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The Day You Need Your Insurance Agent

By Anne Lawrence
Published: Nov 21 2013

No one wants to have to call their insurance agent—no matter how nice and personable their agent is. Needing your agent means something terrible has happened, something is going to need fixing.

In 2012, a summer hail storm devastated a historic neighborhood in Dallas. I stood and watched in horror as my car was pummeled by golf ball to softball sized hail. First the back windshield caved in, then the front, shooting hail through the interior of the car. After the storm passed, I stood dazed, snapping photos of my car with my mobile; it looked like it had been beaten with a baseball bat.
The car was totaled, but my insurance nightmare was just beginning. Because of the scale of the disaster, my insurance company set up pop-up claims stations in the neighborhood to drive to for claims assessment, but if your car wasn’t drivable, like mine, you were put on a list and told to wait.

The day after the storm, I walked through the neighborhood. Roads were still blocked by tree branches and broken glass. Every car was damaged, multiples windows on almost every house were shattered—blue tarps covered roofs and cars alike. Our quaint little neighborhood was awash in insurance agents for home, car and property damage. Over the next few months we listened to the thuk-thuk of roofers from dawn until dusk.
While my agent was very sympathetic and extremely professional, I waited a month before anyone could even look at my demolished car. It’s times like these, that a more robust mobile strategy for the insurance company might have helped to improve customer service, increase the efficiency and capacity of their claims agents and sped up the entire process.

How could a mobile solution change the insurance industry and how they respond to large-scale disasters? What are the potential growth areas for insurers? How can they better serve their customers and improve their efficiency with a more flexible and empowered work force? We’ve outlined 5 mobile opportunity areas for insurers. Download the free eBook here.

Grow Revenue, Cut Costs & Win Loyalty: 5 mobile opportunity areas for insurers