Hope Kiwanis Club Hears From Steve Buelow on Insurance

The Hope Kiwanis Club heard from one their on Tuesday July 16th.  Steve Buelow, owner of Anderson-Frazier Insurance, gave an explanation of why insurance rates have risen in the past few years.

Buelow said the only insurance rates that are staying flat or even dropping are Workers Comp rates.  He noted the president of the insurance association helped work on tort reform about 25 years ago and that has helped keep workers comp rates from rising.

Anything proper driven or auto driven in insurance has seen increases in the last couple of years. Buelow said the property and capital industry reported a $21.2 billion underwriting loss and the year before was over $24 billion.  He characterized many insurance companies as “bleeding”.  Buelow said two of the companies they represent have gone out.  Arkansas has a “guaranty fund” should a company go into receivership.  This means should a company go out of business in Arkansas, most if not all of their claims can be covered.

Buelow gave the club some tips to manager their premiums.  He also noted inflation has played a large part in the increase in insurance premiums.  As an example, Buelow cited a house he’d built for his family in 2020.  The building supply store he bought from (B & R in Hope) noted if he was building that same house today the materials could cost as much as 40% more.  Buelow said that also applies to labor and supply and demand too.  If replacement costs go up, that is reflected in insurance rates as well.   Buelow notes that insurance companies also buy insurance should they have more claims than they expect.  This coverage has gone up as well.  Another component is the fact that our area is more at risk for storm damage than some other parts of the country.  Buelow said some customers are also looking into higher deductibles.

Buelow said rate increases have been a challenge for his business.  He said homeowners have been seeing increases in the 18% to 25% range while auto rates have risen in the neighborhood of 9% to 13%.  He said some of these increases have been sometimes on an annual basis.

Insurance consumers can help themselves in several ways.  One is by keeping the best credit score they can says Buelow.

The club greatly enjoyed Buelow’s very informative program.  Buelow urged the club if they have questions to feel free to call their agent for answers to their questions.