News

Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.

-Eleanor Roosevelt

I recently heard this quote and it really caught my attention. I was thrilled to learn a great-minded woman said this. I was also challenged by it - how do I measure on the scale of minds?

We are a country of great ideas and they mostly do NOT come from politicians! I believe great advancements come from need and that new ideas are invigorating and work our brains. Even more importantly, the best way to implement ideas is through collaboration, where others can help refine a concept and bring solutions we may not have considered. Personally, I have no shortage of ideas and sometimes I even have a good one or two. At Tuscano, we talk about ideas, concepts, needs, and the challenges to meeting those needs all the time.

I am happy to report that we recently completed a project that has been in the idea stage for a while. We are now providing separate agency bill and direct bill statements. Your agency bill statement gives the account current items you collect premium on and remit to us.  The direct bill commission statement includes items where you pay premiums direct to the company, and on which we owe you commission.  Previously, we deducted your earned commissions from what you owe us. Now, we will be sending you a commission check each month for direct billed commissions due. This is a big step forward for us and we've been told it will make your job easier. Of course, your account current payment is still due to us by the 20th of the month.

There will be even more great tools coming soon; including enhanced online bill paying, optional Excel versions of your statements and down the road, electronic fund transfer (EFT) options for remitting payment. All great ideas!

This is just one of the initiatives we've taken to make it easier to do business with Tuscano. We continually strive to make your day to day dealings with us as easy as possible. We recognize a part of that is just being responsive and getting back to you quickly. 

Another part is having the markets and expertise to write business that can be tough to place, such as habitational business. We are writing more and more of this business: apartment complexes, student housing, senior housing, boarding houses, mixed occupancies and even schedules of dwellings. The experts on our Commercial Package & Property Team handle these products. They can help you with property or GL and when they can they'll offer you a package policy. Don't forget that we also have the capacity to write coastal business - just not when there is a storm warning in effect!

In our Personal Lines department we have several markets that can write your 1-4 family dwellings, whether they are owner-occupied, seasonal, rental, or seasonal-rental. American Modern Insurance Group provides great online tools that make it easy for you to quote and bind business online. Their habitational guidelines are fairly broad, writing updated homes up to 100 years old. They also offer direct billing and installments for your customer - what's not to love? For more complex risks, try our online dwelling submission tool. You can enter the risk information right on our website and it goes directly to our underwriter's desk. We have many market options, both admitted and non-admitted depending on the coastal exposure and the risk characteristics.

I hope after reading this newsletter you have a few ideas on business you should be sending to Tuscano! We do appreciate your business.

Happy Fall! Let's Go Bucs!