Please mark your calendars and celebrate the fourth annual day of awareness to Spread the Word to End the Word, March 7 , 2012, with a renewed pledge to end the hurtful and degrading use of the "R-word." This international day of awareness was created by youth with and without intellectual disabilities in order to change the conversation from one of negativity and pain to a positive message, highlighting inclusion and RESPECT for all.

While March 7th is the culmination, eliminating the R-word from everyday speech is a year-round effort with hundreds of events happening throughout the world. In order to assist our local programs, schools and communities in beginning their own local campaign, updated resources are now available online.

To access these resources and discover how you can become involved in the campaign, visit http://www.specialolympics.org/spread-the-word-to-end-the-word_resources.aspx . To make your Pledge, please follow the link below:

The IMT Group, a leading provider of personal and commercial insurance products, today announced its list of 2012 GEM Agencies and has distinguished Kouri Insurance as one of the qualifying recipients. 

Of the more than 800 independent IMT agencies eligible for consideration, only the top 53 performing agencies received the GEM distinction this year.

The IMT Group has a strong relationship and partnership with Kouri Insurance. It is the superior performance and unwavering commitment of agencies like Kouri Insurance that enables IMT to continue living up to their slogan, “Be Worry Free with IMT!”

“Am I overpaying?”

That’s a question that every consumer asks from time to time. Everyone is curious and concerned as to whether he or she is getting a good value for the money, whether it’s for a candy bar, a car or an airline ticket.

It’s a good question to ask about insurance, too. After all, Americans spend a lot of money on insurance for homes, autos and businesses. In 2008, American drivers spent $161 billion for personal automobile insurance, reported the A.M. Best Co., an insurance research and ratings firm.

This large market for auto insurance is highly competitive. Consumers play a large part in keeping insurance rates competitive by virtue of shopping—whether online, by telephone or on the World Wide Web. More than one of four (about 28 percent) of auto insurance buyers shopped around for car insurance in 2009, reported J.D. Power & Associates in its 2009 national auto insurance study.

But consumers aren’t the only ones shopping around for auto insurance. So do independent insurance agents, including Trusted Choice® independent insurance agents like Kouri Insurance. Independent agents differ from company specific agents like State Farm and others, as they offer more than one company solutions for your family and business.

On average, Trusted Choice® independent insurance agent provide consumers with property/casualty insurance options from eight different insurance carriers, reported the 2008 agency universe study conducted by Future One, a collaboration of the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America (the Big “I”) and leading independent agency companies. For automobile insurance, those agents may compare rates and coverages at even more insurance companies, through their use of software that allows them to compare multiple policies and multiple carriers.

For auto insurance buyers, research showed that independent agents rank most highly on the most important element of customer satisfaction. The J.D. Power study measures customer satisfaction with auto insurance companies across five factors (in order of importance): interaction, policy offerings, billing and payment, price and claims. Insurers who sell their auto insurance products through agents performed “stronger in the interaction factor than do direct insurers,” reported J.D. Power.

Overall, customer satisfaction with auto insurance companies reached a five-year high in 2009, reported the J.D. Power study. The biggest improvement in satisfaction among the five factors has been in price. Interestingly, 42 percent of customers in 2009 reported that their auto insurance premiums declined without switching insurers.

Are you overpaying for auto insurance? Thanks to a competitive market that includes Trusted Choice® independent insurance agent, the answer probably is no. If you’re not sure, ask an agent to review your options.

Millions of Americans donate time—their most valuable asset—to serve as a volunteer board member on non-profits, booster clubs, churches, PTAs and civic organizations, just to name a few. The decisions these folks make can have a dramatic impact on their respective organization—and not always for the better. If a volunteer endeavor goes bad, would a volunteer board member have coverage against a lawsuit under his or her homeowner’s policy?

Homeowners’ Insurance
The last thing volunteers want to consider is what would happen if their favored organization file suit against them as a result of their efforts. But it happens, and not infrequently. This does happen, especially when volunteers make decisions that directly influence the finances of an organization. Often, the only insurance these volunteers have to back their efforts is a homeowner’s policy. Unfortunately, this policy may be of little assistance.

The reason homeowners’ policies do not usually cover liability stemming from actions as a volunteer is the nature of the claim. The policy is designed to cover claims of “bodily injury,” such as someone slipping on cracked pavement in your driveway; and/or “property damage,” such as accidentally setting your neighbor’s house ablaze when burning some brush on a windy day.

Claims against board members do not usually involve bodily injury or property damage. Rather, they involve bad decision making that results in financial loss to the organization, such as the decision to invest in an IT system that turns out to be a debacle, costing the organization tremendous time and money.

There is another problem. Homeowners policies do not cover “professional services.” This is important to note, because board members are often asked to serve in a capacity consistent with their profession. For example, a church member who is a CPA may be asked to serve on the church’s board as finance chairman. Even though he is not paid for his services, the “professional services” exclusion under his homeowner’s policy would still apply.

In addition to the above, homeowners policies do not cover claims of personal injury unless this coverage is specifically added. Personal injury insurance is added to the homeowner’s policy to cover claims such as libel, slander, wrongful eviction, and false advertising.

What to Do
Events causing claims are unpredictable. While the reasons shown above prove it’s unlikely, not all claims against volunteer board members are excluded by a homeowners policy. Decisions to purchase personal injury coverage and a personal umbrella policy will increase your ability to find coverage for a suit against you. 

The best method for insuring the actions of board members is for the organization to purchase a directors and officers (D&O) liability policy. These policies are relatively inexpensive for most non-profits. Before volunteering, request information on the organization’s D&O policy. The absence of this insurance leaves you at risk of having no personal insurance to defend a suit brought against you by the organization and should influence your decision to serve.   

Claims are a part of life; they happen every day and range from life changing to an inconvenient nuisance. They all share a common element though; they all involve recovering from a loss and putting you in a condition comparable to where you were at before the loss occurred. While Insurance policies are designed to put you in the condition you were at the minute before the loss occurred, there can be disagreement as to exactly what that condition was and if it is possible to do so. Though conflicts are fairly rare, they do occur as mistakes and incorrect decisions are sometimes made. A good insurance company will work through these times to ultimately reach a fair conclusion. The purpose of this article is not to defend the insurance company, but to simply provide some background as to the reasoning behind why a  decison may be made. In the following paragraphs I will provide some examples of the more common claims that create questions.

Under the auto policy, questions tend to pop up most often under two circumstances. First, a car is damaged and the company is asking that reconditioned vs. OEM parts be used. The idea is that a five year old car has five year body panels and replacing those parts with brand new OEM parts is improving the car, while using reconditioned parts puts the car in comparable condition to how it was prior to the loss. Using reconditioned parts reduces the cost of the claim which helps keep premiums lower. Unlike 10 or 20 years ago when this was first introduced, from a safety and appearance standpoint, there should be no noticeable difference between the results of the two repair methods. The second scenario is payment for a totaled car. This can be a tough claim as we can all agree that when your car is totaled, it is hard to find a comparable example to buy. Instead, you will likely upgrade the car to meet your current needs. Unfortunately, this upgrade will not be paid by your insurance company as the insurance policy is only concerned with valuing the car that was lost, not the one that will replace it. The difference between the customer action and the policy coverage can be a tough point in a claim.

The home policy is generally a replacement cost policy, so repairs and replacements are done more on a basis of using current costs and materials to repair or replace items. The depreciation that is part of most policies is removed when a repair or replacement takes place. While this often reduces conflict on valuing a claim, there are still issues that occur when a customer wants replacement and the company wants to repair. Why does the repair vs. replace issue happen? It happens because the home policy requires the insurance company to choose the lower cost between repairing and replacing. If it is less expensive to repair, that is what the policy dictates. When there is disagreement with being able to repair an item, you will see the company rely on a third party to make the determination. You will be able to provide input, and very often choose, this third party inspector. This is especially true of large home losses where we will see a restoration company and a structural engineer brought in to make sure the decision made is the correct one. We also may see this anytime there is a question on the extent  and cause of damage . Your insurance company should be very open with the information they use to settle your claim. They should also let you bring a representative in to review the estimate and view the inspection process when there is significant disagreement. In most cases, we find that it is not the insurance company trying to be difficult as much as it is the company following the conditions of the contract.

When questions arise during the claims process, your agent is there to help you navigate through the process and ensure that your voice is being heard. In my next post, I am going to talk about how to make the claims process go smoothly.

I was looking at my calendar in amazement at the number of great events being held this weekend. We have the Sioux Falls Marathon, Buddy Walk, Dakota Bowl, Sidewalk Arts Festival, German Fest and of course, the biggie of them all, our very own Anne's wedding on Saturday.

We are very pleased to be among the sponsors and participants of the Buddy Walk, the Sioux Falls Marathon and the Dakota Bowl. All three are amazing community events. I am sure you may also see some of us at the Sidewalk Arts Festival and the German Fest.

I encourage you to look ahead to Volunteer Sioux Falls which will be held on September 24, 2011. This is a tremendous volunteer event where over 1,500 volunteers will spend part of the day helping a variety of organizations and families. You can sign up as an individual or group. Perfect work event!  We are very proud to be one of the original sponsors.

The great thing about being a locally owned agency is our ability to support the events in our community. Kouri Insurance has always been a firm believer in giving back to Sioux Falls.

We would like to extend a tremendous thank you to all of the sponsors and players who made this first annual event a huge success. A special thank you to Jim and Jan Klempka, Doug Schneider, Dave Centra and the rest of the tournament committee and volunteers who spent many hours of their time making sure this event was a success. The vision for the benefit was Jim's, and it was great to see the day turn out so wonderful. Great job Jim!

Please take a minute to enjoy event photo's and results at : www.randykourigolfbenefit.com

We tend to simplify insurance down to nothing more than the cost we pay. The cheaper the premium, the better the deal. While this may work with some things, few assumptions are more dangerous than this when it comes to insurance. Insurance is truly a product where you pay for what you get. This doesn't mean you take the highest price and leave it at that. Instead, it is important that you find the right price and coverage when looking for an insurance plan. Don't pay too much, but don't pay too little either.

The quality of your insurance is seldom shown until the time of a claim. While it is hinted at when you make changes or have billing questions, the ultimate test is when you have a loss and need help. If your only access to to your insurance company is through an 800 number or web site, when you have a problem. Ask yourself this - who is on my side? If you disagree with the company on what needs to be done, how do you resolve the problem? Without an agent on your side to provide assistance, you are alone against the company if you have a claims problem. Heck, you are on your own if you have any type of problem. Is this really the way to quality insurance?

I would argue that you will find the value of using an agent too far exceed that of working directly with a company. A good, quality agent will step in and assist you with resolving problems that pop up, they advocate on your behalf when needed, and they are trained to identify the coverage you need without piling on stuff you do not. If you are not working with a local agent, give us - or any local agent - a call today. You will likely be pleasantly surprised with the value they can provide you - often providing better coverage at a better price