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Insuring your rental company and then some with Sean Hoffman: Episode 59
118 Plays1 month ago
Nate and Kyle put Sean Hoffman, ARA Insurance president, in the guest seat to ask all of their pressing insurance questions and he delivers! Sean offers insights on insurance policies, risk management, and safety practices specifically for tent rental companies. Discover how industry-specific coverage, contracts, and safety initiatives can protect your business and lower premiums.
PS, if you want to join ARA and you tell them you heard about it from Nate and Kyle, you'll get 25% off your membership! https://ararental.org/join-ARA/promo/Podcast25
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Transcript
Greetings and Podcasting Challenges
00:00:00
Speaker
good morning, Kyle. How you doing? I'm doing good, Nate. We need to address something, though. It's our first episode since Bay Area. Yeah. Go ahead. We we got attacked.
00:00:12
Speaker
I'm a champ, redder, man. I'm working on all day. Getting mistakes in the ground no matter what they say. From sunrise to the night, make sure everything's right.
00:00:25
Speaker
Yeah, I'm a champ, redder, man. I'm working all day.
00:00:43
Speaker
We did. We did. And I'm glad that I kept my name out of it and that you got pinned down for that one. And I'll let you handle it from there. And I'm i'm handling it. Don't worry.
00:00:54
Speaker
i keep They're going to be they're going to have something to say about this, because, you know, we're like real tent guys. So we have to, like, be out on the road doing stuff. So we don't have a nice studio to
Introduction to Sean Hoffman and ARA Insurance
00:01:03
Speaker
record in. So this is what we have to do. But, you know, I wish we had a nice studio and we could just worry about a podcast all day. But we actually have real jobs.
00:01:11
Speaker
Well, I'll let you take that from here and I'll just keep watching from the the outside looking in. But today we've got a great episode. We've got a wonderful guest. To kind of dig into some nitty-gritty of the industry of rental, we've got Sean Hoffman, president of ARA Insurance. Sean, how are you?
00:01:28
Speaker
Good. How are you guys? Good, buddy. good Glad to have you on. Yeah, thanks for having me. Sean, if you can kind of give us a quick ah background just on how you ended up leading insurance for the rental industry.
00:01:43
Speaker
and So I've been in the insurance and industry over 20 years. I got the opportunity to join ARA Insurance about seven years ago. Immediately, like after visiting some stores and some tent companies, the people, you know, I go back to that, just really great people.
Key Insurance Lines Discussion
00:02:01
Speaker
And so I've really enjoyed meeting everybody. ARA is such a unique deal. where you know it's it's more a community. and And so everybody's kind of looking out for each other.
00:02:11
Speaker
We really grow by referrals, but it's also just nice to, when I go out and people say, hey have you met so-and-so or met so-and-so? So it's really been a I don't know how to describe it. It's just unique, very unique way to get into the industry.
00:02:27
Speaker
So obviously we're going to focus on insurance today and try to educate the listeners on what they should look for. So the first thing obviously is they should be insured. What kind of policies should they have?
00:02:40
Speaker
Okay. we're We're going easy. I like it. And by the way, this, this is exciting. I'm excited for your listeners to get to hear about insurance. We'll probably, you know, this is one of the most exciting topics that's out there. So I'm fully aware of that.
00:02:55
Speaker
um You know, Business insurance, general business insurance, right? So we sell four major lines. Inland Marine, which is maybe one of the more important ones. That's your equipment.
00:03:06
Speaker
General re liability, and that's if something happens with your equipment to somebody. ah One of our biggest lines now is auto. Just over time has just generally become one of our largest premium lines, auto.
00:03:18
Speaker
And then the final thing we offer is property, you know, your business buildings and things like that. I will say we also have an excess insurance policy over the top of those, but those are the main things that that you should have. So those, those four lines and then excess.
00:03:34
Speaker
what where is warla uncleold Yeah. Yeah. So we don't air insurance. We can, we have agents that represent us that can offer work comp and we can do it. That's just not something that, you know, we specialize in, or we really are going to offer, but we do have independent agents out there. Most of them do have a work comp market. If if somebody really needs one, we do have a broker that we work with that can handle WorkComp.
00:03:56
Speaker
But that's just not in you know and our main suite of ideas, our main bucket of ideas
00:04:05
Speaker
of ideas. What do you think that companies are most exposed to that they don't really realize? So the the most calls I've got since I've started here, people say, well, I've got coverage.
00:04:18
Speaker
But what they don't have is coverage when it's off their property. you know, you guys are willfully giving your equipment to somebody else. And really it's it's probably more the equipment than, you know, the event side, but you you are doing both the same.
00:04:33
Speaker
So you guys are willfully parting for that equipment and insurance isn't designed to cover that. So we have in our policies, what's, you know, conversion coverage basically that says if somebody doesn't give your equipment back to you, we're going to cover that.
00:04:45
Speaker
um and And that's a little unique. The other one is in transit. And so we even see some rental policies where they'll cover it while it's away at a job site or on a, but it's, you know, it's
Inland Marine Policy and Weather Impact
00:04:57
Speaker
that transportation. You guys are also transportation companies moving your stuff all around.
00:05:01
Speaker
And so we're going to cover it when it's, it's in between point A and point B. So those are two of the the biggest things that I see when people call in and and, and we get a lot of phone calls and that's the one thing that they're missing.
00:05:13
Speaker
Hmm. okay So let's dive into inland marine policies because i know it's been a hot topic recently with replacement values. How does that work? What are you actually covering with your inland marine policy? Everything in your warehouse from the computers to the printers to your inventory? Or are you just covering some of your items?
00:05:39
Speaker
so So the inland marine is specifically the equipment that you're renting out. So that that's the equipment that you're, that's our inland marine policy. um And you know, it's it's interesting, from we talk about making sure, and I don't know how often you guys do this, but we really wanna make sure that everything that you have, like we're covering it so you could replace it.
00:06:02
Speaker
um Lately, especially on the event side, some of our biggest losses have been fires. We've had, you know, a couple fires in last couple of years where, It's not just the fire damage, but also the smoke damage to the linens and the tents.
00:06:17
Speaker
We want to make sure that we're covering everything in your warehouse so you can get back up and running right away. And so that's what that policy is is meant to do. you know, it's been a hot topic a little bit lately. It hasn't as much as we thought it might be.
00:06:32
Speaker
but But one thing that, you know, it's a good opportunity for, you know, a rental store to kind of go through, not only to see that there are and everything's insured to value because in the last five years, we've seen the prices of some materials just skyrocket.
00:06:46
Speaker
But also it's a good opportunity to go through. And is there anything that you have in your warehouse that that you're not renting or that you really aren't using anymore? And that's something that's kind of come up.
00:06:57
Speaker
you know A lot of people just hold onto stuff a long time because they may rent it out once or twice. But when you're looking at insuring all your equipment, like, well, am am I making money on this anymore or is it time to to part with some of that older stuff and get your value aligned to to what you're actually renting?
00:07:15
Speaker
Well, you got to save it in case it's a fire one day. So you get new one, Sean. Come on. sure Well, yeah. what Spoken father like son here. You said it, not me. So that's more inside. So on the outside, then looking in, um weather related, wind, rain, snow loads.
00:07:35
Speaker
What do you see in most claims tied to on in that sector?
00:07:40
Speaker
You know, obviously weather is is probably one of the biggest things that happens to our tent, the tent guys, right? And so it's a lot of wind, but recently it's been some snow too. We've seen some collapsing.
00:07:54
Speaker
and in places you wouldn't expect it in the south. And so it's it's it's a mix of both. um in We like to tell people like, hey, if you have a chance, get out get that equipment down. But obviously, realistically, you always can't do that.
00:08:10
Speaker
um So it's the damage to the tents, Nate, but it's also the damage to what's under the tent, whether it's the personals the personal property underneath the tent or whether it blows into a house.
00:08:22
Speaker
So there's a little bit of mix of both of those. But yeah, tent, wind damage and snow damage are probably the two most prolific things that are happening to our tents. And that's covered in your inland marine policy, weather related?
00:08:36
Speaker
Yeah. Now, obviously, it could tie into a general liability if it damages something else, too. But little bit of both of those. Well, then when you guys, when that happens and that tent collapses and things like that, is one of the things that you guys go out and do, do you make sure that it's properly installed and go through the necessary steps to make sure that that's done correctly?
00:08:53
Speaker
Do we?
00:08:57
Speaker
No. I mean, every time, i mean, we're not inspecting every tent that's going up. No, we're relying on you guys to do that. and And that kind of goes back to, you know, making sure our members are up to code and doing the best practices using ARA, Safe Tent Essentials.
00:09:13
Speaker
proper ballasting, staking.
ARA's Unique Evaluation and Rental Policies
00:09:15
Speaker
those Those are things that, you know, hey, what can you guys do as rental stores is making sure you're following those set instructions and doing it every time because we're not going out. No, we're not doing it every time there's a tent set up, making sure everything's, all the I's are dotted and the T's are crossed.
00:09:33
Speaker
we're We're counting on our insurers to make sure that protocols and those procedures are put in place ahead of time. That way we can, you know, we can go to our insurance carrier and say, hey, these guys are doing the best practices. They're doing the best in class every time.
00:09:51
Speaker
well i see a world where yeah Do you see world where we have to, obviously everyone can say they're doing it correctly. And as insurance gets more and more expensive, we need to weed out the people who aren't doing it safely and putting in all the claims and making insurance it's expensive for us.
00:10:10
Speaker
Do you see a world where you have like a rating? So every company has a rating. And so maybe Chattanooga tent is a class A company because they don't have put any claims in and their, what their premium is less because of that, or is that already how the system works?
00:10:25
Speaker
We're in that world now, right? We look at every account based on what that specific account is doing. So if if you, If Brian, if your company LNA tents is doing one thing and Chattanooga tents is doing another, we're looking at what kind of procedures and practices you have in place.
00:10:44
Speaker
We're looking at what kind of security, you know, what your driver history is, but we're also looking at your claim history. So we're we're not, you know, it's not a one size shotgun approach. We are looking at every individual account and looking at all the things that you do.
00:10:59
Speaker
If, if you have tele, telematics and all your box trucks, and driver cameras, and you're doing those things, you're gonna have, you know, those are things that are gonna help you out when our underwriters are looking specifically at your account.
00:11:11
Speaker
um and And that's the thing that, you know, back to the the big picture of ARA insurance and what we're what were different is, you know, we wanna be here as the stable insurer for all of our members.
00:11:22
Speaker
um We were started in 1977, so next year is gonna be the, I can't this, is that the 50th anniversary of the, we're gonna celebrate the big 5-0. big five o And so we have to be the stable insurance carrier because insurance companies can come in, they can write you for a couple of years and pull out. but But what we'll do is we'll be here for the long haul. So we're going to try to be as competitive as we can on every quote.
00:11:47
Speaker
But we also want to make sure in 10 years, 15, 20 years that we're still here doing the same thing. look does that Does that answer your question a little bit? Yeah. So there is a way you're evaluating each company separately. It's not just a common...
00:12:01
Speaker
This is the revenue. Yeah. Oh yeah. A hundred percent. Well, and that was going to be kind of my point is, um, you know, and you were jumping into it a little bit, but what, what is the advantage of ARA versus a regular insurance company? You know, what, what is it that you guys are setting yourselves apart for and doing differently? I know what you just said, come in and write us for a couple of years, but you know, just what is, why do we want people to come to ARA insurance instead of venturing out into the other
Contracts and Liability Issues
00:12:27
Speaker
insurance worlds?
00:12:28
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. A few things is number one, I think is the the coverage. Our coverage is going to be the best. It's designed literally for rental companies. It's all we do. We're not trying to write other things. We're just writing rental stores. that That's, that's number one. Number two, we're going invest, you know, everything we do, we invest back into ARA.
00:12:48
Speaker
So we're big supporters of whether it's the ARA show, ARA education and different initiatives. That's, That's probably one of the biggest differences that you know every our profits go back up to ARA and we want to help help the industry out. Number three, we have agents that do specifically rental, they're rental focused. They attend the state events, the local events.
00:13:13
Speaker
They're going to see other rental stores. When I started, like I said earlier, one of my first times going out was with one of our agents and visiting stores. And it was interesting to see his frontline underwriting approach and kind of going through a warehouse and just the the basic reaction was um they had wires shelving throughout. And he kind of explained why you need that wire shelving and how linen should be stored and talking about washers and dryers for for tent materials, right? They just have a little bit more knowledge and they're focused on this industry.
00:13:49
Speaker
so So those are some of the main reasons And then the the biggest thing is we're just going to be here for the long haul. We don't plan on doing anything else or going anywhere. So in in another 50 years, area insurance will still be here insuring the rental members, whether it's equipment or tent. That's the plan.
00:14:08
Speaker
And that's our focus. Love that. So moving over to the contract side, i know this is kind of this is a tough one for a lot of companies. i know you guys do a lot with the contracts and things like that.
00:14:21
Speaker
But how important is it and just for the contracts to protect us, but not only to protect us to make sure that the signatures are done and then you know using that for the insurance process moving forward when when issues happen?
00:14:35
Speaker
Very important, right? ah we We want to make sure, A, the contracts are signed. We also want to make sure there are approved contracts with certain language in it hold harmless but But that really gives us the ability to subrogate, and which means go, you know, in cases where we can go after the customer and you're transferring that risk to your rental customer and taking it off yourself.
00:14:58
Speaker
And, you know, i want to talk a little more about what makes us different. And this is this is interesting when it comes to contracts. We had a large a large customer of ours that did a lot of work for university.
00:15:11
Speaker
and And you guys both maybe can speak this a little bit too, is that part of the contract said that while the tent was in the care of the university, they were responsible for it. So a large storm was coming through and the the insurance carrier said, hey the university should have taken taking that tent down to prepare. right And so it was one of those things where we as ARA Insurance had to get involved. And we told the insurance company, it's like, that's the last thing you wanted to do. But in the meantime, the insurance carrier wanted to get
00:15:45
Speaker
that money back because there was a contract in place in, you know, they were going to go and hold the university responsible for $120,000 for a tent to recover the cost.
00:15:59
Speaker
And this was right before the 4th of July. so luckily we were able to get on the call, you know, with the company and say, Hey, this is, this is not what we wanted, right? We didn't have time for our people to get up there. There was no way they could have gotten that structure down in time.
00:16:14
Speaker
And it should have probably withstood the wind. But that's where a ora insurance comes in. We can have that conversation with a carrier and talk through it and say, while that's in the contract, we want that to be in a contract. There's cases where we don't want a university taking down a very large tent during a storm. And then killing somebody and then having a bigger deal. So it's it's making more risk.
00:16:42
Speaker
And do you think that we're protecting ourselves enough from just client negligence as a whole, you know, when it comes to just who's liable with things from hanging things from a tent or another vendor damages a tent, you know, just tell us a little bit about that.
00:16:58
Speaker
That's, that's a good question. Yeah. You want to, you want to make sure you're doing all the right things that you're you're doing right. And then trying to control it. um Whether that that's, that's, a you know, we're more concerned about what you guys are doing and making sure that you disclose what they shouldn't be doing.
00:17:17
Speaker
um So if you're staking things correctly, you're calling before digging the the things that you guys can control, but then also properly advising them what they shouldn't be doing.
00:17:27
Speaker
um I think that's the most important thing, making it clear and spelling that out. Is that, I guess, let me ask you guys, is that fairly common where people come in after the fact on your structures and and modify and add things?
00:17:40
Speaker
Well, I think we're the first ones in last ones out every time. So it's, it's like what we don't know is the, you know, in the middle portion of that, um, if we're not on site during the event and things like that, but you know, if, if it's a big enough event that we stopped back out and check it out to make sure that it's under control and that people don't do anything that's dumb per se. And like you said, don't do, and you know, but you can go back out and call it out, but I feel like nine times out of 10, um,
00:18:07
Speaker
It's like, ah we'll just ask for forgiveness later type thing. So they just do it. um So that's that's where I was kind of wondering where the liability on something like that would fall. And, you know, is that something that you need to make sure that you you have in writing? And, you know, what's something that we should always make sure that we have in writing so that things like that don't happen and try and cover ourselves? I know it's case by case and things like that, but and nothing's perfect. But is there something that we should, you think, have in writing or make sure that we do go over?
00:18:38
Speaker
Yeah, I would just have it, I think having a good contract with all of your policies clearly in place and disclosing everything that you just said that that you don't want them to do and putting that in writing and then being able to point to it. If they did something that was on that list or even something that was close to being on that list, then you could easily point and say, this this was clearly in our contract. But but you know those at the end of the day, the rental contract is is crucial for that, to transfer that. and And we want to make sure that you guys are getting that every time and and spelling all of that out. so we have something to go back to and point to and say, hey, this was caused because we told them, you know, not to have a bonfire inside the tent and let alone they they
Safety Programs and Insurance Costs
00:19:19
Speaker
did that. um Yeah. are You know, the extreme example. But I think the more you spell out, the better.
00:19:26
Speaker
So this is probably good time to bring this up. say a production company is going to come in after us and do the lighting in the tent. Should we be getting a COI from them? And what exactly does the COI cover?
00:19:39
Speaker
That's a great question. My my initial answer is yes. And I don't know the second part. And I'd have to do a little research on that. but But yeah, I think making sure that everybody else that's in there, specifically a production company, you would you would want to make sure that they're covered and insured.
00:19:57
Speaker
But I'd have to find the exact language that we that we'd want that to say. So we should be asking for any, do you, do you already on the, when it comes to production companies or people coming in and and I know Kyle, your business is a little different cause you guys are only doing tent Nate, I don't know as much about your, but Kyle, you're just doing the tent. So you've got a lot of people coming in after the fact.
00:20:20
Speaker
Well, and usually we're not hiring them. So we don't even know who it is. Yeah. Interesting. Yeah. Now you're like, and nine times out of 10, nine times out of 10, if we're, if we're, if the production team is putting stuff in there, it's usually we're working for the production team because we're traveling the country, you know, with different production teams and things like that. So, um, well, I'm going to kind of put you on the spot here, Sean. Um, so we've got this safe, ten we've got this safe tending initiative thing going on, right. And it's taken off and ARA is doing a great job with it and it's moving around and we're doing all these trainings and everything like that.
00:20:53
Speaker
And you talked about a little bit on how cameras and safe driving and that thing, you know, that that that helps with the premiums. Are we going to get to a world here or are we in the world yet where safety is actually impacting insurance premiums and not just safety on the roads, but safety and training programs, SOPs, certifications or anything like that? And if I invest in better processes and safety for my crews, is that going to pay off for insurance savings later? And and not just, okay, they're safe, and so they're not getting hurt type thing in workman's comp, but just you guys seeing the physical things that I'm doing to make my insurance premium cheaper.
00:21:34
Speaker
Yeah, and I don't know if i don't know if it will be if we're prepared to go to a world where it's going to be like, if you do this, it's a 5% discount. If you do this, it's a 5%. We're not going to go a straight dollar for dollar discount.
00:21:45
Speaker
but But when we're looking at your account and if you're doing the safe tenting and you're going to sign up for ARA safe driving, that overall is going to help you know with your individual premium. But the the thing about ARA insurance is we're insuring rental stores all over across the United States. And so the more people we can get doing those things, that helps everybody's premiums because we're going to be paying less less losses. um You know, the premium is, excuse me, insurance is basically taking, you know, risk and spreading it throughout, right, the industry. And we're very unique because all of our insurers are in this industry. So if if we can get everybody to do those things and everybody to be safer,
00:22:29
Speaker
In theory, that's gonna lower our payments, which gonna lower the premium that we're charging to people. that That's the simple answer. Then you specifically, each store that does those things versus a store that doesn't, let's say Nate, you're doing and Kyle's not doing them, you're gonna see you know a direct impact to your premium versus Kyle who's who's doing whatever they're doing at LNA, right? That's the the difference between those two things.
00:22:53
Speaker
um the The hardest thing is when somebody says, hey, I'm doing this now, can I get a discount? It's like, well, we need to see, we we need to see proof to do it. Right. It's gotta go out. we need We need some history and we need some proof to do.
00:23:08
Speaker
Right. And I would love, I guess selfishly, I'm just thinking, you know, with all this training, something that provides a little more incentive now with, with everything that's coming up and everything moving forward. And you guys being in specific industry insurance, I thought that would be a really cool thing. That's the C for everybody.
00:23:26
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. No, and, And it's and so obviously we we want to see it be successful. We wanted to see it grow because it it is going to impact everybody. um with With our insurance, like over the last couple of years, we have seen obviously with the cost of equipment and just how much everything now is the the price for you guys to buy is also the price for us to replace.
00:23:48
Speaker
And so anything we can do to help control that moving forward and limit those premiums, that'd be better for all of us. i've seen the In this new world of social media, are insurance carriers looking at our profiles?
00:24:02
Speaker
They should be. So I'm going to use this in a past. I'm not going to throw anybody here under the bus, right? I'm going to use a past experience. I was working at a company and they, you know, it was all contractors insurance.
00:24:18
Speaker
And so one of the things that on the website was, hey, we can do pools. And they were just a general contractor. And this the carrier said, yeah, we're not going to write this guy because he does pools. He's like, oh, I just throw that on my website because you know I probably could do that. It's like, yeah, they're looking at everything.
00:24:36
Speaker
I mean, why would you put that on there? And so, yeah, I would say just stick to the stuff that you do and don't put other things on there. And then also, you know make sure you're doing everything with your best practices, putting your best foot forward, because I think Any information that is out there is public information.
00:24:54
Speaker
um the The other thing i i kind of I cringe every time I see is you know every time there's a Facebook post with a bounce house blowing away or a tent blowing away. it' you know just i get it. that they get It gets some views, but like on the insurance side, number one, my first thought is, A, is that mine?
00:25:11
Speaker
Are we insuring that? But b please don't let our you know please don't let the insurance company see see those things because there are rare And typically they're not, you know, somebody that we're insuring, it's a smaller outfit, but but those types things. Probably doesn't have insurance.
00:25:26
Speaker
Probably, right? But, you know, those are the kind of thing that they they cast a line on everything. but But I think, yeah, I think in this world, everything out in the in the social media slash, but you know, website, everything is reviewable. um even Even to the level of, I've heard that some carriers will look at Yelp reviews,
00:25:48
Speaker
of companies and they can find out through the Yelp review or the Google review of you know some kind of the practices the company is using.
Ensuring Proper Coverage and Inventory Evaluation
00:25:57
Speaker
Probably not so much in this industry, but it could be in the restaurant industry where they talk about some of the the practices. but But everything out on the internet and in social media can all be used for underwriting purposes. that there Everybody's looking at everything.
00:26:11
Speaker
Kind of like when you're trying to find a job, same same thing, right? Everything, that's what tell my kids. Everything is permanent now. Everything can and will be used against you. Yeah. Right?
00:26:23
Speaker
yeah In the court of law. Yeah. Well, so we live in a world now where I feel like there's a lot of subcontracted labor out there. And a lot of these companies are using subcontracted labor.
00:26:36
Speaker
Tell me or give me a little insight on, you know, if ah if a subcontractor goes out and gets injured on your job site, is working for you, um or any kind of liability, you know, if that subcontractor is working for you at any site and something happens, that going is that going to fall back on you as the company that hired them? Or would that then go to the subcontractor insurance and it falls on them?
00:27:01
Speaker
So I'll i'll be out totally honest. that it's That's the work comp, you know, that's that more of the work comp line. Thankfully, I don't have to, we don't deal with that. um So I'll probably just stay away from answering that. I feel like there could be quite a bit there.
00:27:16
Speaker
Yeah, a lot. On the subcontractor thing, though, if the subcontractor is installing my equipment for me, if something happens and they don't install it correctly, that's still coming back on me.
00:27:29
Speaker
So at some point, I feel like you have to have one of your guys that work for you, that's an actual employee, go out and check off the job and make sure that everything looks correct. Yeah. Yeah.
00:27:40
Speaker
You know, and and that goes back to making sure they're following your procedures and your policies that are in place. Yeah, which is really, really tough. It feels like these days with all the subcontracted labor and and people traveling traveling all over the U.S., it feels like you know you don't know what they're getting from that.
00:27:57
Speaker
But if you could give one piece of advice just to just to every tent rental company or owner out there on in the insurance and just what they need, whether they're insured, uninsured, looking for new policies, anything like that, what would you give to them?
00:28:12
Speaker
and Make sure you're covered. Make sure you're covered for what you have. um that's probably the biggest thing and making sure it's covered all the time. Like we've talked about, whether it's, whether it's in the warehouse or out on rent just, I think if if something, if the worst case scenario happened to you, making sure that you could get up and start your business, you know, in a week or two weeks with with everything you have, of we've we've had cases where that that's happened, where people have lost everything and they've been able to get back up.
00:28:42
Speaker
um you know, in a week or two or whether it's you three. And then that's with ARA insurance. That's with ARA because ARA also has brands and different things, but also ARA insurance gets you back. And so, you know, if you're a company and you're you're running a business, just making sure that every night when you go to bed that you are going to be able to keep operating your business for the foreseeable future. And if you're with an insurance company that i can do that, that's great. But I can, you know, I can tell you ARA insurance would be able to do the same.
00:29:11
Speaker
Um, so that's, that's probably the most important thing. And if I called you tomorrow and said, review my company, what would be the first three things that you'd look at? If you called me tomorrow, I would connect you with a independent insurance agent and you're in Nashville. We've got a great guy in Rome, Georgia who covers in, who covers that area.
00:29:33
Speaker
and And he'd probably give you more than three, but that that'd be the first thing he would do. And, um, I think number one is making sure that you've got the right coverage, right? And making sure you've got that dollar, the dollar amount, but also the right.
00:29:47
Speaker
Is there any holes in your current policy that are leaving you open for a possible loss?
Significant Claims and Prevention Strategies
00:29:53
Speaker
whether Let's just use something we've already talked about, whether it's just in transit um or, you know, how is it? What's the value? Is insured?
00:30:01
Speaker
I think that would probably be the biggest thing. Is is there any holes in your current policy that that are leaving you open to something that we could that we could cover? So you keep bringing up the value of inventory.
00:30:14
Speaker
I don't bring it up. you You started it, Kyle. I just was. Well, that's such a hard topic because if you bought um a structure in 2010, the price of it in 2010 to today is obviously much different.
00:30:30
Speaker
So should we be adjusting our inventory value based on today's rates? of what it would cost us to buy. Cause obviously the structure didn't cost that. We'll just use round numbers. 2010, we paid a hundred thousand. Well today we might pay 400.
00:30:45
Speaker
Yeah, no, I think the, we want to look at the acquisition costs, right? What's the, what's the value of it?
00:30:54
Speaker
Versus valuing your inventory is the hardest part.
00:30:59
Speaker
Agreed. Yeah. Especially, especially in your, especially in your world, right? um especially in your world. I think it's a little easier on the equipment side of the world, but in your world, it's probably a little harder to do.
00:31:11
Speaker
Oh, it's just because the a lot of it, you know, structure can hang around forever. mean, how old that structure is and and being able to say what it is versus like what you're saying with the, with an evaluation now, Kyle, it's just totally different. I mean, your company could be worth triple based on what the inventory of today is versus, you know, how old that structure is.
00:31:31
Speaker
Yeah. Skid steer is a skid steer, but, you can find You can find that price online. Right. Exactly. Well, yeah if you, if, if you, I guess if you weren't evaluating, well, go ahead. I'm not even going to go there.
00:31:49
Speaker
What is the worst claim you've seen? The worst? Yeah. Dollar, dollar wise or, uh, we'll do dollar wise.
00:32:00
Speaker
Dollar wise, we've had three fires in the last couple of years. ah So they're all, all three are pretty bad. um You know, one we think was due to an overloaded electrical outlet. ah One was being used where people were refinishing tables and the rags combusted in a bucket.
00:32:21
Speaker
um That was a bad one. And then the final one was extension cord was used just every day, you know, as a permanent plug, it's overheated. Those are the three, you know, identified causes that we think. And so all three of them, you're just kind of like, I think all three of those could have probably been avoided, right?
Personal Insurance Views and Career Journey
00:32:43
Speaker
And so if you just, that goes back to Nate, your question earlier, like what can we do to control our premiums? Like, we'll just, you know, do the right things and and try to make sure everything is operating the the proper way.
00:32:56
Speaker
And so those, Those are kind of three things. um And, you know, there's there's kind of of a random one that happened where a tent blew over and there was a homeless guy underneath the tent and that got hurt.
00:33:09
Speaker
And you're like, well, that's just really bad luck. um And so it's it then it's a matter of like, what's the jurisdiction of the the city that it's in? Should it not? Yeah. and And it's like, how can you control some of those things? Right. So that's more just, I've heard that story, Sean. That is the the full story on that one is one of the craziest things I've ever heard. Yeah. So that's more bad luck. But so, you know, we, we try to, you know, prevent the preventables. Right. So we're, what are we doing at area insurance to do that? We're, we're sending out these, you know, loss surveys. We're,
00:33:43
Speaker
we come out and kind of do an inspection and we're kind of doubling down on the fire part of it now, because if we can just prevent one of those multimillion dollar fires, it's it's good for us, but it's also really good for the industry, right? We don't want anybody to have to go through that.
00:33:57
Speaker
While it's all paid for, it's gotta be an incredibly stressful time as as you're trying to find new locations and run your business and build a new building. So that's one thing we're really ah focusing on 2026 trying to prevention.
00:34:10
Speaker
you know do what we can or fire prevention And, you know, help prevent the already preventable stuff that could have been handled. Yeah.
00:34:21
Speaker
yeah You know, and you guys both talked about what you whats what's it back in the in the warehouse, you know, how many millions of dollars, no matter what size you are. But it's just it's super disruptive, obviously, for the business and and and stressful. So we'll we'll try to prevent a couple of those.
00:34:39
Speaker
Let's talk deductibles for a second. Do you feel in our industry, since everything is so, most items are expensive, right? Is it better to have a high deductible because you're not going to put in the small claims?
00:34:54
Speaker
Yeah, I think, you know, it's a, that's a personal store by store decision, obviously, but I think that, you know, in general, yeah, a higher deductible and keeping off those small claims,
00:35:07
Speaker
This is a personal opinion, like insurance is for the big ones, right? Like that's what I've, that's how my personal thing is. we That's a, if you want to turn in smaller claims, we will pay those as well, but we really want to protect you from the major losses as well.
00:35:21
Speaker
So there is a little bit of premium relief when you raise your deductible, but you know, at the end of day, it's got to be what's best for your business. That's something you, with us, you can talk to us. We can do all kinds of different deductibles on different lines. So that's, we're, we've got that ability to change that over time.
00:35:44
Speaker
Sean, have you always wanted to do insurance? Always. Is this, is this something you've always wanted to do? And if you didn't, where, what would you do besides this? Is there something else? Because I feel like I stress out every day over tents blowing down and things, but I can only imagine you getting those phone calls and you're like, Oh wow, this is a new one. Or, you know, just all those different stories.
00:36:05
Speaker
So growing up, I wanted to get into sports, uh, sports broadcasting. And so like getting on this podcast kind of, I feel like completes that goal of mine. You know, this is we check that box, my bucket, like la take this off the bucket list.
00:36:20
Speaker
Um, but you know, it I did the, I did the sports thing for a little bit, radio, TV and newspaper. And then i quickly realized that, um,
00:36:32
Speaker
That wasn't you know everything I thought it would be. And I got in, like I said, in early 2000s, got in the insurance industry and just started to have the ability to, while it's not the most exciting thing, it is something that like everybody does, everybody has, and it can actually, in in many cases, help people.
Rising Auto Insurance Costs and Relaxation Choices
00:36:52
Speaker
And so i you know started doing that where it it solves a problem for people. And so I think that's why I like it because,
00:37:01
Speaker
you know we we all just are, you know, relationships, right? So having these relationships and meeting people and being able to actually help solve some problems, that's why I kind of fell into it.
00:37:12
Speaker
But if I did it all again, after meeting some, you know, rental people, you guys look like you're having way, you know, way too much fun. it's if I don't, now I don't, I don't know if I go on the equipment side or the event side. I think I'd be more on the equipment side. No,
00:37:30
Speaker
No offense to the listeners here, um especially after seeing some of the weekend stuff, you know, but it's, yeah, I think I have no regrets. I, like I said, 20, 20 plus years in insurance. That's not ever what I thought I'd be doing when I was a, was a kid. I didn't always just dream to be in insurance, but it's. I've dreamed of being a tank guy my whole life, you know, Kyle, you, Kyle, you probably woke up and like,
00:37:58
Speaker
As a baby, just like there was no choice, right? You were 10, my boy. He came out of the hospital wrapped in vinyl. Yeah. Wrapped in vinyl as soon as he walked out of the hospital. we You know one thing we haven't touched on, Nate, is auto.
00:38:12
Speaker
And... Why is auto insurance getting so expensive? ah And it's nationwide. I think it's happening everywhere. Is some of it because the world is so litigious now?
00:38:24
Speaker
hundred Great. Thank you. That's a big word for you, Kyle. Good word. kyle All right. Is this one of those podcasts where the words are on the bottom too, so I can read how to spell that? So make sure. Yeah.
00:38:37
Speaker
I want him to go back and spell that. Spell that. You know, auto is autos tough. Auto stuff, whether it's for for personal. I've got I've got two teenage drivers, so I feel this pain personally.
00:38:52
Speaker
Obviously, here on this side, I see it. I see it all the time. The litigious nature. To your point, Kyle, you can't drive down. You know, you can't drive down highways in Kansas City without seeing billboards for attorneys. Yeah. but So there's that piece of it.
00:39:09
Speaker
And then there's just the cost.
00:39:14
Speaker
A wreck now, when you have these new cars, the average price of a new cars just skyrocketed. So there's just ah a storm of those two things where anytime there's an accident, you're looking at like just a significant repair where it wasn't that way before.
00:39:31
Speaker
So I think those two things are the you know big drivers of that. So what can we do about it is you know it's the telematics and those things, it's the driver education.
00:39:45
Speaker
giving as much driver training, having phones free policies, different type of thing. My insurance carrier did the tracking. I don't know if you guys have seen this where you do some type of tracking for 90 days to see what you do. And it it measures like four things and you know whether it's phone free driving, acceleration, braking, kind of going through that process, was it was a little eye opening to me to kind of even see my driving habits.
00:40:11
Speaker
and you know how lax you kind of get over time with some of the things that you do. And so it's, I think that's one of the things for the, when we talk about insurance is the autos, you know it just keeps going up, right? yeah And so doing doing as much as we can to to kind of help that process, um all the things we mentioned, driver training and safety programs.
00:40:34
Speaker
um Yeah, that that's that's a tough one. it's So you write all our insurance except for our auto. And we just got hit with a huge increase. And when we asked why, their response was, well, you go into Philadelphia and New York City. So they didn't want to, they want to charge you extra for being in these cities because they're saying that's where all the claims are happening. And it's funny because most of our auto claims were in the cities because people are just jerks. but It's people around you. yeah Yeah. It's not always, it's not you. It's people around you.
00:41:07
Speaker
Great. I mean, that's that's a great point. Yeah. It's not just, It's not just you. it's It's the environment, right? It's where you're at and how many people. But yeah, that's everywhere you go, right?
00:41:19
Speaker
People texting all day. Texting and driving, texting and driving. So are you a beer or a bourbon guy after all these claims after a long day? Can I... A little bit of both? Yeah, I was going to say. I feel like I'd be dabbling, that's for sure.
00:41:35
Speaker
Yeah. You know, it's... it's Monday morning is when we get the weekly claim report, like for the the previous week. And so it's, uh, it's a little early to to do anything on a Monday morning, but it is, you know, you kind of go through and see, you see what, what's happened and, uh, and knock on wood. Um, it's been, it's been pretty, pretty smooth lately, you know, no, no major disasters. We didn't have any hurricanes last year, no wildfire, you know, no major storms, which is it's, it's been a minute. Um,
00:42:06
Speaker
Like I said, let's knock on wood before that. But yeah, I've been known to have ah have a bourbon or beer from time to time. so i love that. oh Well, Sean, I appreciate you coming on today and just in outlining a lot of this for us and giving our listeners kind of a little bit more insight, um, exactly what you do and and why it's more beneficial to use ARA insurance and stay within the industry here. But I'd also like to get you back on later, just going back a little bit to the safe tending and just to see, you know, maybe next year after everything rolls out this year and just kind of see if you see any premium changes, uh, through the process of this safe tending and everything else that we're launching in our, on our side and if If you feel like it's really been beneficial to help push that and try and get more people involved as well.
00:42:53
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. Thank you guys for for having me on. I would say, you know, if anybody out there has has any questions about AR insurance, feel free to feel free to reach out to me directly. i'd love to talk to you talk to them and you share more information.
00:43:08
Speaker
And Sean, where can we find you so they can get a hold of you? ARAinsure.com is probably the best way. Our phone number is right on there. Just call, ask for me. But on our website, there's also a call. Ask for you direct. Yeah, that's fine. I mean, that's fine. mean, that's what I'm here for, man. I'm here for the people.
00:43:25
Speaker
I love that. big Man of the people. put it But, i you know, we'll talk insurance.
Conclusion and Future Episode Teaser
00:43:31
Speaker
We'll talk Kyle. We can talk all these things. ah I feel like that's an insurance claim in itself. So we'll just drop that right there and and move on. But this has been another episode of Under Vinyl, a rental management media podcast.