FAQ's

TruView Insurance Group, Inc. is located at 6424 East Greenway Parkway Suite 100, Scottsdale, AZ 85254

1. You can contact TruView Insurance Group in the following ways:
1. Mail: 6424 East Greenway Parkway Suite 100 Scottsdale, AZ 85254
2. Phone: 480.398.8297
3. Email: info@truviewinsurance.com
4. Facebook
5. Twitter
6. LinkedIn
2. You can also contact Sean Grady on his cell phone at 480.495.8047

Though based in Arizona, TruView Insurance Group is licensed to do business in many states across the country.

You should buy from us because you want an agency that is knowledgeable, transparent, responsive, and easy to work with.  You should buy from us because you see value in having an agency that provides you with all of those things while displaying a high level of insurance and risk management expertise.  

We know that price is important and will always strive to find the most competitive price for the products that will appropriately protect you.  Most people don’t shop their doctor, lawyer, or accountant for the best price.  Assuming we’ve earned it, we hope our clients view us the same way.

An insurance carrier is generally the entity that is taking most or all of the risk, paying the claims, underwriting, issuing the policies, etc.

A retail agency is generally the entity that works directly with the customer.  TruView Insurance Group is a retail insurance agency.

A wholesaler is an entity that works as an intermediary between retail agencies and insurance carriers.  They generally have access to many more carriers than a retail agency does.

A program is a group put together within an insurance carrier or wholesaler that focuses on underwriting a specific class of business.

While much more detail and nuance could be provided, this offers a general overview.  It’s most important for an insured to know who their retail agent is (that’s who they communicate with) and who their carrier is (that’s who pays the claims)

Absolutely!  Those are simply the industries where we have the most experience and deepest relationships.  We can help and thrive at working with ANY type of business.

Well, thank you!  We think you’re awesome too!  Feel free to give us a call to discuss our referral program.  You can also follow us on social media and write us some glowing reviews there.  We can be found on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Google.

We ask a lot of questions because insurance isn't a loaf of bread.  It's not as simple as white, wheat, or sourdough.  

Insurance is a complex tool used to protect the things that are most important to you.  It's something that you hope you never use.  But if you do end up using it, you better hope you didn't buy something cheap.  

Our job as your trusted advisor is to make sure we know enough about your situation that we offer the appropriate type and amount of coverage to protect those assets at a competitive price.  Without asking the right questions, there's no way to know whether or not we're covering your assets properly and no way to know whether we could have gotten you a better price.  

If you work with an agent and they're not asking questions to get to know your business, you're probably not covered appropriately and probably don't have the most competitive price.

It really depends on the type of quote we’re providing.  In general, we’ll need some basic information about your business, copy of your current policy, copies of loss runs, and will need some time with whoever makes the insurance decisions to ask a few more questions.  Additionally, we’ll need a bit more information once we start digging into your policies.  The basic information we’ll need so that we can get started can be found by clicking here. (link to Business quote request)

Loss runs are a report that can be obtain from your insurance carrier or agent.  The report shows the claims that you’ve had on your policy, the dollars paid and reserve amounts for those claims.  It’s important that these be currently valued if you’re asked for them.  Many times, carriers or agencies will play games in delaying the release of the loss runs because that could tip them off that you’re shopping.  By law, the carriers are required to release this information to you within a certain amount of time depending on the state you’re in.

If you’re a TruView customer looking for loss runs, please contact us at 480.398.8297 and we’d be happy to assist in facilitating.

A loss ratio is a percentage that shows the performance of your account based on the premium paid and the losses you’ve incurred.  

The formula is simply: ((Total Paid Losses & Expenses) + (Total Reserves)) / (Total Premium Paid)

Our job as insurance experts is to provide professional risk management and insurance advice.  In order to do that, a good starting point is to look at the current policies in place.  I know that most believe that we’re just looking for the price and will undercut that by just enough to win your business.  If it was only that easy!!!  At TruView, we don’t win business.  We want to earn your business.  Part of that is conducting a through review of your current policy including the coverage, limits, pricing, exclusions, and structure.  Here’s what we’re looking for when we review your policy:

1. Is there a coverage currently on your policy that doesn’t make sense?  For example: A lumberyard had a self-storage facility on their policy.  When I asked the owner about that he says: “Oh yea I completely forgot that we added that this year.”  Without viewing the policy, there would have been no way to know that this business owned a completely separate operation and insured it on the same policy.
2. Do the limits make sense?  For example, if you’re insuring a 30,000 square foot building for $100,000, we’re going to want to know why.  The response will determine whether we make further recommendations to you or possibly which carriers would be willing to offer you a proposal
3. Does the pricing make sense?  If the price that you’re paying seems extraordinarily low, we’ll either look for something that your current agent missed on your policy or possibly let you know you’re getting a great deal already!
4. Identifying Exclusions – we’ll look for exclusions in your policy that matter.  Almost every policy is going to have some general exclusions.  But what if your policy excluded coverage for property off of your premises and your business is rental equipment?

The bottom line is that your current policy provides information that allows us to provide significant value to your business, even if we don’t earn your business!

The premium is calculated different for every type of policy.  In general, the premium is determined by multiplying a rate times and exposure.  For example, if you had a building that you wanted to insure for $1,000,000, the premium would be determined by taking a rate and multiplying it by $1,000,000.  The rates are what is determined by the carrier based on the characteristics of the building.

This common question tries to elicit an absolute answer.  Unfortunately, like most things in the insurance world, there is no absolute answer.  

A claim does not automatically equal an increase in premium.  However, you are more likely to see an increase in premium than someone else that has not had a claim.  

Additionally, a claim is something that could either start or continue a pattern of events that leads an underwriter to determine that your premium should be higher based on that pattern of events.  

It could also lead an insurance carrier to wonder what types of controls you have in place to minimize the chances of a specific type of claim from happening again.  If they find that those controls aren't adequate, then you may see your premium increase.

You can file a claim by calling or emailing your insurance carrier.  If you don’t have that information handy, you can get it from your policy or from the TruView proposal that you received at the beginning of your policy period.  Additionally, you can call us at 480.398.8297 to give us the details or to obtain the appropriate claims number.

Yes!  TruView has options to finance your premium in a case where the carrier is requiring it to be paid up front.

It depends on who you’re paying.  If you’re paying TruView directly, you can send cashiers check or money order payable to TruView Insurance Group.  If you’re paying an insurance carrier or finance company directly, please contact their billing department to determine the options that are available.

We previously discussed that one of the possible points in the “insurance chain of commerce” is a wholesaler.  Frequently when a retail insurance agent writes a policy with a wholesaler, the wholesaler is listed as the broker.  When you have a policy that says this, TruView Insurance is still your broker and point of contact for all of your insurance needs.

When you buy an insurance policy, you’re entering into a contract with the insurance company that will dictate whether and how a claim is paid in the event of a loss.  Therefore, we strongly recommend that you read your policy.  In many states, you are legally required to read your insurance policy.

Feel free to request to make a policy change by any of those methods.  Additionally, in the Your TruView section, there are a number of links to make specific service requests.  

However, coverage cannot be bound, changed, altered, cancelled, deleted, or revised in any way through any of these methods.

Our standard to respond to every service request within 24-48 hours.  However, if you need something more quickly, we can certainly expedite it and get it to you immediately.

If anyone from TruView ever visits one of your locations, we will make a pre-arranged appointment.

From time to time, insurance carriers will send out a loss control representative to take a look at your property.  Sometimes the carriers will use a 3rd party.  Their purpose is either to inspect the property in order to make recommendations that helps reduce the likelihood of a claim.  

These inspections do end up getting delivered back to the insurance carrier.  A good report may have a positive impact on your premium.  A subpar report may have a negative impact on your premium IF you don’t respond to the recommendations in a timely and appropriate fashion.

Absolutely!  Please let us know specifically how we can be of assistance.

A BOP policy is like buying a combo meal at a fast food restaurant; whereas a Package policy is like buying the specific items off the menu that you want or need.  But let’s get a little more detailed!  

A BOP policy is designed for small businesses with generally low risk operations and exposures.  It has property and general liability included in one policy.  Additionally, it includes a bunch of other ancillary coverages that you may or may not need at very low limits.   

A Package policy includes only the policies that your business needs, but at significantly higher and more appropriate limits.  These policies are designed for businesses that are not simple, cookie-cutter businesses, and are generally auditable.  They allow the business to buy the policies that they want or need at the limits they want or need.

These are two different valuation methods when determining how much something is worth in the event of a loss.  Neither of these valuations have anything to do with the market value of the building.  

Replacement Cost means the cost to replace a piece of property with the same like, kind, and quality.  Actual Cash Value (ACV) is simply the Replacement Cost minus the depreciation.  Note that the depreciation referenced is NOT accounting depreciation, but the insurance adjusted depreciation. 

There are many, many factors that go into determining this and really involves a deeper discussion.  In general, you’ll need to consider a few things.  First, remember that we’re talking about the cost to replace the building, not the market value of the property.  Next, if the building suffered a total loss, what would you do?  Replace it?  Walk away?  Replace it with something different?  From there, it’s an estimation based on the building characteristics (size, construction type, additions, quality, etc.).  TruView can assist in this estimation.  The most accurate way to determine the true replacement cost of your building is to have it appraised by a contractor for its replacement cost.

First of all, coinsurance for property insurance is totally different than coinsurance for health insurance.  

Coinsurance is a term in your policy where you agree to insure your property to a specific percentage of its actual value.  You have likely received a premium reduction for agreeing to do this.  Therefore, if you do not insure it to value, then at the time of the loss you will pay a coinsurance penalty.

A coinsurance penalty is calculated by dividing what you did insure your property for by what you should have insured your property for.  Example:

TruView Insurance has a property policy with a 90% coinsurance clause with a $5,000 deductible.  Their office building is insured on that policy for $1,500,000 (DID).  A monsoon storm blows through and does $300,000 worth of damage to TruView’s office.  When the claims adjuster comes out, he determines that the true replacement cost of the whole building would be $2,000,000.  With a 90% coinsurance clause, this means that TruView SHOULD have insured their building for $1,800,000 ($2m x 90%).  The coinsurance penalty would be 83.3% (DID $1.5M / SHOULD $1.8M) and would then be multiplied by the loss amount of $300,000.  Therefore, despite the total loss being $300,000, TruView only receives $245,000 (83.3% x $300k, minus $5,000 deductible).

The biggest misconception with coinsurance is that it would only apply to a total loss.  That is NOT the case.

This is a really difficult question that could be answered differently by every person depending on their risk tolerance.  Here is what we recommend that you think about and consider when making this determination:

1. How much do you have to protect?
2. How likely are your business operations to cause a catastrophic liability claim?
3. How litigious are the geographic areas that you do business?  
4. What are you comfortable with?  What makes you sleep at night?

This is a slightly different answer depending on the state that you’re in.  In general, though, it is determined by taking your losses and exposures for the prior 3 policy periods not including the current one.  If your work comp policy renews on 1/1/18, the experience mod used to calculate the premium on that policy would have been based on losses from 1/1/14-15, 1/1/15-16, 1/1/16-17.

A premium audit is most common on Workers’ Compensation and General Liability policies.  The premiums that the policies are written with at the beginning of the policy are based on estimated exposures.  At the end of the policy period, an audit is conducted to determine the actual exposure.  The insured will either owe additional premium to the carrier or have return premium due to them from the carrier.