Do you have clients that believe that reporting a claim to their insurance company should be avoided if it is not serious? As insurance professionals we all know, this is just not the case.  This is one of the insurance myths addressed in a series of two articles in Insurance Journal (see here & here).

An auto accident – a fender bender where one party paid cash on the spot to settle the claim – is used as an example of why not reporting a claim is a bad idea.  The author correctly points out that a subsequent, and late, claim for bodily injury might be declined by the insurance company based on a failure to report the claim in a timely manner.  While this is a simple and obvious example, we still see this avoidance of claim reporting from commercial insureds from time to time, including professional liability insurance insureds.

Other myths addressed in the article:

·         I don’t have anything, so I don’t need insurance

·         He is a 1099 employee, and therefore an independent contractor

·         I only need Flood insurance if I am in a flood zone