Naturally successful farm insurance agents are qualified professionals.

Their number one function, and you know this if your have one,  is to make the unexpected occurrences in life a little easier and simpler for you, that it in a nutshell.

From their professional perspective, they will help you select an insurance plan that works for you.

And if they are licensed to do so that help will also include auto insurance, insurance for your home and buildings, as well as life insurance and health insurance.

They reach out to their companies and fellow farm insurance agents to provide valuable information about insurance, the risks that make it necessary, and how to protect yourself, your family, and your farm from those risks and at the same time strive to get the most for your money.

Like successful professionals of all types, a well respected insurance agent is one whose relationships with their customers is built on a foundation of shared values, quality service, mutual trust, and integrity.

In the case of farm insurance agents there is an additional vital component, something that goes far beyond their understanding of policy provisions, exclusions, and restrictions.

It is their understanding of what makes their customers tick, as people. What is important to them and why. They must understand the importance of the legacy represented by the farm itself and they want to be there as part of the solution – with a helping hand, in all matters, not just insurance.

Unlike traditional businesses that buy wholesale and sell retail, that rely on the ages old keystone principle that insures revenues exceed costs, farmers are often forced to buy at near retail prices and sell their products at near wholesale.

Farmers, even more than most business owners, are caught in the middle – between the prices of inputs they can not control, the commodity prices they can not control, foreign and domestic politics and strategies they can not control, and the weather – something no one can control.

Money is always in short supply. Setting priorities and understanding the potential consequences of the decisions made for deploying these limited dollars is critical. When something bad happens where will the money to handle it come from?

Will it come from the farmer’s nest egg, the farm business itself, or will your farm insurance agent show up with a check – new money being paid in, money that does not have to be repaid by anyone to anyone, ever.

For farm insurance agents this means that they must be ready to work with their customers to balance the risk/benefit insurance premium equation, to help manage the frequent imbalance between what the crop brings and how much it cost to produce it.

Farmers know and their farm insurance agents must be willing to understand that some risks the farmer can and should manage themselves, some risks simply do not warrant insuring at all, and others, well the entire business will be lost if they are not covered properly.

Selecting the right farm insurance agent, as a confidant and collaborator in your future success, is a serious decision – but nevertheless one that may be a lot easier to do that you might suppose.

Think about it, an insurance agent is the retail end of the entire insurance continuum.  And like every industry for each agent in the field there are legions of highly trained experts on the speed dials back at the home office (where the insurance is manufactured).

It is less important than you think for them to know everything. What you should be looking for is someone who is willing to invest their time in understanding you and what’s important to you. They must be willing to ask the tough questions and wait for your answers. And finally, they must be willing to ask for help from the hundreds of experts they have instant access to – in order to create the right solutions for you.

Of course they may be experts in insurance and financial products of all kinds and that can be both good and bad. Good because they already have a lot of great ideas that have worked for other people like you. Bad if all that knowledge causes them to adopt the NIH (not invented here) syndrome.

They may have important professional designations, and they may already be a known quantity in your area, your community, or your association. Or they may be a brand new agent, just getting started. I don’t think it matters really – as long as they resonate with you.

They should be knowledgeable, experienced, willing to take the time to learn about you and your farm business, assertive in advocating your interests to the insurance companies they represent, well connected with the various types of insurance potentially required by you, and organized to need deadlines and respond to your changing needs.

By selecting farm insurance agents or brokers with these characteristics, you will get the help you truly need.

The right insurance professional can be an invaluable asset and an excellent resource.

Technorati Tags: Farm Insurance Agents

Yes, they have to mail the check in your name if you ask it, HOWEVER, if you have a loan on your car, they ALSO have to add the lender to your check. It’s MUCH easier to have the check written to the body shop, than to have to sign it over to the lender, and wait a month or two until after all the damages are fixed to their approval, and they then release the funds.

You ARE going to have to pay out of pocket, probably up to your deductible amount. That’s the POINT of the deductible.

I have a 2000 Chevrolet Malibu with 178,000 miles on it.

Last Friday, my husband’s brother decided to give his 2005 Hyundai Elantra (53,000 miles) to us as a free gift.

We decided to sell the Malibu to some friends of ours (with whom we have been friends for quite a few years).

My friends have already paid us and they have a Bill of Sale and next week we are getting a duplicate of the Chevy title in the mail (because we lost ours), at which time we will transfer.

Here is where the confusion begins: My mother-in-law (who is a retired State Farm insurance agent) drew up a Bill of Sale that indicated as its last sentence at the end, "Buyer will show proof of liability insurance at the time the car is received" (or something like that; I don’t have the Bill of Sale in front of me). We saw our friends today to get the Bill of Sale notarized (they already paid for the car; we’re just waiting for the title for the Malibu to arrive via mail, as mentioned above). Their insurance agent is about 90 miles away, I find out, and will need pictures of the car. Our friends insist that my mother-in-law is just "being a mom" since we’re new at such a transaction (our friends have owned and sold boats, cars, etc., so they are experienced at this, too), meaning that she’s being overcautious by saying they need to present proof of liability insurance at the exact time I give them the keys to the car. So, once I give them the title and the keys, are they responsible for when they get the car insurance?

My Hyundai is covered through my insurance agent (my mother-in-law called them and got coverage on it already), but she insists that I am not to get insurance verification on the Hyundai until the friends show proof of their insurance on the Malibu after they get possession of it. Is that correct, or is my mother-in-law just being overcautious? (I would think that once I switch the Malibu title to my friends’ name and give them the keys, that would relieve me of any responsibility any longer to the Malibu).

Help me, please. I am so confused; I have my mother-in-law telling me one thing, and my friends telling me another. Both sound correct.

So would I be right if I did these (in this exact order):
1) switch the title over to their name & give them the keys to the Malibu.
2) call my insurance agent and report that I sold my Malibu, and ask them to type insurance vertification for the Hyundai. (would I have to be present in person for them to type the verification for the Hyundai? Also, would my report of me selling the Malibu mean that they would cancel the insurance on it immediately?)

I am sorry this is so lengthy; I tried to explain this the best as I could. I just want to do what is correct in the eyes of the law.

The steps you outlined are the right ones. Once your MIL called to add the Hyundai,it was covered, even if you don’t have the insurance card, and once you sell the Malibu, it’s no longer your responsibility.

You don’t have to be present for the verification on the Hyundai; calling the agent is enough. The agent should send you a copy of the change request adding it and cancelling the Malibu.

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