Tell Me Your Insurance or Claims Horror Story - Win a Signed Copy of the Book!!

You know what I'm talking about-- dealing with a car accident, your neighbor's tree falls on your house or perhaps you added a teenager to your auto policy.

Tell me your insurance nightmare story. And, as impossible as it may sound, please edit out the profanity. I get it...

In the comments below, tell me your insurance or claims horror story...

The top two stories win a signed copy of Hide! Here Comes the Insurance Guy, the powerful new book that has taken the business and insurance industries by storm


Yes, It's True - I Am An Insurance Guy on Purpose

Why I Wrote a Humorous Book On Insurance


When you mention the term "insurance guy" or "insurance gal", many different images come to mind.

You may think of these well tailored, professional types who stroll through those beautiful downtown insurance company offices, off to wherever those people go to do whatever it is they do.

Or perhaps you envision the slightly harried insurance adjuster or appraiser who comes out to look at your car when it gets smashed up.

You know the one I’m talking about-he comes out with a camera around his neck, a clipboard in his hand and at least one pen in his shirt pocket.

It doesn’t matter how much damage is on the vehicle; he always looks at you and says "Where was it hit?" He feels around, takes a couple of pictures. For some reason, he always rubs a mark of the roof with his thumb.

He then gives you an estimate, and disappears, calling out "any questions, call your adjuster". As you leave, you hear faintly in the background: "Where was it hit?"

Maybe you think of your insurance agent, whom you call when you add another car to your auto policy, and she says she needs the check today, so if you could meet her at her son’s cello recital at the elementary school at 3:15.
You pull up next to her Escalade and hand her the check. You decline an invitation to see the show, resisting the urge to tell her you have other things to do, like making a living.

If you work in the insurance industry, it doesn’t matter what you tell folks. All of them think one thing-he works in insurance; he does insurance; he must SELL insurance.

I am a member of a lesser known community of professionals that choose to interact with the insurance community on a full time basis. I’m that guy in your organization who always seems a little disheveled, slightly distracted and just a tad odd.

I am a risk manager.

"Hey," you might ask "What does that guy do?"
"He’s the risk manager," is the reply. "He does the insurance. Whatever you do, don’t talk to him. Nobody ever talks to him. If you do, he’s going to bore you with all that insurance nonsense, and since people rarely ever talk to him, he won’t let you get away. Some folks say he’s brilliant, but I’m not really sure. No one really knows what he’s talking about, so they leave him alone. Actually, in a big company like this, that alone makes him a genius. He hangs out with the IT guy. Go figure."

I am a risk manager. I work for a company, trying to make sure that all the risks and loss exposures a company has can be afforded, and for those exposures that cannot be afforded without a negative financial impact on the organization, I purchase insurance.

I lead a kind of lonely professional life. When I walk the halls, people know that if they talk to me, I may try to work insurance into the conversation. So they duck around a corner or dive under a desk. Some will even get on the phone to other departments:

"Joe? Hi. Hide! Here comes the insurance guy!"

Thus, Hide! Here Comes the Insurance Guy was conceived. In 1986, I was in an operations position at a regional car rental company. My boss got mad at me and decided to punish me by putting me in charge of claims.
As time went on, I became the full time risk manager. I remember when I fell into the risk-management role at the company I was working for at the time.
I almost had a nervous breakdown. Was it because of the pressure of handling insurance for the entire organization? Or was it because that same year, the company had decided to self-insure its entire fleet of 5,000 vehicles?

Nope. It was because I couldn't understand a single word they were saying!!

For every insurance professional who takes a position as a risk manager, there are nine or ten of us who fall into the job because a need develops as the organizations grow. That need may be filled by someone who has interacted with insurance companies, or like me, due to a short term anger episode.
Regardless, I only wished I could have found a book that explains how business insurance works and what a risk manager does.

All of the information on business insurance comes from the insurance industry. In fact, most companies rely on their insurance broker for insurance expertise.

But wait, aren’t they the ones who are selling you the insurance?

I am an anomaly in the insurance industry. I currently hold four insurance designations, including the Chartered Property Casualty Underwriting (CPCU) designation, which is considered the highest and most prestigious designation conveyed in the property/casualty insurance industry. Yet, less than 2% of CPCUs are risk managers and less than 1% work outside the insurance industry.

I am a risk manager, and although I am considered an insurance professional by the insurance industry, I have never worked in the insurance industry.

Hide! Here Comes the Insurance Guy is an approachable text on how to manage your insurance program to protect the assets of your company in a cost-effective manner. The book de-mystifies the process, and educates as well as entertains.
When was the last time you could say that about an insurance book?

If you are a risk manager, you will identify. If you are an executive, a business owner or just someone totally baffled by insurance (and you're not alone), it’s a must read.

Rick Vassar CPCU, ARM, AIS, ARM-P is the principal in The Vassar Group, LLC, in Sterling, VA, specializing in risk management and insurance consulting.
Copyright 2006 by The Vassar Group, LLC. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.
Hide Here Comes the Insurance Guy – A Practical Guide to Understanding Business Insurance and Risk Management, 2006 iUniverse, Inc. ISBN 0-595-38608-6 (pbk) ISBN 0-595-83388-7 (cloth).