Moments In Time (May 01, 2004)

“Price-Conscious” Ins. Buying May Swell Direct Writer’s Business

January 1, 1960

Basically, the same struggle is going on throughout the United States and Canada; as the Direct Writers take more and more of the volume and, more dangerous still, more and more of the high quality business because of their lower expenses and price selection methods, so a shrinking volume and a deteriorating quality of business flows into the channels of Agency Companies.

Partly because of this and partly because of new contenders in the North American insurance market following the war (let alone Lloyds becoming particularly aggressive during 1954 and 1955), the Agency Companies were fighting each other hard on form, on rate and on commission. Hence the disastrous losses of 1956 and 1957… Agency Companies may make a little money as forms and rates get a little closer to normal but the very stiffening of rate levels will tend to make the public more price conscious and increase the swing of business to the Direct Writers throughout North America.

Underwriters Hear Stuart Explain Loss Prevention at Canada Packers

June 15, 1964

An outline of what an industry can achieve in the area of loss prevention when strong management support is present was given by Don Stuart, Risk Manager of Canada Packers at the recent annual meeting of the Property-Casualty Underwriters’ Club of Toronto.

Mr. Stuart added: “Loss prevention is a constant fight for survival. It is never done. As an insurance manager the bulk of my efforts are directed into this area. Insurance is secondary. The better the loss prevention, the less time one needs for the insurance part of the job. When I, the buyer, have my losses under control, you, the insurer like the risk, and you can rate it to give me the best coverage at the lowest cost.”

The Editorial Viewpoint

June 15, 1965

The reaction of agency associations to the proposed commission cut in automobile insurance varies in intensity from province to province; from reluctant acceptance in the Maritimes, recommendation by the Quebec Brokers Association that the government set up an inquiry into auto insurance, the threat of seeking government intervention in Ontario, blue air over the prairies, and fighting words from B.C.

It all adds up to the same thing: Agents and brokers are finding the cut a mighty bitter pill to swallow.

The effect of this on the industry’s public relations at a time when it is striving to improve its public image and standing with government is not good. There will be more automobile insurance rate increases next year the way statistics are shaping up which makes a united front to the public vital.

Dollars and Bucks – More deaths than Vietnam

In 1965, the automobile killed one person every 100 minutes. It injured one person every three and a half minutes. Last year, more than 5,000 people were killed, nearly 200,000 were injured. The automobile kills more than five times as many children each year as all the major childhood diseases combined.

In 1961 it took the insurance companies $192,000,000 to handle the automobile claims of the Canadian public. In 1965 it took over $400,000,000. Last year, in 1966, it took, at an educated guess based on figures so far available, approximately $600,000,000.

The public, on the other hand, seems to be in general accord that automobile accidents are not really all that bad and if there is something wrong it is surely alcohol, improperly maintained cars, defectively manufactured cars, improperly constructed roads, improperly maintained roads, the weather, the other guy, the government, the insurance company… almost anything except people who own and operate cars.

Editorial

January 1, 1969

1968 has come and gone and a momentous year it was for the general insurance business. Once again, automobile insurance hogged the headlines in the insurance press with the Facility, the long-awaited report of the B.C. Royal Commission investigating the province’s auto insurance industry, and at year end the addition of the Limited Accident Benefits, being the big news makers.

Remarkable strides forward have been made in the area of automobile insurance in the fight to keep it in the preserve of free enterprise. To some extent because it lacks this threat to its existence property insurance has not kept pace in solving its problems.

The suspicion exists, however, that the real solution to the problems of fire insurance lies less with the company end of the industry than it does with agents and that the way to do it is to make sure that Canadian homeowners are adequately insured – and kept that way. In short: by selling Insurance to Value.