From the Blog:

“Does a Liability Only Personal Auto Policy Provide Enough Coverage?”

Western National’s Resources Blog provides articles of interest on both personal and commercial lines topics. If you’re looking for content to share on your website or in an agency newsletter or email, our Blog contains lots of original content that you can republish for your own purposes. (All you have to do is leave the article intact and add the text “Source: Western National Insurance” at the bottom of the article.) Click on our Blog’s “Permission-Free Use” category for a full list of articles that can be shared.

Almost all states require drivers to carry Personal Auto Liability insurance, but does liability insurance provide enough coverage for every driver? Not necessarily. Liability insurance is designed to cover the damages caused to other people and their property due to an auto accident with your vehicle. Liability coverage doesn’t pay to repair damages to your own vehicle.

Depending on the age and value of your vehicle, it may be cost effective to carry a Liability Only Personal Auto policy. However, you will not have any coverage to repair your vehicle if you are responsible for an accident. In order to cover damage to your vehicle, you would need to purchase physical damage coverage. Insurers divide physical damage coverage into two categories: Collision and Other than Collision. Collision covers damage to your vehicle resulting from an accident involving another vehicle or object. Other than Collision covers damages resulting from other types of incidents. This may include loss from theft, weather, or contact with an animal.

Neither Collision nor Other than Collision coverage is required unless you are financing or leasing your vehicle. Deciding if these additional coverage options are right for you depends on your individual situation. It’s important to find the right balance between cost of physical damage insurance and what you can afford to pay to repair your vehicle if you don’t purchase coverage.

If you have any questions about what exactly is covered with these particular coverage options, contact your Independent Insurance Agent. They can help determine what Personal Auto insurance coverage best fits your needs.

Western National Insurance   |  Announce  |  Summer 2016 Edition

Personal Lines Summer Games Medal Count Contest

Our Summer Games Medal Count Contest for personal lines is now in full swing! Each new piece of personal lines business written increases your chances of winning. Click here for full details. You could win one of our three grand prizes: Vikings-vs.-Packers tickets at the new stadium, Ryder Cup tickets, or a $500 Visa gift card. Each week there will also be gift cards awarded to the top three producers of the week. Log into AgentsOnline today to begin submitting business and start earning points and a place on our leaderboards!

Western National’s 2016 Scholarship Winners

In May, Western National selected, through a blind scoring system, eight applicants to receive merit-based college scholarships worth $3,000 each for the upcoming fall term. Our 2016 scholarship winners are Alecia Alto (St. Bonifacius, Minn.), Andy Becker (Minnetonka, Minn.), Kate Burkart (Green Lake, Wis.), Katherine Craemer (Minnetonka, Minn.), Austin George (Onalaska, Wis.), Zoe Holman (Butte, Mont.), Payton Miller (Spokane Valley, Wash.), and Zachary Splonskowski (Madison, Minn.).

Congratulations!

Catch Western National During the 2016 Summer Games

The Summer Games are here, and while you’re watching the Games you may see one of our ads. Western National’s ads will be running on the Twin Cities station Kare-11 (NBC) throughout the Summer Games. We’ll also be featured on their “Peak Performance” Summer Games segment during the six o’clock news.

 

"Night Owls" - Western National Insurance

Jim Melchior Named 2016 MIIAB Company Representative of the Year

Congratulations to Western National’s own Jim Melchior for being selected by the Minnesota Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers Association (MIIAB) as their 2016 Company Representative of the Year! The award is presented annually to a single representative from among all the carriers who partner with Minnesota’s independent agencies.

Jim began his 35-year insurance career by managing his own brokerage and since then has held a variety of management positions at different insurance carriers including MSI, Farmers Home Group, and Western National. In his current role as Regional Agency Manager, Jim works with Western National partner agencies in the Twin Cities metro and in Central Minnesota. He has also served the industry in a number of roles including as former Chair of the Minnesota Fair Plan Board and as a member of the NAMIC Marketing and Underwriting Committee.

Results From Our Latest Agency Survey

Every six months (typically in May and November), we send a survey to a sample of our Western National and Umialik agency partners that asks about their satisfaction with our Group’s services (underwriting, claims, customer service, communications, and more). We want to take a moment to report back on the results of our most recent agency survey, which was conducted in May and which we’ve since been reviewing for insights and benchmark comparisons.

Highlights from the survey results:

  • Our Group’s overall net promoter score (NPS), which takes the percentage of agents who would actively promote WNIG to friends/family and subtracts the percentage who would detract from it, is at +37.9 (on a scale of -100 to +100).
  • For the eleventh survey in a row (!), the top five words associated with Western National Insurance Group remained the same: “friendly”, “knowledgeable”, “helpful”, “courteous”, and “fair”. We believe it’s a testament to our brand and our focus on relationships that “friendly” is always the first or second most associated word with our Group, and in general that the top five words are so consistent and positive.
  • The feedback indicates that there’s an increasing need for us to modernize our agent-and-customer-facing systems – namely AgentsOnline and MyAccount – in order to continue meeting users’ needs. We are making investments in this area (AgentsOnline Policy Inquiry, AgentsOnline Billing Inquiry, and MyAccount updates are all on our current corporate project list) and looking into what it will mean to accelerate these updates going forward.

Thank you to everyone who provided input—your feedback is valuable to us! We’ll continue to collect input in the months ahead and look for ways in which we can anticipate your needs and provide impressive solutions. If you would like to submit additional feedback for Western National, please click here.