Insurance Roundup | March 2011

Minot | Garrison | Bottineau | Dickinson | Wahpeton | Glen Ullin | Glenburn | Kenmare | Hebron | Towner | Britton | Oakes | Aberdeen

Insurance Roundup

Our Business Is To Protect Your Assets

408 20th Ave. SW, Ste. 101 | Minot, ND 58701 | p 701.852.5383 | f 701.852.6272 | 1.800.735.4955 | www.western-agency.com

Vol. 3, Ed. 1

Johnston Agency Joins Western Agency Group The Johnston Agency in Aberdeen, S.D. has becomethe newest member of the Western Agency Group. Johnston Agency has been a longtime fixture in the Aberdeen community and is precisely the type of agency Western Agency wishes to be affiliated with. Johnston has been historically a commercial and personal lines agency and now with the infusion of Western Agency’s farm insurance expertise combined with the unlimited markets we have for commercial insurance, Johnston is poised for excellent growth in the Aberdeen area. Kerry Johnston, longtime owner and manager of the Johnston Agency will be retiring and by affiliating with Western Agency he can be assured his clients will be totally taken care of. Western Agency also has purchased the Johnston Agency building and we are proud to be a stakeholder and taxpayer in the Aberdeen community. In addition, the Johnston Agency, like Western Agency is a very large agent for the Auto Owners Companies. Johnston was the very first agency appointed for Auto Owners in South Dakota. While Western Agency was not the first North Dakota agency appointed by Auto Owners we are now one of the largest writers in the upper Midwest for this outstanding company. In addition to staffers Lori Blinder, Patty Mattke, and Brenda Lanphere, Mike Bertsch has joined the Johnston Agency staff to assist in sales.

This institution is an equal opportunity provider and employer.

Global Warming Debate Heats Up………Rodeo News:Steer Wrestling: Congratulations to

Dane Hanna, son of Gayle and Dennis Hanna. Dane finished the 2010 season in 11th place overall in the PRCA Rodeo standings in Steer Wrestling. This is a significant achievement -we hope the 2011 season brings you continued success.

In light of the continued controversy of trying to reconcile Geologic time and the Human Lifespan I put the question to my two opposite pole thinkers as to

what opinions they had on Global Warming or the lack thereof. Both Scotty Backes and Ed Pullen, like 99.9% of the entire world population ended up giving me a definite maybe. The Backes Report: Scotty Backes thinks the whole Global Warming thing is overstated. In support of his views he stresses our continued colder, harsher winters, and also brought up the fact that when he was a young person we had the same type of harsh, long winters and were not aware at the time we even had ‘Global Warming’. He also mentioned he had heard Phoenix was having the coldest winter in their recorded history. Scotty also wondered out loud….“I wonder if Global Warming turns out to be another Intellectual Myth does Al have to give his Nobel back?” The Pullen Rebuttal: Again, showing commonality with his somewhat more negative counterpart, Kenmare area farmer Ed Pullen offered the following thoughts on Global Warming…Ed first mentioned that it was quite cool the day I called…..-10 Fahrenheit to be exact, but that as is usual on those type days….there were few if any mosquitoes in the area. Ed also mentioned he had noticed fur coats and the new Ultra warm North Face ski wear becoming more and more popular. In conclusion, he brought up the fact that several major ‘climate watch’ organizations, NASA being one of them are reporting we are in a Global Cooling and not a Global Warming trend. Ed ended the interview on his usual optimistic note by mentioning that in spite of the chill factor outside it was very comfortable in the machine shed where he was getting the trucks ready for springs work.

Insurance Roundup | March 2011

A couple weeks back we were in competition with another agency on a farm account. The agent we were up against worked for an insurance agency owned by a local credit union and the guy used the sales pitch “Give the little agent a chance”. By implying he was just a small agent this agent was asking the prospective client to help him out by giving the sale to ‘the little guy’. Even though back in the misty mists of time Western Agency too was a ‘small agency’ I can never remember using such a ‘guilt trip’ pitch. It seems I have always been focused on discussing what it is I can do for the ‘client’, not what the client can do for me. I suppose this agent was implying that since Western Agency is now a large farm insurance agency we are somehow the ‘bad guy’. This is of course a compelling sales pitch because everyone loves to help ‘the little guy’. However, this ‘little agent’ just happens to be an agency owned by a very huge credit union. Matter of fact this is one of the largest credit unions in the state of North Dakota. The guy also represents at least three insurance companies we no longer do business with because of poor claims service. Oh, yes, by the way, we got the deal.

However, my point in bringing this up is that there are several reasons why Western Agency has grown. I guess if we are talking differences between us and this credit union’s agency we should mention the reason Western Agency is now a ‘big’ agency insuring well over 900 farms and 4000 clients in North and South Dakota. The reason we have grown from a one person tiny little agency started back in 1973 to our current size, is we do simply superb work for our clients. We also happen to have a provable 97% retention ratio of our clients staying with us year after year. Russell Hadler, Gary Jung, and Rex Lenton

were some of the first folks I insured back in 1973 and they are all still clients of ours. We did not get ‘big’ being bad agents or doing poor work. We got ‘big’ because we do excellent work and give back to the communities we do business in. Contrary to the credit union agent who’s company has a huge TV advertising budget, Western Agency does no TV or radio advertising. We instead choose to spend our advertising dollars on local community projects, scholarships in over 12 school districts, our food bank drive, and dozens of other worthwhile local events. To date we have given back well over $1,000,000 to local events and charities.

Also, in addition, to representing the absolute best insurance companies in the upper Midwest, Western Agency has something virtually no agency has: That being we employ a full time Customer Claims Advocate on staff. I don’t mean we adjust claims for our individual companies. All insurance companies hire their own or independent adjustors to settle claims. However, whoever this Adjustor may be, they represent the insurance company, not you the client. Of course this Adjustor wants to arrive at an equitable settlement on any given loss, and in the vast majority of losses they do, but none the less the Adjustor works for the insurance company where we have placed your coverage. Western Agency will not represent insurance companies who do a poor job on claims, and we have terminated agreements with several companies over the past years that did less than good work on losses. None the less, from time to time disputes will come up on a given loss even with an excellent company. If and when that happens on your loss, our Customer Claims Advocate, in house claims expert, Lu Hanson can sit down with you and go

over how your claim is being settled. Lu, like us, works for YOU the client. Lu was himself an Independent Adjustor for over 23 years and he can give you a good idea if your claim is being settled as equitably as is possible. If it isn’t, we can go to the insurance carrier and help get your claim back on track. We have done this hundreds of times over the years. Having someone like Lu in your corner at a time when a claim gets crossed up can be worth thousands in gained loss dollars to you at loss time.

I see ads on the TV all the time from Attorneys offering to ‘help’ you get ‘the money you deserve’ from the insurance companies. When I see ads like this I wonder, where are the agents who sold the policies to these people? To me it seems it is the agent’s job to help the client get his claim settled. Why in heaven’s name should the client have to hire an attorney to ‘help’ do what the agent should be doing anyway?

So once again, to all of our thousands of clients… Thanks for your business, and by the way, we also appreciate you ‘giving us the chance’ to be your insurance experts. We do not take your trusting us to take care of your assets lightly. You ‘gave us the chance’ to be your insurance representative and we will spare no effort to make sure trusting Western Agency to protect your assets was the best choice you ever made.

Thanks for your business!

Chuck Tompkins

The famous, unknown, and never seen Westy Hat Contest judge has come up with a first by spotting Minot area farmer Jim Walsh at the Minot Ag Show recently in a Westy stocking cap style topper. Stocking caps were a new idea this year and

we sure picked a good year to have them available. In addition, Maynard Bosse was spotted in Britton South Dakota, wearing our new Navy Blue cap, Dean Fiala, wearing his Westy camo in Oakes at Ampride. Keith Vollmer, Surrey in his new style tan hat, and Rick Anderson from Carpio rounded up this letters winners. How about a $75 gift

certificate at Sammy’s Pizza to Walsh for being the first Stocking Cap Westy winner. A $50 gift cert to the Bloom in Bistro in Britton for Bosse, $50 to Cline’s Restaurant in Oakes for Fiala, $50 gift cert to Perkins for Vollmer, and $50 to Homesteaders for Anderson. Thanks to all participants, in spite of ‘Global Warming’ it’s mighty cold out there: Stop in and get one of our new Westy stocking caps, and one more time. Thanks for wearing your

Westy cap.

Westy Hat

Editorial

Insurance Roundup | March 2011

Farm Shorts

Light Bulb Cautions: In this day and age they are predicting that the old incandescent light bulb will not even be available for sale in a few years due to being too inefficient and thus ‘not green enough’. The replacements will be the CFL technology spiral type bulbs and the even more advanced and efficient LED type bulbs. While efficiency is good there is one brand of the CFL bulbs named ‘Globe’ which has been linked to several bad house fires. There are several Internet warning sites about these Globe bulbs, manufactured in China and sold primarily by Wal Mart. Just a word of caution, if you are using them be very careful where they are placed. It is reported that the bulb has many times blown out near the base and shoots a four inch very hot flame out the side of the bulb.

Country of Origin: ever wonder where a given item is manufactured? Many times this information is omitted from the label of the item. However, if you read the numbers on the bar code the first few digits tell where the item was made. If the first two numbers are 00 or 09 the item was made in the USA or Canada. If the first three numbers are 690, 691, or 692 the item was made in China. A few more countries are…..471 Taiwan, 30-37 France, 40-44 Germany, 49 Japan, and 50 United Kingdom.

Recreational Vehicle Rentals: No they are not always automatically covered. Not under your homeowners policy, your auto policy or your credit card. If you rent a boat, snowmobile, recreational vehicle, motorcycle, or virtually anything, take a few moments and call us to

be sure your assets are correctly covered. In some cases you will have the necessary coverage already in place, but if you don’t -how great is it to be covered, correctly, before a claim happens……Call us anytime.

North Dakota Auto Rates Third Cheapest: North Dakota’s auto rates are rated third cheapest in the nation with an average premium per year per vehicle of $644. Only Iowa and Wisconsin were cheaper and even then only by a few dollars. The national average is $903 and the most expensive state was Louisiana at $1275, followed by District of Columbia and New Jersey. I actually think if we could slow down our deer hits and pheasant claims we would be able to be the cheapest.

Master Service Agreements: If you are doing any work out in the Oil Patch and are required to sign one of these agreements, give us a call. At first glance they may seem simple but in virtually all cases they are anything but simple. Many policies do not have all of the coverage’s that are required in place. We have seen agreements that required our client’s entire policy to be overhauled so it could be in compliance. The main caution here is if you are asked to sign one of these Master Service Agreements. Talk to us.

Pollution Coverage: Again, and in most cases this is for our contractors in the Oil Patch, there are increasing cases of contractors being required to have Pollution Coverage in place to get on certain jobs. In most cases this is not too complicated to get done, but it needs to be looked at and talked about in advance. We will be talking to all of you in the course of the year but give us a call anytime and we can go over your policy and where your coverage stands whenever it is convenient for you.

Bonds: If your company is looking at some jobs where you will be needing contract bonding or if you are looking at a job that may be much bigger than jobs you would normally bid, now is the time to let us look over your financials, and if you want us to we can meet with you and your CPA to be sure we have the maximum possible leverage in place to be able to maximize your bond line. We can meet whenever it is a good time for you so just let us know.

Farm Chemicals, Seed, Fertilizer, Proven Yields, and Crop Coverage: The spring season is fast approaching and many of you are starting to take delivery of the upcoming season’s farm chemicals, seed and fertilizer. Although we will be talking to many of you when we are at your farm getting proven yields done and answering questions on your crop insurance, we have no way of knowing if you just took delivery of several hundred thousand dollars of supplies. Over the years we have had many machine shed fires and to date all of them that caught fire burned to the ground. Most times the big part of your chemicals and supplies are in one building (one basket). If you even think you may be underinsured in this regard, give us a call so we can look over your individual policy and give you an exact answer as to how you are covered for such a catastrophic loss. This type of coverage is the absolute cheapest type of coverage to buy but no company sells it after the loss. Give us a call.

Farm Equipment: The same is true of new and added equipment. If you have been trading equipment this winter let us know so we can be sure all the new items are correctly covered. We are always out on the farm checking each year to see if you are correctly covered, but again, if a major purchase or change has occurred we should know right away.

Crop Insurance: To try to write a letter explaining all the changes in Crop Insurance for the 2011 year is simply not a good practice. We will be calling you to set a time convenient for you to look over the many changes. They are not super complicated but there are things that need to be looked at and discussed. In the same vein, I know all of you don’t look forward to doing proven yields. However, to properly set yourself up for the maximum coverage possible it is essential to know what these yields are. Once this information is done we can custom tailor your policy for your individual farm operation. We

are well on the way to having proven yields done but still need to get in touch with many of you. Call us anytime and we can come out and help you get this needed part of your farming operation wrapped up.

Grain Theft: It’s great to see the price of grain going up but once again we are starting to see grain theft losses, especially on remote bin sites. If you have grain in bins it is an excellent practice to put metal seals, or padlocks, on these bins. That way if the seal is broken or the padlock broken you have ‘evidence of theft’. If there is no lock or seal on the bin it is hard to say if you have an inventory shortage, (which literally no company covers) or a bona fide theft. Along this line if you think you may have a theft call the authorities as soon as possible so they can come out and investigate your loss. In some cases we have been able to take tire prints, and find clues regarding the loss.

Home Owners Shorts

Contractor Shorts

Insurance Roundup | March 2011

A month ago I saw a news spot predicting Devils Lake to rise another two feet. Now last week it was reported the water is predicted to raise 30’’ in the Devil’s Lake basin. Who knows if these predictions will turn out to be true? I suppose the lake’s raise this year will depend on how fast the snow melts and how much rain we get in the spring as well as many other factors. However, this additional water combined with unfavorable wind and weather conditions can certainly cause widespread flooding not only in the Devils Lake drainage basin but all over the state. Due to the fact that we have excessive snowfalls throughout the North and parts of South Dakota, flood insurance is again a subject to consider. No standard insurance contracts protect you from the devastation of overland flooding but we are able to provide you home and business flood insurance through the National Flood Insurance Program. This contract will protect you against the financial loss of flooding at a minimal premium cost and in the event of catastrophic flooding can provide excellent

coverage for your property. However, the policy has a 30 day waiting period. If you are interested in this needed coverage give us a call and we can get you a quote, and get you qualified far in advance of the spring thaw. Don’t wait till we have a few warm days and extreme flooding occurs: by that time it may well be too late.

408 20th Ave. SW, Ste. 101Minot, ND 58701

www.western-agency.com

As if we didn’t have enough fraud and abuse and identity theft issues, now I understand thieves can walk by you and get your credit card information from you by remote control. Apparently there are portable devices out there that can remotely read credit cards. Like so many good ideas a remote reader was an excellent tool till the crooks got hold of it. Luckily, I also understand you can buy a ‘blocker’ type of card to carry with your other cards that will foil such a remote device. I will look into that and let you know. I looked in my billfold and of course the only two cards I carry are both set up so they can be read remotely. The way you can tell is look on the back of the card and if there are four curved lines in a row that look like a sound wave the card can be remotely read. This would also be a good time to check with us if you have any questions on how your various insurance policies would cover such a theft.

This year’s food drive at our Western Agency offices and affiliates netted hundreds of dollars of needed food supplies for local food banks. The drive was an excellent idea that we intend to continue in the years ahead. We as a company will be putting money and supplies into this project in the future and if you as clients have any excess food you would like to contribute be sure and let us know. We will either come out and get the food and deliver it to a food bank or you can drop the supplies at one of our 13 offices and we will see it gets to the correct agency.

Flood Insurance Remote Credit card theft.

Food Drive Huge Success