I remember the moment clearly.  Hurricane Jeanne had just walloped Florida with its fourth hurricane of the 2004 season.  I spent over four hours in the muggy summer heat measuring and scoping damage to a home that two 50 foot pine trees had fallen on and split in two.  Roof and wall framing jutted out at odd angles like jumbled matchsticks.  After uploading my estimate to my carrier and receiving authority to issue a total loss payment, I...

Tower Hill recently empowered its appointed agents to pull CLUE loss reports as part of the application process.  Three common scenarios appear on these loss histories: The client has lived at the home for several years and filed a claim for damages during that time. The risk location had a claim before the client purchased the property. The client had a claim at another location (rental property, primary or secondary home in another city or...

As a Managing General Agency and insurance company, we strive constantly to educate our customers – the community manager, business owner, property owner, etc. — on providing a safer environment for workers and customers and save money at the same time. That may sound a bit strange for an insurance company to say, but it all goes back to the basics of insurance. Insurance by definition is “a contract whereby, for specified...

The Tower Hill Claims department continues to develop resources using outside vendors to help exceed consumer expectations, assist with the claims process, and properly evaluate and pay claims. These resources also help carriers monitor indemnity and loss adjustment expense so that they remain financially stable over the long run. For many years, most of the industry focused on the building damage portion of the loss (Coverage A) and used...

While it may seem that insurance fraud became an issue only in recent years, the truth is that this is one of the oldest types of fraud. Numerous articles published more than a century ago recounted how merchant ships were intentionally sunk to cash out on the insurance. Maybe this is where today’s criminals got the idea to stage accidents. Fast-forward 200 years. Today, both insurance consumers and carriers are experiencing the negative...

The stress associated with experiencing a third party bodily injury liability claim can be overwhelming for your customers.   The very nature of the event is not pleasant; someone is blaming the policyholder for an accident that lead to injuries.  A sometimes complicated legal system that can be seemingly void of common sense does not help a situation with so many inherent uncertainties.  It can be complicated for both the injured claimant...