Hey guys, Jason Levine with Harry Levine Insurance here. And today, we want to talk about getting to know your insurance company…online.
As the world continues to suffer through the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s becoming even more important that everyone becomes as tech-savvy as possible.
Now remember, we’re here for you at full-steam ahead at Harry Levine Insurance. We’re on the phones, we’re receiving requests through our website, and we’re manning our emails so you’re fully able to come to us with all of your questions and concerns. However, we really want to emphasize that most of the insurance carriers out there today have very robust online self-serve portals.
The advantage of those is that you can look up billing or coverage and receive documents at any time. So as our sleep schedules continue to devolve and it’s 3:00 in the morning and you come up with that nagging insurance question, you can take out your smart phone, laptop, or fire up a PC and have your answer immediately.
Again, though, we’re here for you and we can help you with any of those things all throughout this process.
How to Get Updates From Insurance Companies
So let’s talk about those updates.
One of the most important things about having an online portal access account with your insurance company is it puts you on their mailing list. And normally, that sounds like something that might be frustrating, right? More junk mail in the inbox?
Well the truth is, in this day and age, when things are happening on such a constant basis, particularly things like automobile insurance companies offering premium refunds due to decreased vehicle use, it makes sure that you are first in line to get the news about those things.
So far, with auto insurance refunds, we don’t think that any participation or proactive thing is needed from you, the insured. It’s just gonna happen (which is great). But there may be programs that come in the future that require you to “click here to sign up” or something along those lines.
So we truly encourage you to make sure that you’re in communication with your insurer and you’re getting those updates. Sure, you might get a few pieces of junk mail, but you might also get some very, very important communications that could save you tons of money and make sure that you understand and are participating in your insurance program.
How to Get COVID Discounts & Rebates From Your Insurance Company
So how do we get discounts and rebates?
Well, as was just said, so far it’s a passive endeavor. You basically just need to have an active policy and the automobile insurance carriers (on the personal line side, so far) in general are beginning to offer programs that give some premium relief.
How to Get Help During a Disaster (From Your Insurance Company)
So how to get help during a disaster? This is an incredible way.
COVID-19 is unique but here in Florida, we’re very, very familiar with hurricanes. And when a hurricane hits Florida, we’re your local agent, so we may be affected too.
We have a disaster plan in place and we have backup systems that can ensure that we can stay in touch with you. However, when an initial event occurs, we may be down for a couple of hours or even days. No one blames local businesses when that occurs, particularly looking back at the situation in the Florida Panhandle just a year or two ago.
There are some things that we simply all cannot avoid.
So having a direct link with your carrier enables you—assuming you have cell or internet service—to access those critical policy documents, file a claim, and do other things ahead of time. Of course, we’ll be working at breakneck pace to make sure that all of our communications are fully functional and we’re there for you.
And in this situation, we are.
We actually haven’t skipped a beat and are proud that we’ve been able to be on the phones, online, and there for you, our clients, throughout this entire process, with every plan to continue to have a fully-functional, remote mobile model.
Business Insurance Updates and Information For Small Businesses
So business insurance updates and information for small businesses has become a very important thing, too. For that I say, “Stay tuned.”
We will be continuing to use our agency newsletter to get information out, as we already have several times since the COVID-19 outbreak.
So please stay tuned with our agency communications as well.
How Do I Access My Insurance Carrier Online?
So let’s talk for a brief second about best practices for interfacing with your insurance company online.
First and foremost, you can always call us; we’re happy to walk you through the process of getting online access with your carrier. We can give you instructions, we can talk with you over the phone or via video conference to make sure that gets set up properly.
The easiest thing to do is to go to your carrier’s website or go to the App Store on your smart phone and search for your insurance carrier.
You need to set up your login credentials, which in many cases, people already have them set up online and they’re just making sure that their smart phone’s functional. But if not, you can set it all up in one fell swoop and make sure that you can stay up to date on your billing, coverage, communications, and any documents you may need from your insurer.
And again, I want to stress: We’re here for you. This isn’t about, “No, no, no…just go online and self-serve.” It’s about, “This is a resource that we find tremendous value in because it gives you that 24/7, quick-touch access.”
But again, we’re here for you. And we’re here to navigate these waters of it with you.
So if you have any questions or concerns, just give us a call and we can get you the same information and provide you with real service (vs. online self-service).
How Has Harry Levine Insurance Prepared For This?
So this is a fantastic time to talk to you about some enhancements we’ve been working on on our website.
Traditionally, you could always make a service request. But we have updated our service request portal so that you can now use what we call “conditional logic” or answer a few brief questions that then intuitively lead to the next question or two so that we can serve you quickly and effectively, all through our website.
So please check out our website if you need to make a change to your policy. I think you’ll be impressed.