Tiffany Daly is a Twin Cities insurance agent who helps clients navigate the insurance market. Her firm, WIIN Insurance Agency, partners with many providers to make sure her clients have a variety of options for business, auto, home, life, health, and other types of insurance.
Tiffany was interviewed for an article in November 2023 that covered her background and business experience. In today’s article, she discusses the changes in the insurance industry since then. She also shares how her business is adapting to an ever-changing market.
The insurance industry has been unpredictable since the pandemic. In 2020, insurance companies were giving rebates because fewer people were driving or traveling. That’s changed.
“Back in 2020, insurance companies were actually rebating money for auto insurance because people weren’t driving. A lot of people took advantage of the open roads – they were driving faster. When speeds increase, then crashes are more extreme as well. We haven’t seen the speed slow down since then, everybody is still driving faster,” Tiffany clarifies.
Now insurance prices are higher. People drive more recklessly, which causes more and more severe accidents. Wildfires and natural disasters drive up insurance payouts as well. Factor in significant inflation, materials, parts, and labor shortages, and it’s clear why insurance rates have increased since her previous interview.
“So the industry as a whole has been suffering and digging themselves out from the extremes. Now we’re starting to see a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel,” Tiffany says, describing the progress the insurance industry has made since then. “At the end of the first quarter of 2024, insurance companies started posting their 2023 results. And we saw three major insurance companies actually post a profit, which we haven’t seen for quite some time. So when they start to show a profit, then we start to see the stabilization in the market and your rate.”
Tiffany helps her clients stay on top of the changes in the industry. She works with a variety of insurance carriers so her customers can maintain their coverage and price when rates increase.
Tiffany explains, “I see when the customers’ renewal comes in before they do. So I can see how much their rate increased. And I can go shopping! As an independent insurance agent, we have multiple carriers that we can work with. Then I start shopping their policies to see if I can find a better rate, keeping in mind their coverage – we want to make sure that their coverage isn’t decreasing.”
Tiffany monitors clients’ insurance policies and notices any changes the insurance provider makes to their coverage. Customers often miss coverage and price changes even when they’re notified as required by the state. She’ll read their policies and make sure they’re getting the coverage they need.
As she puts it, “Anytime there’s a change, the state requires the insurance company to send notification, but I can probably count on maybe one hand how many consumers actually read their insurance policy. The notification is always in the front cover, but they don’t ever actually open their policy to look. And they don’t understand it either. It’s all in legal format, so it’s hard to understand.”
Late summer is a turbulent time for the insurance industry. When major natural disasters strike, the resulting insurance payouts raise rates across the country. If there are fewer storms then rates will be more stable.
“It’s storm season now. So we’re all kind of wondering what’s going to happen. And it affects other parts of the United States as well. If there are fires in California, all the labor and materials tend to head that way and they’re harder to get. So things here get more expensive and take longer to replace. So it’s not only our state, but other states that affect what happens in the rates as well,” Tiffany says.
Tiffany is responding to the uncertainty by giving her customers more options for insurance carriers. She recently made a new partnership that enables access to more carriers.
“We just partnered with a new group, their name is Couri Insurance. We work with them to gain access to more markets. The markets have dwindled. A lot of carriers have gotten out of personal lines or paused their offerings. So it’s nice to have more carriers that we can rely on and have access to to really open up the options and help our customers through this process,” Tiffany describes.
Finding insurance can be tough because many carriers are cutting their personal insurance offerings. With more providers comes more choices for insurance, so her clients can still get the best rates and coverage.
Tiffany is looking forward to building on this foundation to make more of an impact with her business. Her goal is to grow her business so she can help even more clients navigate the insurance industry. “Now we have a lot more carriers to work from as well. And helping more people and businesses navigate those changes. So we’re excited for the growth, and helping more people is our goal,” she clarifies.
If you’re in the market for insurance, Tiffany can help you review quotes and coverage for your situation. You can contact her by phone (612-505-3329), email, or by submitting the contact form on her website. JS
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