This is especially important for contractors.  Let me explain why… 

You are installing an expensive new kitchen into an existing home. While fastening the cabinets to the wall you accidentally drop an expensive cabinet onto a valuable counter top, causing extensive damage to both the cabinet and the counter top. Maybe, the cabinet then bounces off the tile floor, causing damage to the floor. That’s a lot of damage! Does your standard liability policy provide coverage for the cabinet? The Counter Top? The Tile Floor? 

Suppose you’re the homeowner… Do you want the damaged property repaired or replaced without any cost to you?

As I mentioned above, most liability policies will exclude damage the contractor does to property that is in his/her care, custody or control. By definition, the kitchen cabinet is in the contractor’s control and, therefore, not covered by his standard policy. What about the counter top or the tile floor? 

This scenario could, and probably does, happen. Without the proper coverage the contractor may be left with a large out-of pocket expense. 

Erie Insurance, and other carriers, offers an endorsement that essentially removes this care, custody and contorl exclusion from the policy. Erie calls it “Voluntary Property Damage (VPD).” According to Erie’s policy language, this endorsement “provides coverage for unintentional damage to property of others caused by the insured while the property is in the care, custody or control of the insured.” It includes damage to property you are physically working on. Erie’s endorsement also includes property you have borrowed from others.

What is Care, Custody or Control?  Unfortunately, it is often a gray area.  It could be up to the courts to decide. According to an IA&B article by Jerry Milton, CIC, most courts indicate it means “actual possession or direct physical control of the property.” 

So, it includes property you are actually working on and property of which you are in direct physical control…

Maybe the best way to describe property in your care, custody or control would be to provide some more real-world examples:

1) A Plumber installs a new sink in a homeowner’s bathroom. The plumber accidentally drops the sink, which causes damage to the sink and the bathroom floor. Is damage to the sink and/or floor covered without this VPD endorsement? 

A: The floor is probably covered by the standard liability policy because it is not being worked on by the plumber. (I say “probably” because it really is up to the courts.) The sink is definitely not covered because the plumber was working directly on it. (If the plumber owns the sink he/she would need Installation Coverage, which provides insurance on property, equipment and fixtures that will be installed by the contractor.)

2) A contractor is drilling holes in a hardwood floor to install a new ventilation system. The drill slips and damages the hardwood floor. Is the floor covered without this VPD endorsement?

A: Probably not, as the floor will most likely be considered to be in the contractor’s care.

3) A paint contractor has a ladder against a wall and accidentally bumps the ladder causing damage to the wall. Is this covered without the VPD endorsement?

A: Again, probably not, as the wall will most likely be considered in the contractors care.

Now, if I’m a contractor working on your property and accidentally damage something of significant value, you would want it to be covered with no questions asked. You wouldn’t want to have a conversation with me or with my insurance agent as to whether the property was in my care, custody or control. You would simply want it covered.

Bottom Line, buy the Coverage! It takes away the gray area of care, custody and control. It protects contractors from potential large out of pocket expenses and, most importantly, it can keep your customers happy!

Lookin’ Out is different from other safe driving programs, as it is rooted in a student-driven approach of positive peer influence. The Manheim Central students and faculty partnered with Baron Insurance to create a new Lookin’ Out club called “The Central Cruisers”. The focus of the club is to organize a series of events and activities addressing risk factors such as distracted driving, lack of seatbelt use, speeding, driving under the influence and other reckless behaviors.

The Manheim Central High School new Lookin’ Out program accepts a $2,000 check from Erie Insurance to promote teen safe driving. Left to right are – Student Lookin’ Out committee member Hannah Metzler, Manheim Central High School Principal Mr. Jeff Hughes, Student Lookin’ Out committee member Rachel Snavely, Manheim Central Superintendent Dr. Bill Clark, Student Lookin’ Out committee member Sheila Miller, Baron Insurance Group agent Chris Vogt: Photo by Len Bodnar

On October 29^th, “The Central Cruisers” had their kick-off event when the Lookin’ Out Safety Bug visited the school. The Safety Bug is a custom engineered Volkswagen Beetle that allows the driver the real life experience of driving while impaired without the real life risk.

In the Safety Bug, two passengers were asked to place impaired goggles over their eyes while the driver took a test drive around the course with the instructor. Few students drove the course without a collision into the orange cones, demonstrating how quickly a mistake can be made and sometimes with devastating consequences.

Three other stations were also set up for students to try after watching the drivers in the “Safety Bug”. The first station was to wear impaired goggles while trying to walk a straight line. The second station was to try and text the message “Texting and driving is stupid” while dribbling a basketball around an obstacle course. The third station was a guessing game of facts about alcohol related accidents and consequences of its use.

Overall, twenty-two classrooms of students and teachers were able to take a test drive in the specially-designed vehicle Safety Bug and participate in the day’s activities.

Since its 2001 inception, Lookin’ Out has been launched in more than 200 high schools and awarded more than $500,000 in grants. This marks Manheim Central’s first year participating in the program.

Click here to see all the photos from the Safety Bug event.

This past week J.D. Power and Associates released a new report that rated the car insurance shopping experience for 21 insurance companies. The report gathered responses from over 14,500 shoppers who rated each insurance company based on policy offerings, local agents, call center representatives, insurance company website and price. Below is the summary of the 2010 J.D. Power and Associates report or click here to view the entire report.

The report summary above clearly shows that the car insurance buying experience is not the same for all companies and comparing car insurance quotes solely on price does not tell the whole story. So whether its protecting your family with a new car seat or car insurance, make sure other resources such as 3rd party reports are used to help make the right decision for your family.

What other factors do you consider when shopping for car insurance?

NAIC Complaint Data for Erie Insurance Exchange

Insurance is an intangible service. It cannot be sampled, tested, touched or recycled. Thus, most people purchase personal and business insurance on the only tangible factor they can measure…PRICE. Although price is a major factor when purchasing insurance there are other factors that need to be considered when choosing the right insurance company.

One major factor to consider is if people are happy or satisfied with an insurance company. The last thing any customer wants, is to pay an insurance company for months or years and be disappointed when they have a problem or a claim. Thus, the National Association of Insurance Commissions (NAIC) compiles complaint data on nearly every insurance company and the information is available to the public!

5 Simple Steps to Get the Complaint Data

1. Paste the link https://eapps.naic.org/cis/ into your browser

2. Under the Company Search for Complaint and Financial Information section on the top right side of the page, enter your insurance company’s name. Then select PA as the Consumer’s Resident State and click the “Find a Company Button”

3. Click on “Closed Complaints Link”

4. Click on “Closed Complaint Ratio Report”

5. Select the insurance type (Ex-private passenger auto) and click the “Create Report” button

At this point you should have a report similar to the one shown in the picture above. The report shows an insurance company’s complaint ratio compared to a national median of 1.00. Any complaint ratio below 1.00 means the company is better than the median company and any company with a ratio above 1.00 means that they are worse than the median company.

Take advantage of this consumer data and find out what customers are saying about your personal or business insurance company…you may be surprised!

After 45 years, b.i.g is now doing business in so many new ways compared to 1996 or 1978 and especially 1965. In the past, everything was paper intensive. Our shelves were full of manuals that told us the rules of doing business. We rated auto policies by hand using a pencil, paper and calculator. Polaroid cameras were the rage for taking instamatic pictures of homes that were insured. There were rows of file cabinets full of folders that contained the customer information and policies in force. Communication was only by mail or telephone until the arrival of the fax machine and the computer.

Today, at b.i.g you will see a business that uses computers to do just about everything. Technology has pushed businesses into a new frontier and embracing it takes courage and a will to change. We have accepted that at b.i.g.  It began with adding other insurance carriers and the adoption of a new paperless system. It continues with our entry into social media. On our new website you will find our staff blogging insurance tips for families and business as well as links to our twitter and facebook accounts.

Speaking of staff, we now have one of the best groups of employees in the history of the agency. You will find them competent, energetic and willing to go the extra mile to meet your needs.

b.i.g is prepared to meet the future. Even though we commenced to do business in 1965 we are just beginning. So, thank you to our loyal customer base for making our journey and our 45th anniversary possible!