As Hurricane Irma bore down on southern Florida, David Vaandering queued for six hours to buy a new generator – so that, in a worst-case scenario, he could operate his agency out of his pickup and still help his clients through their post-storm claims.
Vaandering, owner of M&L Insurance Agency in Coral Gables in southeast Florida, said his business stayed open until late-Thursday, before everything shut down Friday, and employees were available to assist insured clients by phone throughout the storm.
Celebrate excellence in insurance. Join us at the Insurance Business Awards in Chicago on October 26.
He said other agencies closed up and had out-of-office messages on their computers and phone lines – but Vaandering said disaster was the time clients needed assistance the most.
“We stayed open,” he said. “Evacuation in my world isn’t an option. We’re not just here to sell insurance policies – they [our clients] bought them for a reason and this is the time we need to be here. I requested extended time from my building [to stay open later] ... and we were here late Thursday. The building was closed Friday.
“I stood in line six hours on Friday to get a new generator … which allows for constant power. So I can run all my computers, laptops, notebooks, servers, everything. I made sure we had that just in case,” he explained.
“I find it somewhat amusing, seeing these [other] agencies on Facebook, saying ‘we don’t have any power, place your claims direct.’ Really? Pre-storm, they have their cellphones everywhere, saying, ‘call me for a quote anytime, I’m always available.’ I just don’t run my business like that. This is the time we’ve got to be here.”
On Thursday, before leaving, the agency locked up and unplugged and secured all computers, and moved everything away from the windows, in case of wind and flooding, Vaandering said.
He didn’t end up needing to operate his emergency field agency. The hurricane damage was not as severe as had been predicted. He was back in the office on Monday setting up, and back up-and-running on Tuesday.
Nonetheless, the days and weeks following the storm have been – and will continue to be – hectic, as the agency staff work extra hours to make sure all clients are taken care of.
Leading up to Irma hitting, M&L sold about 300 flood insurance policies, he said, with Hurricane Harvey in Houston “an eye-opener” for a lot of people. Then, in the days immediately prior to the storm landing, the agency ceased selling new policies, focusing instead on its insureds.
“We’ve definitely been inundated,” he said. “We’re still in claims-mode. I’m not accepting any new business at the moment. Every single one of my 21 agents is there to answer the phone … to get these claims in as quickly as possible.”
What makes a good agency, Vaandering said, is good customer service. His staff will assist with processing every claim that comes in.
“This is a relationship business. Anybody can deal with a 1800 [phone] number. I think that’s one thing that separates some of your better independent agencies – the relationship between my client and my agency,” he said.
“Calling a 1800 number, there’s definitely an impersonal feeling. Look, they’ve bought the policy from us, we sold the product to them, and now we’re not going to be there for them? ... That’s just not my agency.”
Soon, though, business will get back to normal. That is, until the next time.
“That’s life in the hurricane alley, I guess,” Vaanderling said.
Related stories:
Carriers may drag their feet on big corporate Irma claims – lawyer
Harvey, Irma damage reaches nearly $300 billion
.jpg)
