Ask Tim; Industry News

​Persistent supply chain problems are creating shortages of some auto parts, and that could mean some of your clients will be underinsured when they have to rent cars to subsitute for one that's been damaged.A recent article on TheDrive.com described the problems in vivid detail:Back in early December, Ed Kim was involved in a minor fender bender. He took it straight to the body shop recommended by his insurance company, and the mechanic told Kim that they have such a backlog that they couldn’t even look at his car for a month and a half. Luckily, the damage was minor, and the car was still…

A portrait of the author's offi​ce​ mateAs we reported here last week, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Oct. 30 signed into law a bill that prohibits insurers from declining, cancelling, non-renewing, or increasing the premiums for homeowners coverage based solely on the fact that a dog of a particular breed lives in the home.  The new law applies to policies issued, renewed or modified on and after January 28, 2022. A few of you have emailed the research department with questions about it. It's important to know that the dog breed part is not the complete story.The law created a new Section 3421 of…

​Photo by jim gade on Unsplash​As reported in today's issue of The New York Times​, the way the National Flood Insurance Program sets premiums for coverage is going to change for the first time in 50 years next Friday. For some current and prospective property owners, the change may be painful. The methodology change takes effect for new policies on Oct. 1, 2021, with renewals following on April 1, 2022.The traditional way of pricing flood insurance has been to use a flood insurance rate map (FIRM) to determine the flood risk zone in which a property sits. For those properties in special flood hazard areas (SFHA),…