News

See Below...see why Minnesota homeowner insurance rates are increasing dramatically.

Flood Insurance

Check with your insurance agent.
It takes 30 days from issue date for flood insurance policies to become effective.

Have Questions?

Everyone has questions about their insurance at one time or another. If you have questions, don’t hesitate to call or e-mail your agent (see agent links). Or, if you would rather contact one of our licensed staff, call Melissa or Kim. Metro: 952-746-5770 Toll free: 888-335-2163.

Melissa or Kim can also be contacted by using the e-mail "link" next to their names.

NOTE: Coverage cannot be bound, changed or deleted unless the insured speaks to a licensed agent or licensed staff person or the insured submits a written, signed and dated request.

E-mail or voicemail are not valid methods for binding, changing or deleting coverage.

2012...WHY HOMEOWNER INSURANCE RATES ARE INCREASING

2012...Many of our customers currently ask why their homeowners insurance premiums have recently increased…even though they personally have had no claims.

This was addressed by a FOX 9 News Report at 10 PM on February 9, 2012.  Click on the followibng link:  http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/dpp/news/minnesota/home-insurance-rate-hike-feb-10-2012?CMP=201202_emailshare

Attention Insurance Advantage Customers...

Insurance Advantage Agents represent many major insurance companies.  We automatically shop up to several dozen companies for you.  If you shop outside of our agency, be very careful.  You may receive a quote for a "stripped down" policy from an outside agent.  Less coverage in the policy = lower premiums.  You won't know the difference.  Your Insurance Advantage Agent can also remove coverage from policies or change deductibles to obtain a lower premium.  BUT, you will know what the actual changes are versus your current policy.

2011...NEW RECORD Minnesota storm losses were WORSE than 2010!

The following is a late 2011 letter from the President of one of the insurance companies we represent:

 To All Minnesota "COMPANY NAME" Agents:

"COMPANY NAME" will be implementing a 9% Homeowners rate increase in Minnesota effective 11/1/2011. This will affect all new business and renewals with an effective date of 11/1 and later. It’s no secret that Homeowners results in the Midwest have been subpar these past three years. This is a line of business for which we have not made a profit the past three years and we’re not alone. The industry loss ratio in Homeowners is unsustainable. It’s our strategy of geographic diversification that has lessened the impact of any single catastrophic event to protect our reinsurers, cushion severe losses and allow us to implement a fair and equitable increase for all policyholders while not “shocking” them with large double digit increases at renewal.

Customers that have their auto with "COMPANY NAME" will feel even less impact from this increase. We are not taking any increase in our auto rates. This should cushion the blow for all portfolio policies. I hope that you’ll find this homeowners increase to be fair especially in comparison to other increases being taken in this market. I’m hopeful that weather patterns will change for 2012 and we can return to profitability in the Homeowners line.

Thank you very much for your understanding with respect to this rate increase and, as always, thank you so much for your business!!!!

 The following is an excerpt from an early 2011 letter regarding 2010 storm losses, sent by the CEO of one of the many insurance companies we represent: 

Hail, Wind, Tornado, and Flood! We experienced it all in the 3rd quarter. We tracked 8 storms in 2010 and paid more in net claims (after reinsurance recoveries) than any time in the Company's history. All seven of our Midwestern States experienced some piece of this action though in varying degrees. Where is "Tornado Alley"? Would you believe MINNESOTA!? Through August 2010, 122 tornadoes touched down in Minnesota. Texas was the next closest State at 87. Wisconsin was 6th in the Nation at 59. Is what we experienced in 2010 the new normal? After 3 straight years of similar storm activity in the upper Midwest, we are beginning to question what normal is. Catastrophe models have not predicted accurately the storm activity of the upper Midwest and as such Underwriting and pricing strategies for property lines of business must react accordingly. A rate increase on Homeowners is the first strike in our efforts to react to these weather patterns.

LOOKING BACK AT 2010 (See Below)

Minnesota Insurers May Face Worst Year Ever for Catastrophe Loss

OLDWICK, N.J. November 12, 2010 (BestWire) — Unusual weather this year, including more than 100 tornadoes and a windstorm in late October, will lead to huge catastrophe losses for insurers in Minnesota.

"We're looking at $2 billion in catastrophe losses" said Mark Kulda, spokesman for the Insurance Federation of Minnesota. Kulda cautioned that the figure is a preliminary estimate, based on comments from some of the federation's members, who have said this year has been the worse for insured losses.

The prior worse year was 1998, Kulda said, when insurers paid $1.5 billion in claims, due largely to tornadoes, including storms that caused devastating damage in St. Peter and Comfrey, Minn.

Between January and July 31, Minnesota was hit by 99 confirmed tornadoes, including four powerful F4 tornadoes in June, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Minnesota typically ranks about 10th in tornadoes among states. This year, Minnesota is topping the list, Kulda said.

The Enhanced F, or Fujita scale, is a damage scale that meteorologists use to rank tornadoes from zero to five. Based on damage to 28 separate indicators, an F-0 tornado is estimated to have wind gusts of 65 to 85 mph, an F-4 tornado is estimated to have wind gusts of 166 to 200 mph, and an F-5 tornado is estimated to have gusts topping 200 mph, according to the NOAA. Some 60 tornadoes tore through the state on June 17 (BestWire, June 18, 2010). Areas hardest hit include Wadena, in north-central Minnesota, where the high school was destroyed, and the town of Albert Lea, in southeastern Minnesota, Kulda said.

Minnesota and other states were hammered by a massive storm system in late October. State Farm Insurance had 2,107 claims in Minnesota following the storm system that hit from the Dakotas, as far south as Mississippi and Alabama, east to the Carolinas and Virginia beginning the evening of Oct. 25 through Oct. 28, spokesman Dick Luedke said.

State Farm received about the same number of claims in Illinois, more than 1,100 in Wisconsin, nearly 700 in Indiana, and more than 500 in Michigan, Luedke said.

Farmers Insurance Group received more than 1,800 claims in Minnesota, Illinois, Ohio, Indiana, and Missouri from the October storm system. That figure includes 883 property-damage claims in Minnesota, spokesman Jerry Davies said in an e-mail.

"Many Allstate customers were affected by the October 2010 super storm, and our top priority is helping them through the claims process so they can rebuild or restore their property as quickly as possible. We will report catastrophe losses in our next quarterly earnings release," spokeswoman Christina Loznicka said in an e-mail.

The storm system swept down from Alaska, moving south and east, with low pressure so intense that it set a record in Minnesota, said David Imy, a meteorologist with the NOAA Storm Prediction Center in Oklahoma.

Over water, Imy said, such low pressure is equivalent to a category 3 hurricane.

The storm caused blizzard conditions in North Dakota, and there were more than 50 reports of tornadoes in several states, including Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Wisconsin, Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee. Not all of those tornado reports have been confirmed, Imy said, but he added that winds of 50 to 80 mph were very common with the storm system.

In addition to the tornadoes and late-October storm, Kulda said the southern tier of Minnesota experienced heavy rain fall beginning in late September, which produced severe flooding. He said the state typically experiences flooding in the spring when snow melts, but flooding in the fall is unusual. More than 20 southern counties were declared federal disaster areas, making them eligible for federal aid, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

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