UAIIA Newsletter

Below is an electronic copy of our state association newsletter. It is being sent via blind copy for your privacy.

For a flyer on the benefits of membership, please click on the following link: www.uaiia.org/benefits.pdf

Thanks to our 2008 Associate Members: Acuity, Advanced Restoration, AIG, American Mining, Amtrust North America, Austin Mutual Insurance Co., Auto Owners Insurance Co., Bear River Mutual Insurance, BELFOR, Burns & Wilcox LTD, Cananwill Premium Funding, Capital Premium Finance, Chubb Group of Insurance Companies, CIBA Insurance Services, CSE Insurance Company, Colonial General Insurance, Colorado Casualty Ins. Co., Continental Western Group, Cresta Insurance, LLC, Dairyland Insurance Co., EMC Insurance Companies, Encompass/Allstate/Deerbrook, Germantown Mutual, Great American Insurance Co., Kemper, Legacy Insurance Services, MetLife Auto & Home, Mountain States Insurance Group, Multico Rating Systems Inc., Mutual of Enumclaw Ins. Co., National American Insurance Co., Networked Insurance Agents, PLUS Insurance, Premium Financing Specialists, Progressive Insurance, Republic Indemnity Company, Risk Placement Services – Salt Lake, Risk Placement Services – Scottsdale, Sagamore Insurance Co., Sequoia Ins. Co., Service Master by Restoration Xperts, State Auto Insurance, Statewide Insurance Corp., Surplus Line Assoc. of UT, Swett & Crawford, Inc., Transwestern General Agency, Travelers, UAIC, UCA General Insurance, Unitrin Specialty, Utah Disaster Kleenup, Victoria Insurance, WCF.

1. Utah State Government News
2. UAIIA Mid-Year Meeting Coming Soon
3. Eagle Agency Adds MetLife Auto & Home
4. Golf Ball Lawsuit
5. How To Print Your Insurance License
6. A Bank for Insurance Agents
7. Golf Tournaments Galore!
8. Enhance Agency Profitability
9. Wheelchair DUI’s
10. Insurance Department Hours
11. Are You Using Virtual University?

1. Utah State Government News Looking for the latest news about our Utah State government? Check it out on our website homepage at: www.uaiia.org. There are many links to various government departments and a running log of the latest Utah government news items with links to view the entire article. Be sure to check it out. We think you’ll like it.

2. UAIIA Mid-Year Meeting Coming Soon Remember the meeting we hold each year that hardly costs anything and includes 6 hours of C.E. credit (3 which can be used for ethics), errors and omissions loss control credit, lunch and a mini-trade show? It’s coming around again on October 15th at the Red Lion in Salt Lake City. This year would be a great year to attend if you are looking to update your E&O loss control credit because next year the required number of people from your agency will double if you are a Westport policyholder. To see loss control credit requirements go to: www.uaiia.org/_private/losscontrolcredit.pdf
This class has proven to be an eye opener for anyone working in an insurance agency when it comes to the best practices involved in avoiding an E&O claim. You can download a flyer by going to: www.uaiia.org/_private/midyear.pdf

3. Eagle Agency Adds MetLife Auto & Home Have you heard the latest on the Eagle Agency? This is the program started by the Big “I” to assist newer or small agencies in getting their feet on the ground. They have recently added MetLife Auto & Home to the program that already had Travelers personal lines products.
To be considered for Eagle Agency, an agent must have three years of experience as a licensed producer or have extensive industry experience (i.e. former underwriter, CPCU etc). If the agent is brand new to the business, consideration will be given to agents who can quantify that they have licensed support staff with at least three years of agency experience. For further information, go to www.bigimarkets.com or call Cheryl or Steve at the association at 801-269-1200.

4. Golf Ball Lawsuit A New Jersey man was recently awarded $725,000 in damages after a lawnmower launched a golf ball that hit his windshield. The windshield broke and the man suffered cornea damage when shattered glass entered his eye.
In his lawsuit, Thomas Guhl alleged the golf ball had landed on a home’s lawn from nearby Eagle Oaks Golf and Country Club and was launched by a mower. The golf club failed to place netting along the avenue to prevent balls from leaving the course and that Canfield Lawn and landscaping should have checked the lawn before mowing.

5. How To Print Your Insurance License Effective October 1, 2008, the Utah Insurance Department will no longer mail hard copies of new, renewal, or duplicate licenses. You can print as many copies of your license as you want within 30 days of the issuance of your new or renewal license at no cost to you by going to www.sircon.com/utah and click on the link entitled “Print Your License.”
After 30 days Sircon will charge a fee of $5.50 for each copy of your license. To obtain a copy of your license after 30 days, go to www.sircon.com/utah and click on the link entitled “Print Your License.”
To see if a new or renewal license has been approved and issued, you can do one of the following: go to www.sircon.com/utah and click on “Check license application status” or “Check license renewal status”; or go to the department’s website at www.insurance.utah.gov and click on the link that says “Search for Company & Agent.” Once you see your license has been issued, go to www.sircon.com/utah, click on the link entitled “Print Your License” and print it.
New and renewal licenses will continue to be mailed until October 1, 2008.

6. A Bank for Insurance Agents InsurBanc is our bank. It is a bank that understands our business and offers a full range of banking products to help your agency grow. In fact, InsurBanc specializes in agency financing, including perpetuation/acquisition loans and cash management services to meet your unique business needs. Our state association has several accounts with InsurBanc. We have been pleased with their service.
If you would like further information on what InsurBanc can do for you, go to our website at www.uaiia.org and scroll down to the bottom of our home page. Then click on the InsurBanc logo.

7. Golf Tournaments Galore! For all of you on our mailing list who like to golf (and we know there’s a lot of you), below are the dates of four tournaments to be held in the next month or so: Sept 11th – Insurance Professionals of SLC; Sept 16th – Surplus Lines; Oct 3rd – BAIFA-IIAA; Oct 7th (tentative) – SLC Association of IIA.
Download a BAIFA-IIAA tournament flyer from the following link: www.uaiia.org/_private/ogdengolf.pdf

8. Enhance Agency Profitability The Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America’s latest agency improvement tool helps agencies move to advanced workflows and eliminate paper in order to free up staff time for sales and pro-active customer service. The new “Best Practices Guide to Agency Business Processes and Information Management” replaces two earlier guides and incorporates the latest in agency workflows, such as Real-Time.
The 155-page resource is available at www.independentagent.com/act and is designed to be used electronically because it contains numerous links for easy navigation. The guide enables agencies to conduct a self-assessment in technology, management support, workflows, agency/carrier interfaces, Real-Time utilization and client focus, and then provides step-by step guidance on how to move to the next level of agency workflow. It also provides steps to implement a comprehensive information storage plan for all forms of media and documentation, including paper, scanned documents, e-mails, voice mails, notes, faxes and pictures.

9. Wheelchair DUI’s Here’s a new twist on driving under the influence. A wheelchair-bound German stunned police when they pulled him over for using the road and allegedly found he was 10 times over the legal alcohol limit for drivers.
“He was right in the middle of the road,” said a spokesman for police in the northeastern city of Schwerin. “The officers couldn’t quite believe it when they saw the results of the breath test. That’s a life-threatening figure.”
More recently, a man found asleep in a motorized wheelchair on a highway in northern Australia was charged with drunk driving. Officers in a patrol car noticed the man slumped in the stationary chair about 10 a.m. Friday on an exit lane near the tourist city of Cairns, regional traffic inspector Bob Waters said. Cars were swerving to get around him, Waters said.
The officers breath-tested the 64-year-old man, who registered a blood alcohol reading of .301—more that six times the legal driving limit. He was charged with operating a vehicle while drunk.

10. Insurance Department Hours Utah’s Department of Insurance has new office hours designed to better serve customers. New extended hours are 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays. The office is closed on Fridays, but for emergency assistance on that day, the Working 4 Utah hotline at 801-538-1808 is available. For more information, visit www.insurance.utah.gov

11. Are You Using Virtual University? As agency members of the Big "I", you have free access to Virtual University (www.independentagent.com/vu). Our associate member partners can get access for a fee. The Big "I" Virtual University is the leading technical insurance and agency management information source in the industry--developed for agents, by agents.
As the business climate changes, the resources on the Virtual University expand. The Big “I” Virtual University regularly produces white papers, articles and continuing education courses on many of the critical issues affecting today’s insurance marketplace. These resources provide opinions and commentary to help today’s busy agency professional be informed and knowledgeable about the trends and topics affecting their future.
The Virtual University is a great member benefit. Look for the VU flyer included with the paper version of this newsletter for further information.