They put you as a motor carrier on trial. Are your processes consistent? Are you training the drivers? Are you training the right driver? With the right information at the right times, can you document that? Are you being proactive and predictive? These are all questions fleets need to prepare to answer.\u201d<\/p>\n

To do this, Cardiff urges fleets to open up to their insurance providers. Share the process, and talk about what\u2019s going well and also what\u2019s not going so well.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe relationship between a fleet and their insurance provider is a marriage,\u201d Guiliani explained. \u201cMany times, I sit down with clients and I discover that they have never met their underwriter. So after signing a contract with an insurance provider, they\u2019re getting married before dating. Does that make sense? No. Get to know the person that’s putting numbers to paper. Build that relationship with that individual. That underwriter wants to see where your weaknesses are, because he believes if you’re doing that, guess what? There’s common ground here. You guys can collectively work together to build the best protection plan possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

By Catharine Conway<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Source: https:\/\/www.fleetowner.com\/<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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KNOW WHO WE ARE<\/strong><\/a><\/h1>\n

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By adopting available technologies, fleets can provide underwriters with factual data to back up their safety protocols that will better protect themselves and their drivers on the road and in the courtroom. Choosing the right insurance policy can be a lengthy and complicated process for the average person. For fleets, no matter whether it\u2019s large…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":12687,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[103],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12686"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12686"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12686\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12688,"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12686\/revisions\/12688"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}