Whether you're just starting out in the insurance industry or you're a seasoned professional, you know that insurance is a field that's fraught with the potential for legal difficulties. This is why E&O insurance is so important. As an insurance agent, why do you need errors and omissions insurance?
1. E&O Insurance Protects Your Company
Errors and omissions happen, and sometimes they're due to a colleague's mistake or misjudgment, not your own. However, if there is a lawsuit against your agency, everyone in the agency can experience difficulties. A serious lawsuit can result in financial problems that can negatively impact the best company, and it can bring down all of the employees with it. The entire lawsuit may be groundless, but even so, it can cost your agency a significant sum of money. Even if you're not the one to make the mistake, you must have E&O insurance to help ensure the longevity of your company.
2. E&O Insurance Protects Your Employees
Errors and omissions insurance also protects individual employees. We all make mistakes, but in the insurance industry, these mistakes can be costly. For example, if an employee checks off the wrong box on a form, a homeowner may not have a specific type of coverage. If a claim comes in, who's at fault? Your employee made the mistake, but errors and omissions insurance helps ensure that your employee and your business can continue to work in the field.
3. Insurance is a Selling Point for Your Clients
While everyone wants their trusted professionals to maintain that trust with error-free actions, when you hold E&O insurance your clients know that they're covered. If you happen to make a mistake on a form or misunderstand a conversation, this can cause problems for your clients in the future. They can suffer real financial hardship if their medical expenses aren't covered or they aren't actually insured for contents lost in a fire. With E&O insurance, your clients will be able to seek compensation. Many contracts require that the insurance agent has E&O insurance, and even if you're not required, it will give your clients peace of mind.
4. E&O Insurance Helps You Plan
When you get errors and omissions insurance, it's based on your particular needs, your specific business, and your claims history as a company. The insurance company will look at your business practices and history and see what you're doing right and where you may need to change. Getting errors and omissions insurance can help you work with your contracts to ensure that they're clear, communicate well with your customers, and implement new or review existing quality control procedures. Think of the process not as a hassle, but as a fine tuning of your company's processes.
As you seek E&O insurance, you need a legal advisor you can trust.
If you're looking for E&O insurance the American Agents Alliance can help. We're a national insurance association of independent insurance agents & brokers, and we're here to support you. With our legal hotline and discounts on professional products such as E&O insurance for insurance agents, you can count on us to support you in your business endeavors.
