By Brooke Miller Hall
General Casualty Insurance Companies
After 27 years in the business and a few bad hailstorms under his belt, Dale Maki, corporate vice president of Clemon-Maki Insurance Agency, still couldn’t believe the storm that struck Newton in July. He watched as the black sky approached, and marble-sized hail started coming down. And the hail kept getting larger until it reached the size of softballs! It was such an odd phenomenon that many Newton residents have kept the hail in their freezers as proof. And a lot of them have new roofs, too.
Newton is home to Clemon-Maki Insurance and Interstate Insurance Services, two large independent agencies that provide General Casualty home, auto and business insurance. So in the aftermath of this terrible storm, the insurance carrier, based in Sun Prairie, Wis., activated an on-call catastrophe team to the area. Joining General Casualty’s regional Des Moines staffers were employees from Springfield (Ill.), Freeport (Ill.) and Milwaukee, a retired General Casualty adjuster, and a retired agent from Fort Dodge. They quickly began handling claims for this catastrophe event, estimated to cost more than $4 million for General Casualty alone.
The catastrophe team met with local agents right away to discuss their plans and kept in touch as plans were later fine-tuned. Both Maki and David Lureman, co-owner of Interstate Insurance Services, said they were impressed with the advanced planning, quick response, number of staff on-scene and the fairness with which claims were settled. And the lack of policyholder complaints seems to prove that their customers agree.
Property damage was so extensive that every General Casualty-insured home in the area was inspected. “The fact that they were on the roofs so quickly, and that they inspected every policyholder’s roof – even those who didn’t submit claims – really meant a lot to our small community,” Lureman said.
General Casualty adjusters inspected approximately 600 Newton homes, in addition to more than 40 commercial properties and about 600 vehicles.
To expedite the auto claims process, the catastrophe team held a drive-through service July 14-19. They inspected about 100 vehicles each day from a tent in a local hotel parking lot. While staffing the drive-through, Des Moines claim manager Jerry Lewis reported positive feedback from policyholders. “The most common comment was how simple the process was. It required no estimates, just a drive down to get the claim settled.”
For more information please contact Anne M. Smith.