Quality Claims at the San Diego Fall Home Show

Quality Claims exhibited at the San Diego Fall Home Show this past weekend.  They informed homeowners how to prepare for a property insurance claim and how to properly manage insurance claims after experiencing a loss to their home or business.  The San Diego Fall Home Show, held at the San Diego Convention Center, featured hundreds of exhibitors who offered home improvement products and services.

NAPIA Welcomes Quality Claims’ Ron Reitz as President

Quality Claims Management attended the Annual Meeting of the National Association of Public Insurance Adjusters (NAPIA) this past June to participate in discussions and educational sessions about Public Adjusting, and to witness the commencement of their own President, Ron Reitz, as NAPIA President for 2012-2013.  The NAPIA Annual Meeting, held at The Grand Del Mar in San Diego, had Public Adjusters and other NAPIA members from all over the country in attendance.

Ron Reitz, President of Quality Claims, carries a wealth of experience as he has been in the Public Adjusting field since 1994. The NAPIA community is excited to have him lead the organization for this coming year.  In addition to Ron’s presidential term commencement, Kim Cary, also of Quality Claims Management, was nominated to the Board of Directors for NAPIA.

The NAPIA Annual Meeting gives members the opportunity to network with fellow public adjusters from across the country and to advance their insurance knowledge.

Quality Claims at I-Day

Quality Claims recently had the exciting opportunity to exhibit at I-Day, an event connecting insurance brokers with vendors in the field.  Hosted by the Insurance Brokers and Agents of San Diego, this special event welcomed hundreds of veteran participants who have been in attendance annually for nearly two decades.

The Quality Claims Team educated insurance brokers about the added value a claims management company can offer their business.  Brokers can benefit by trusting Quality Claims with assistance in preparing, presenting, and negotiating a complex settlement on behalf of their client, the homeowner or business in the event of property damage.  By eliminating the broker from a possible “conflict of interest” between the insurance company and client, Quality Claims ensures a seamless transaction for all involved parties.

Quality Claims sponsors St. Augustine High School Baseball

Quality Claims recently committed to St. Augustine High School as one of the main sponsors for the Saints Baseball team.  St. Augustine High School, a Catholic school in San Diego, has had a very successful baseball program over the past 25 years as they have earned 15 league titles.  The Saints were also recently crowned Eastern League Champions in 2011.

Quality Claims is proud to sponsor Saints Baseball to help them continue their success and to support such a dedicated team.  Ron Reitz, President of Quality Claims, attended one of the Saints' games this past week and was able to show his support for the team.

Quality Claims Management Exhibits at the San Diego Spring Home Show

Quality Claims Management had the opportunity to participate in the San Diego Spring Home Show this past weekend.  The free event was open to the public and held in Downtown San Diego at the San Diego Convention Center.

Exhibitors from all avenues of home improvement were present to inform homeowners about their featured home products and services.  We were excited to share more about our company with the public and to offer advice to any attendees who may have experienced a disaster to their home or business.

Home insurance rates likely to go higher

By Adam Belz, USA TODAY
Homeowners insurance premiums are starting to rise after tornadoes, hail, winds and lightning slammed U.S. insurance companies' balance sheets throughout 2011.

Storms along the East Coast, tornadoes in the Southeast and in Joplin, Mo., and earthquakes in Japan and New Zealand wreaked havoc on insurance company finances, especially firms that might have too many policyholders in certain geographic areas, says Bob Skow, CEO of the Independent Insurance Agents of Iowa.

The numbers aren't in yet, since renewals don't all happen at one time, but Robert Hartwig, president of the Insurance Information Institute, says customers are starting to feel the cost of years of heavy losses, particularly in the Southeast and Midwest.

"We've had record losses for four straight years," he said. "My sense is that premiums will probably rise 4% to 5%."

In 2008, the average annual cost of homeowners insurance was $791, according to the Insurance Information Institute. Average premiums rose slightly to $799 in 2009 and $807 in 2010. Hartwig predicts that 2011's average premium will be about $840.

Insurers are charging more to cover higher loss projections and the rising cost of reinsurance — insurance on their insurance.

"Everybody got clobbered," Skow says.

Insured losses in the U.S. in the first half of 2011 were $17.8 billion, more than the $13.6 billion insurers paid in all of 2010, according to Munich Re, a giant European reinsurance company.

A few companies took enough losses they either had to scale back their exposure or became insolvent. Alfa Insurance, the second-largest home insurer in Alabama, announced in June that it would send non-renewal notices to 73,000 homeowners in the following 16 months. The late April outbreak of 300 tornadoes across the South — especially in Alabama — was the costliest storm in Alfa's history, the company reported

Three small insurance companies in Joplin became insolvent because of the May tornado that destroyed much of that town. The Missouri Farm Bureau is taking over policies for the companies, which had to pay out $48 million and didn't have adequate reinsurance to cover their losses, according to the Missouri Insurance Department.

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Worst Natural Disasters of 2011 and Their Impact on the Insurance Industry

Posted on January 3, 2012 by Sergio Leal
It probably won’t surprise you to learn that 2011 was a record year for natural disasters in the U.S. According to the Insurance Information Institute (the “I.I.I.”), insurance companies will pay more than $32 billion in claims to help people rebuild homes and businesses damaged or destroyed by natural disasters in 2011, a record year for federal disaster declarations. Dr. Robert Hartwig, president of the I.I.I., said that “[t]he $32.6 billion figure doesn't even include the significant insured losses which arose after the pre-Halloween snowstorm, which caused enormous damage to multiple states along the Atlantic seaboard. Coupled with other events in 2011’s fourth quarter, direct insured losses could exceed $35 billion this year.”

Additionally, the I.I.I. reports that the federal government declared on 99 separate occasions this year that a major disaster existed after a natural disaster had occurred, easily breaking the previous record of 81, which was set in 2010. The 99 disaster declarations are nearly triple the average of 34 per year dating back to 1953, the I.I.I. added.

The federal National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (“NOAA”) announced that the U.S. was the site of 12 separate disasters, each of which caused at least $1 billion in aggregate damage in 2011. The previous record, set in 2008, was nine.

With all of these new records, you would think that the private insurance industry would be in a lot of trouble. Not so. According to the I.I.I., policyholders’ surplus –insurers’ net worth measured according to Statutory Accounting Principles – fell only four percent to $538.6 billion as of September 30, 2011, compared to $559.2 billion at year-end 2010. You read that right. Even though the insurance industry experienced one of its worst years ever, their net worth dropped by a mere 4%.

For more information, including a list of the 12 separate billion dollar disasters click here.

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