We understand the temptation not to report small claims those you think will be within your deductible.  But for your sake, we strongly urge you to submit all claims, whether active or potential, immediately.

1. The Swiss Re Corporate Solutions US Agents Claims Team handles more E&O claims involving independent insurance agents on any given day than you'll see in a year perhaps in your entire career.  The depth of knowledge and experience our claim handlers will bring to bear is just as valuable on small claims as it is on the large ones.  So why not take advantage of our expertise in getting your claim(s) resolved, including preparation and execution of proper releases to protect your agency?
   
   
2. Your policy requires you to report Claims.  Disregarding explicit contractual obligations imposed by your E&O policy in the middle of a catastrophe is likely to make a bad situation worse.
   
   
3. Potential claim situations do often turn into active claims, which can lead to possible coverage issues if not timely reported.
   
   
4. Reporting a potential claim doesn't lead to the loss of experience credits.
   
   
5. CAT claims often start small (within the deductible), but then escalate after the agency has admitted error.
   
   
6. The Westport 'Deductible Reduction Endorsement' may apply to your claim, reducing the deductible by up to $25,000.  If you don't turn the claim in you may end up paying a claim "within your deductible" that should have been $0.
   
   
7. Even if the Deductible Reduction Endorsement doesn't apply, many policies have an 'Aggregate Deductible'.  If you don't turn the claim in you will not receive a credit towards your aggregate deductible, which leads to the same result as the example above: you're paying deductible unnecessarily.
   
   
8. Catastrophes often reveal clear errors by agents.  In such cases, we will attempt to settle those claims as early as possible to minimize costs.  That's a win/win/win for you, your customer and Westport.
   
   
9. Our Claims Team can help guide you in how to best communicate with your client, the carrier or other third parties.  In an effort to help or sympathize with clients, agents sometime make statements that can be construed as admissions.  We can help you avoid that.
   
   
10. You have better things to do right now.  Your customers have been impacted by the storm and probably your agency, as well.  Take care of your customers and leave the claims to us.  We've got you covered!