| Author |
Message |
Gale Hawkins
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 08, 2000 - 8:22 pm: | |
Wrong discussion area. Sorry. |
Ghostbuster
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 08, 2000 - 8:10 pm: | |
Patience there Prudence...
FIG/Zurich may be trying to flesh out their storm crew but only because they cut the pay and daily rate for their kids. They want more fresh meat and are going outside the company because the kids are wise to the corporate suits tricks. We 're talking serious turnover here. A threat? Methinks not. It really is common practice for the carriers to use up their own kids on the first storms. I identify our #1 problem right now as being too long a spell of nice weather. Have you noticed how many of us have placed a date for the CADO 200 Lotto? Like you, I am bone dog weary of watching our girlfriends on the Weather Channel prattle on about the lack of storms. What can we do? Just be patient. Go out and change your oil in the truck, wash & wax it again, grease the front wheel bearings and check the brakes. Repack your storm pack again and throw out whatever was not used in the last three storms. Warm moist air from the Gulf of Mexico is beginning to pump north, the storms and work for us will be here soon enough. |
Concerned2
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 08, 2000 - 7:48 pm: | |
Tiemex is correct. It's fine if the rest of you don't take this seriously, have your barbeques and take all the advanced classes in adjusting software that you want to. What "pendulum"? Just what years are you referring to when these "swings" were to company CAT handling? I haven't seen any swinging pendulum and I have been doing this since 1979. I can't recall a time until recently when there wasn't work because of companies using staff people or when they were actively recruiting storm personnel with this zeal. This is a trend, not a "swing". It is fueled by the "bottom liners" that are driving the insurance industry. They aren't going to go away or start thinking differently and they resent independent adjusters making money. How much has the billing schedule increased over the last 20 years? (Guess what? It hasn't). FYI in the Farmers/Zurich merger, Farmers assumed management responsibility for personal lines in the U.S. Farmers will grow larger, not disappear. As far as Allstate goes, just when have they staffed a major storm instead of abiding by the Pilot contract? They have used local independents and staff occasionally for mini-cats but even that has dried up now.
Bear in mind that not everyone on this board who present themselves as experts, actually are. This is not a "healthy" industry. |
Tiemex
| | Posted on Saturday, January 29, 2000 - 9:04 pm: | |
The current trend is for many of the once heavily dependant companies to set up their own cat teams to handle all but the largest of catastrophies. This trend was confirmed by several high level Company people associated with one of the larger personal lines insurance companies. Their current goal is to assign no more that 60 claims per independent and then take over and close the event themselves. This trend has so effected one of the major "cat companies" who had only one major client that most of their "A" adjusters have moved on to other vendors who have mulitple sources of income. Take heed and protect yourself by making solid business relationships with several companies listed in the CADO Web site. Ask questions before you commit to any assignment and hold the vendor accountable for his promises. If it is wrong from inception you will be the one absorbing all the expenses. If you don't get the promised files or the commission rate promised you must seek other more reliable work.. Your time is all you have to offer. Protect it.
Good Luck to all my friends. Don't wait for the phone to ring get pro-active now. |
Chuck Deaton
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 18, 2000 - 5:41 pm: | |
Barry Coleman's DDS class, taught at Pacesetter in Tulsa is the best I have seen.
Barry Coleman bcoleman@pacesetterclaims.com |
ChiliMan
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 18, 2000 - 11:54 am: | |
How about DURING, most of us dont use DDS anyway. |
Unconcerned2
| | Posted on Monday, January 17, 2000 - 10:57 pm: | |
When, the night before, during or after class? |
Quntmleap
| | Posted on Monday, January 17, 2000 - 9:31 pm: | |
"Hey" There is an advanced DDS class the 24-26 in Dallas, Lets say we meet in the parking lot of the Training center for the cook off!
I'm in! |
Ghostbuster
| | Posted on Monday, January 17, 2000 - 8:22 pm: | |
You're on! Now all we've got to do is have our evil sister-in-laws conjure up a storm in their big, black cauldron. Little did I know back then that marriage is a package deal. With the wheat, you also get a lot of chaff! |
Old Timer
| | Posted on Monday, January 17, 2000 - 8:01 pm: | |
That's a deal Ghost, just name the date, time and place! |
Ghostbuster
| | Posted on Monday, January 17, 2000 - 7:09 pm: | |
I got my cast iron skillet & dutch oven, do you?
How about this, on the next cat, we have ourselves a motel parking lot, old west style showdown with blazing spoons? Loser brings the cold beer! |
Old Timer
| | Posted on Monday, January 17, 2000 - 7:04 pm: | |
Ghost are you proposing an adjuster's chili "cook off"? |
Ghostbuster
| | Posted on Monday, January 17, 2000 - 6:52 pm: | |
"DYING" is probaly the wrong term here for this annual event wherein during the slack late fall or early winter, the company kids get to handle the first one out of the box. This is normal. A more appropriate term may be that of shedding the cocoon for yet another season. Allstate has done this many times before to Curtis' kids. As for the big FIG, (Farmers Ins Group), that incompetent and cheap outfit couldn't create a trend if it dropped from their orfice into the toilet bowl. I speak from personal knowledge from both within & without over the past 24 years. FIG is still used to the ways of the Waco bunch that was there exclusive storm crew for so many years.
I would not lose any sleep over the big FIG and their blind wanderings and ramblings. Now that Zurich owns them, I predict they will be gone in name within the next few years just like old Maryland American General Ins Co was about ten years ago. No gentlemen, ours is a healthy industry. We just need to continue to do our little around the house projects or 'honey-doos' and wait for something interesting to pop up. By the way, does anybody out there have any good chili receipes? |
Gale Hawkins
| | Posted on Monday, January 17, 2000 - 6:16 pm: | |
Concerned2 do you really think this is a dying business or are we only seeing the pendulum swing back in the direction of more Cats being handling by staff? |
Concerned2
| | Posted on Sunday, January 16, 2000 - 6:15 pm: | |
I said I wasn't going to post again, but I think we all need to be aware of some trends that are continuing to diminish the amount of work available to us. The Owensboro Tornado claims were handled by 18 Allstate staff "catastrophe adjusters", not Pilot people mind you, but Allstate employees. The latest internal newletter at Farmers has an article commending some young girl in one of their Arizona offices for coming up with a plan to handle one of their recent hailstorms a "mini-cat" with staff "catastrophe adjusters" who were paid $50.00/claim and gave "better service than independents". The vendors are to blame for not having these issues specifically addressed in their CAT contracts. If they sign up a company for the big CAT's they should be required to use the vendor for the small ones too. That's how we independents survive. We can't live waiting for a Hurricane each year. We are all going to be sitting around on our hands this winter even if some winter storms do occur if this trend continues. The large vendors will never have the guts to do this with their main accounts and really don't care if we adjusters survive or not, as long as a crew of warm bodies can be rounded up for the next really big one. I don't know the answer to this eroding situation, but that is why this is a dying business. |
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