Recent Allstate Commercial

by slappy » Thu Oct 23, 2008 08:44 pm

There is currently an AllState Commercial running in my area that takes place in a courtroom with a young man (maybe 17) being sued by another for an accident he caused. The ending states that the young man owes $100K. The other lawyer says they are going to start the process immediately to recoup the amoung and the boys lawyer says he doesn't have enough insurance. The other lawyer says they will get it from savings, college fund or any other assets. The boys parents ask if they can do that and the boys lawyer says they can.

I don't sell AllState but I love this commercial because it shows the ramifications of not carrying enough coverage. I actually think it is kind of surprising coming from AllState (no offense to those agents out there that carry AllState) but the agents in my area that we sell against have no problem pushing state minimum to get business instead of taking the customers best interest into consideration. My main point is that this is a great commercial and we should see more of them around.

Have you seen anything or done anything with this same thought in mind?

Total Comments: 87

Posted: Sat Nov 01, 2008 04:02 pm Post Subject:

The big weenie had his license suspended for a while then appealed to have it reinstated. I think he had to pay a $25,000 fine and eventually got his license back.

This, and several other cases were just big jokes because they were my personal "projects". After I quit working with the DOI, my team (who knew anything at all about life insurance fraud) were reassigned to other departments by then Commissioner Chuck Quackenbush. Because it is a matter of public record; it turned out that "The Quack" had his position terminated by the Governor because he was (allegedly) pocketing campaign contributions. After being let go, he retired to Maui, where he lives today.

The Life Insurance Fraud unit was never rebuilt and today consists of 2 or 3 people - in all of California. When I was working with them, there were as many as 13 investigators.

This is the reason I keep so busy. The top agents all know that if and/or when they get caught, all they'll have to do is pay $25 or $50K in fines and put back on the street. What's $50K to a guy making 7 figures in FYC (First Year Commissions?)

If I build cases against the companies and sue them for their agent's conduct and it costs them, say, $100 million each time (MetLife is currently up to around $300 million), they have to start policing themselves. Sure, they're big companies but that is a huge amount of money and someone has to answer for it.

The overall cure for this, or any other insurance-related issue, will be educating the public, which will be no small task. When the average consumer has the ability to identify potential problems in his/her own policy, any type of insurance policy, the industry will have no choice but to turn - or learn new ways to screw people.

Although I'm generally an optimist, I'm betting on the latter.

Posted: Wed Nov 12, 2008 09:30 pm Post Subject: the commercial makes a powerful point

This may seem to be a "scare tactic" but it's real life. I have an agency client who was hit with a $850,000 judgment years ago after a fatal accident involving his daughter.

Standard liability limits were too low and his umbrella policy saved his home and business.

My niece's husband was killed in a private plane crash about 2 years ago. A significant lawsuit is ongoing. If the defendant is found at fault, they stand to lose everything. She has 4 kids between 1 and 6 years old.

I'm a big believer in umbrellas and hope the commercial enlightens some folks about their value.

That said, the benefits need to be explained to the customer so they can make their judgment based on their situation. Where I see a problem is when the agent or CSR makes the decision that a client doesn't need it or can't afford it without explaining the concept.