What’s the sharing economy? Think Uber. There was a need for transportation and a surplus of drivers. With the sharing economy, there was an opportunity to optimize underutilized assets. Same thing happens in insurance. Kevin Brooks, an agency partner at Johnson Kendall Johnson, discusses how the sharing economy of insurance works. Listen to Chip and Kevin dive into how insurance companies work smarter to optimize assets in the sharing economy.
Inflation and Homeowners Insurance – Part 2 Transcript
00;00;02;01 – 00;00;19;00
Chip Arenchild
Welcome to Know Your Risk and Insurance Coverage with Risk Pro Net, where we will discuss all things insurance for you and your company. Risk Coronet is a network of independent agencies who offer specialized insurance across business sectors.
00;00;19;02 – 00;00;45;04
Chip Arenchild
Regardless of where you are in your insurance journey. We want to invite you to join us to think about insurance differently. Know your risk and insurance coverage with risk Pro Net provides answers to all your insurance questions. Welcome to know your insurance and insurance coverage with Risk Pro Net. Hey, we’re going to continue our conversation today with Kevin Brooks from Johnson, Kendall and Johnson in the Philadelphia area.
00;00;45;11 – 00;01;09;01
Chip Arenchild
Last time we spoke to Kevin, a lot of excuse me around a lot of personal lines issues. And we’re going to continue on that theme today. And today we’re going to spend 15 to 20 minutes just talking about the sharing economy, what that is, the impact it has on insurance and provides some information. If you’re participating in the sharing economy, I think you’ll find useful to help mitigate the exposures and maybe make a better decision.
00;01;09;01 – 00;01;13;04
Chip Arenchild
So Kevin, welcome back. It’s great to have you on again. How are you doing?
00;01;13;06 – 00;01;28;13
Kevin Brooks
Hey, Chip, thank you very much for the kind introduction and for the opportunity to come back. I am doing well. And the personal insurance world is, treating me well and keeping me busy, right? No doubt things are constantly changing, and, I think a big prompt for our discussion today. Right?
00;01;28;16 – 00;01;45;26
Chip Arenchild
Without a doubt. Well, I think we’ve had some recent examples, even in the news that I think are going to be pertinent. So, hey, let’s just get started. Kevin, can you tell us, in regards to insurance, what is the sharing economy and what should, consumers out there and our clients out there be thinking about?
00;01;45;28 – 00;02;04;04
Kevin Brooks
Yeah. So, Jeff, it’s a great question because I think a lot of folks out there think they know what the sharing economy is, and many of them are partially correct. And then, even with my own research recently, you know, in preparation for this conversation, I mean, there’s a whole world out there that even I, in the insurance world for a decade, was not aware of.
00;02;04;04 – 00;02;37;19
Kevin Brooks
So in broad strokes, the sharing economy is an economy that is built around optimizing underutilized assets. Right. And we’ll kind of go into, you know, what those may be, but it’s also the idea that technology matches supply and demand for a particular product or service, whatever that may be. Now, companies that are within this space, they use a tech driven platform to connect people that have, you know, the extra time or the extra assets to the folks that are looking for these services.
00;02;37;21 – 00;02;53;11
Chip Arenchild
So we know, I think the most common one, I think about when you mention that is Uber, right? That would be the most famous one. And I know there’s some other ones to elaborate on that. So I know there’s multiple types. And we have a couple ones that most people are familiar with. What should we be thinking about?
00;02;53;11 – 00;03;03;14
Chip Arenchild
What are some examples and how is the technology and what role does that play in it? You have some examples of various services or platforms that are used in the sharing economy.
00;03;03;16 – 00;03;19;15
Kevin Brooks
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, the Uber is a big one. And I will tell you, and I looked there was a really good article, that I again, I did some research on that. I believe the Hartford Insurance Company published a book, believe it or not. It was a couple of years ago. And they broke down several categories of what really encompasses this sharing economy.
00;03;19;23 – 00;03;40;18
Kevin Brooks
And the first one, and this is actually where Uber kind of falls into would be alternative mobility. So what would be considered ride sharing or card sharing. And we’ll go into that a little bit deeper. Dive in a moment. Micro mobility was another category that they identified. So you can think about the micro traveling. So mopeds, scooters, e-bikes, that kind of thing.
00;03;40;20 – 00;04;04;28
Kevin Brooks
On demand delivery, which many of us would think of, you know, the doordash’s of the world, any kind of delivery service which became wildly popular during the course of the pandemic, right where traveling outwards was really less of a possibility, whether just realistically speaking or from a comfort level. You have space and asset sharing, which this is where Chip, you think about the, the Airbnbs and the bows and these platforms for secondary homes.
00;04;04;28 – 00;04;24;08
Kevin Brooks
Right? And then you have on demand services and tasks again, this is what Hartford is describing to us. So you think of that as people who can assist with assembling, you know, furniture, repair work, handyman type of things, babysitting, dog walking. Chip, I think the most important thing is to just remind folks to is this economy.
00;04;24;15 – 00;04;43;11
Kevin Brooks
This existed long before Covid. I mean, there’s there was conversations about these things that we just mentioned dating back to, you know, 2013, 2014, 2015. It exploded once Covid hit and people were looking for more private, less crowded ways to spend time or to travel.
00;04;43;13 – 00;05;08;22
Chip Arenchild
I get it, I get it. So now you mentioned a few and then I it resonates, right? The dog watching apps that came up. When you try to find a place to watch your dog if you’re going out of town that I hadn’t thought about that one for a while, and I think I, you know, Uber, Lyft and of course, Airbnb, the ones that most of us use and I, you know, most of, we have probably quite a few clients that have a second home or that are utilize a Vrbo or Airbnb as an income source.
00;05;08;24 – 00;05;26;26
Chip Arenchild
So within this sharing economy, if you can engage in it. And what are some of the issues and challenges from an insurance standpoint and a liability standpoint that our clients should be thinking about? I mean, they just someone decides I don’t think it’s I don’t I think there’s a low barrier to entry if you want to participate.
00;05;26;29 – 00;05;31;19
Chip Arenchild
And oftentimes when that’s the case, people don’t think about any risk associated with it.
00;05;31;22 – 00;05;53;07
Kevin Brooks
Yeah. I mean, I think that was perfectly articulated that the low barrier to entry comment that you just made, I’ll have to after jot that down somewhere. The insurance industry is obsessed with ownership, right? I mean, you own your house, you ensure your house, you own your car, you ensure your car, you own your ebike, you attempt to ensure your e-bike ride if you can find a market for it.
00;05;53;09 – 00;06;13;01
Kevin Brooks
Younger generations and I will say younger. I know this is not limited to younger folks by any means, but just kind of work with me here, particularly millennials, Gen Zs. I’m a millennial myself, so this resonates with me. The the obsession with ownership is not as much of an issue anymore. Right? Like these folks don’t care about ownership, they care about utilization.
00;06;13;04 – 00;06;40;07
Kevin Brooks
So the traditional insurance companies and traditional policies, again, for the home auto, condo, etc., they generally don’t provide coverage, whether it’s physical damage or liability. If you’re using a personally owned tangible asset to make a profit. So if you are the owner and you’re allowing somebody else to use what you have to make money, generally speaking, there’s kind of a line in the sand there where the personal insurance companies that you know and love, no names mentioned, right.
00;06;40;07 – 00;07;00;24
Kevin Brooks
But pretty much everybody, they don’t want to give you coverage for that because the the dynamics of the exposure that they agree to protect you for, it’s shifted. And many times it’s shifted to the degree where it’s a substantial increase in risk that they don’t know about, because most folks don’t think to call their insurance agent or call their insurance company and say, hey, you know what?
00;07;01;00 – 00;07;30;02
Kevin Brooks
That mountain house up by the lake. I haven’t been up there in six months. I think I’m gonna put it on Vrbo and see what happens. Maybe I can make a few bucks and, you know, chip away at my mortgage. So there’s just kind of a misconception, I think, of folks that assume that because they have a traditional policy in force for some of these tangible assets, they assume that they are not required to notify, again, their company or their agent about the change in what’s happening there, the occupancy, when that really, in reality could not be further than truth.
00;07;30;05 – 00;07;47;08
Chip Arenchild
Totally right. You know, and I don’t think most people realize that your insurance contract, you know, it’s a contract, what they call a contract of adhesion, meaning it’s one sided. Right? Exactly. No one knows what it really says. And I think most people don’t pay any attention to some of that fine print like, like material change and risk.
00;07;47;08 – 00;08;03;25
Chip Arenchild
And so what about, do you think people, then when they sign up to be an Uber driver or Lyft, you see, I’m sure they have some sort of insurance requirement that you have to say, hey, I have X, or maybe even on Vrbo, or you think, well, I signed up. Maybe they provide insurance for me. I don’t need to worry about it.
00;08;03;27 – 00;08;12;15
Chip Arenchild
Do you have any, guidance on what people should be doing when they sign up for one of these sharing economy platforms that they want to participate in?
00;08;12;17 – 00;08;46;01
Kevin Brooks
Yeah. For sure. Yep. And I think and again, you are you are correct in the sense that these platforms absolutely have their own primary underlying coverage to handle any issues that arise during the course of that transaction. Right? Again, you have to think of it as there’s this is there’s a whole new insurance ecosystem that is unfolding before our eyes where insurance companies, they’re not only looking for ways to address, you know, directly the person that is putting their asset up on the the market on these platforms for use, they have to help ensure the platforms themselves.
00;08;46;07 – 00;09;20;08
Kevin Brooks
So again, the Ubers, the lifts, the Airbnbs and Vrbo. So I’ll give you a few more examples throughout the course of this conversation because again, it’s it’s fascinating what now exists. But if we stick to kind of those core four, let’s call them, you know, for home and auto, they have their own coverage. But what you’re what we’re starting to find is that there’s, there’s cracks in the armor, you know, like, there’s there’s gaps here that could exist where, you know, the the user might think that they have coverage and they might assume that either the, the platform is providing the primary coverage or that their personal policies are the backup plan.
00;09;20;14 – 00;09;40;27
Kevin Brooks
But the reality is that, again, if you’re not notifying your company or your agent about exactly what you’re doing, the company or the agent can’t kind of jump in to say, hey, you know, pump the brakes. You need to be thinking about X, Y, or Z. Maybe there’s an endorsement that you need to purchase, or maybe maybe coverage doesn’t exist, and you have to look at a different company that can better address that exposure.
00;09;40;29 – 00;10;12;29
Kevin Brooks
One of the interesting ones that I research, and I’ve seen this within our own practice at Johnson Kendall Johnson, there is a gap for ridesharing coverage. So if you are a driver, again, for an Uber or Lyft, and you’re logged into the platform and you’re cruising around town and you’re looking for someone to pick up, if you are involved in an accident during that period of time or again, the app is on, you are technically, you know, eligible to receive a paid customer, let’s call it, or a client, somebody that’s going to be getting in the vehicle and you’re transporting them from point A to point B if you haven’t yet accepted a
00;10;12;29 – 00;10;34;12
Kevin Brooks
ride and you get into an accident, but you’re logged into that app, it’s kind of an insurance gray area. You know, it sounds like the the companies out there, the platforms again, the Ubers and the lifts of the world, they may or may not respond with coverage. But what you can be pretty certain of is that if your personal insurance company gets wind of that, that you are cruising around for that purpose and you get in an accident unless you purchase an additional endorsement.
00;10;34;12 – 00;10;51;29
Kevin Brooks
They call it like a ride sharing gap coverage chip. That’s what these these companies are referring this to. You might be out of luck. And again, that’s for physical damage to your vehicle or bodily injury that you cause to somebody else. Right. Whether it’s you get in an accident and hurt somebody or you hit on by a bystander, a pedestrian.
00;10;51;29 – 00;10;57;14
Kevin Brooks
So there’s a lot of issues that can exist here that, again, people are just not thinking about.
00;10;57;17 – 00;11;13;26
Chip Arenchild
That’s a great point, right? I think being clear on that, especially when maybe your kid’s your vehicles are on you have you you have a policy for your kid’s vehicle and they decide they’re going to make a little extra money. They’re not going to tell you that they’re driving for Uber during the night or whatever the case may be.
00;11;13;29 – 00;11;35;08
Chip Arenchild
It also makes me think about, you know, we have all these media reports about the behavior of the Uber drivers and the liability associated with that, as well as the videos and people renting them. And then there’s been this backlash like, hey, too big a party. We didn’t know there’s going to be 100 people there. I think we’ve even had some deaths that have happened recently at an Airbnb.
00;11;35;09 – 00;11;53;08
Chip Arenchild
And how does all that interface with someone with an Airbnb, I would assume. Hey, I rented it out. I’m fine. I did what I was supposed to do. Now this horrific event happens at my house. I wasn’t party to it, I wasn’t there. I got to believe I’m somehow in the loop of something serious. Enough happens.
00;11;53;10 – 00;12;11;08
Kevin Brooks
Absolutely. I mean, it all comes down to ownership, right? At the end of the day, if your name is on that, that, tangible asset on the deed in this example for the House. And I think the example that you’re referring to is that recently in the news here, you know, it’s late April 2022, there was a shooting that occurred out in, in Pittsburgh.
00;12;11;11 – 00;12;30;20
Kevin Brooks
I think it was just like a few days ago where it was an Airbnb house that was rented out. I know that the property is I read some articles. The property was owned by an LLC, so there is some asset protection there alone. But still, you know, the fact remains the same. There was a house that was rented out, and there was a massive party that ensued, and there was a lot of underage kids that were at this party.
00;12;30;20 – 00;12;47;13
Kevin Brooks
I mean, they’re talking hundreds of people lined out the door like it looked like it was a nightclub. From what some of these, you know, eyewitnesses are telling us and a shooting occurred and, you know, a couple of kids that were under 18 ended up being killed. Dozens of others were injured. And now the the focus is shifting to who could have allowed this to happen.
00;12;47;17 – 00;13;08;24
Kevin Brooks
And there’s a lot of scrutiny coming on Airbnb, which was the the sharing platform that this the owner of this house had utilized to, you know, advertise this place. And they’re turning around and again, from what I’m reading recently, they’re saying, hey, you know, we don’t allow parties. You shouldn’t either. This house was, you know, misrepresented to us as far as how it would be rented out.
00;13;08;26 – 00;13;25;01
Kevin Brooks
And there they might try to get out of, you know, providing coverage. Now, time will tell if that happens. But you could already see the amount of questions that are starting to open up in terms of who’s liable for this. Is, is Airbnb going to provide coverage? And if they’re not, is is a homeowner’s policy going to provide coverage for this?
00;13;25;01 – 00;13;45;05
Kevin Brooks
I mean, I could tell you from a lot of experience, the answer is probably not. I mean, unless they have like some crazy coverage, endorsement or policy that I’ve never heard of, which is highly unlikely. I mean, in the best case scenario, Chip, this person notified their insurance company and their insurance agent that this property was rented out on a short term basis via Airbnb.
00;13;45;08 – 00;14;07;06
Kevin Brooks
And, you know, they they maybe they have a coverage endorsement that says if damage occurs or bodily injury occurs, this property will provide excess coverage, excess being the keyword to anything provided by Airbnb. You know, the the platform’s coverage. So if the platform’s not giving coverage is the price, you know, the homeowner’s policy going to respond in the absence of underlying coverage?
00;14;07;06 – 00;14;23;12
Kevin Brooks
I mean, these are the types of questions, Chip, that insurance nerds like me and and other folks within this industry. This stuff keeps us up at night because it’s always comes down to what questions are we not asking that we should be asking that could prevent these types of issues from from arising in the first place?
00;14;23;14 – 00;14;49;10
Chip Arenchild
Yeah. And I think it’s funny, right? We’re always hesitant when we’re talking with our clients about like we keep asking them information and people are like, well, you know, we’re not trying to pester somebody to figure it out. We’re just trying to make sure we’re getting a framework around to give them the best options possible. Because you explain, like the Pittsburgh situation, most people probably don’t have enough liability coverage if there is even coverage available to cover something like that, if something horrific were to happen.
00;14;49;10 – 00;15;13;20
Chip Arenchild
So, okay, you mentioned kind of or excuse me, you did mention that for them Uber. There’s this rideshare gap coverage. Do you have some examples. Current insurance solutions for the sharing economy that our clients and listeners, if they’re participating, if they haven’t checked them out, they should contact their agent, check them out. And I also want to say, you want another agent like Kevin Brooks?
00;15;13;20 – 00;15;23;29
Chip Arenchild
Folks, if you are a if you’re worried about what you’re doing because that’s that’s the value you get when you hire an independent broker. So, a little plug there. So what do you think, Kevin? What do we do?
00;15;23;29 – 00;15;47;26
Kevin Brooks
I have practice the I appreciate the the shameless plug chip. Thank you. Yeah, absolutely. I think I think as agents, you know, we constantly grapple with the and, you know, long time clients and friends of ours and people that we’ve been working with for years. When we ask these questions and we do some digging, it does kind of, I think, sometimes strike a nerve when it and it creates an uncomfortable conversation that has to be had where inevitably, you know, ask any insurance agent on the planet.
00;15;47;26 – 00;16;00;02
Kevin Brooks
We’ve always gotten some kind of, feedback or retort along the lines of, well, what else are you trying to sell me? You know, it’s always, what else are you trying to sell me? And I get it, you know I do. But, again, it’s what you don’t know that’s going to hurt you right at the end of the day.
00;16;00;02 – 00;16;19;23
Kevin Brooks
And I think that’s a pretty widely agreed upon, you know, ideal. You need to you need to ask about the the endorsements available. Hey, this is this is what I’m doing. This is how I’m using my property. What exists now, I gave you that ride sharing gap coverage example. To my knowledge, chip, there’s still you have to remember, insurance is traditionally a laggard industry.
00;16;19;23 – 00;16;36;18
Kevin Brooks
We are slow to respond to the trends of the world. And that’s just the way it’s always been. And unfortunately, I think with with people that are asking the right questions, that’s starting to kind of take a turn. But to my knowledge, you know, with what we work with, with our clients, there is a home sharing endorsement again for those short term rentals.
00;16;36;18 – 00;16;49;03
Kevin Brooks
And I think it’s important that we we have to define what is a short term rental from the perspective of insurance companies. At minimum, anything less than a six month lease agreement is going to be considered short term period.
00;16;49;03 – 00;16;53;10
Chip Arenchild
So that would be all of your traditional Vrbo or Airbnb or so.
00;16;53;10 – 00;17;11;15
Kevin Brooks
Absolutely, absolutely. You know, and when and when these these companies are asking about what the exposure are for these short term rentals, they’re going to ask how short they are. Right. Like they they want to know, are you renting your, you know, shore house out on average for a week or a day or three days or three weeks?
00;17;11;15 – 00;17;33;01
Kevin Brooks
I mean, these are all pertinent underwriting questions because I think in the the insurance companies mind, the longer the lease agreement, the better chances that the person that is staying there is going to want to care for the place that they’re in, if only for the fact that they don’t want to be living in filth for three weeks, versus if it’s just a night, you know, like this Airbnb example, people rent Airbnb properties out for a night all the time.
00;17;33;07 – 00;17;59;27
Kevin Brooks
And I think the, the accountability factor really deteriorates. And there’s a direct correlation between the accountability factor of keeping a place nice and the length of the lease agreement, or the lease terms or the Airbnb terms, etc.. So, you know, long answer to a short question. Right? But from what I’ve seen, the ridesharing gap endorsement and when they would call like a, a home sharing host activities endorsement on, you know, a homeowner’s policy, that’s pretty much all I’ve really seen.
00;17;59;27 – 00;18;02;25
Chip Arenchild
Two things that are available. Yeah.
00;18;02;27 – 00;18;20;22
Kevin Brooks
From what I’ve seen again and I, you know, I, I’m an expert, but I can only speak to the, the situations that I’ve seen, you know, like I, I’ve learned to make recommendations and read the policy forms and the endorsements when it becomes an issue for us. You know, like when I talk to clients and they say, hey, I’m thinking about doing this, will my company cover me?
00;18;20;26 – 00;18;37;26
Kevin Brooks
And that’s kind of what prompts a lot of these discussions. And again, if you’re not asking the right questions, you’re never going to know how your clients are really using their tangible assets. Now, let me give you, because there’s one thing that I kind of, I neglected to mention to you earlier because, again, we’ve been focusing a lot on, you know, the home in the auto.
00;18;37;26 – 00;18;53;06
Kevin Brooks
But let me give you a few other examples that might kind of blow your mind and hopefully for the benefit of our listeners here. So, so we talked about, you know, when you are acting as the driver of you own your vehicle and you are driving that and transporting someone from point A to point B, that’s the Ubers and the lifts of the world.
00;18;53;09 – 00;18;56;00
Kevin Brooks
There are also car sharing platforms out there.
00;18;56;00 – 00;19;18;11
Chip Arenchild
I wanted to ask you about that because it’s not just the car sharing. The other one you’re seeing is if you have a surplus piece of a power equipment, you can rent it out, you know. So here I have a chainsaw, right? Hey, I’ll make a few bucks renting out my chainsaw. My pressure washer or whatever tractor, whatever the case may be, I don’t even know where you start and stop on something like that.
00;19;18;11 – 00;19;20;13
Chip Arenchild
So go ahead. That was my next question was.
00;19;20;13 – 00;19;40;12
Kevin Brooks
No, it’s okay. It’s great. And look, I think, as in many cases that I encounter when having these types of conversations, I kind of feel like we’re going to open up more questions than answers, but at least we’re asking the right questions. Right? So, Turo to Oh, that’s a very is becoming a much more well known platform for folks to rent out their vehicles on a short term basis.
00;19;40;12 – 00;19;55;14
Kevin Brooks
And for the purposes of this conversation, I’m not going to go into the weeds with you too much here. But what I can say is there are many stipulations as far as the type of vehicle that can be rented. I can tell you point blank, your personal auto policy is not going to respond to that, you know, period.
00;19;55;14 – 00;20;12;08
Kevin Brooks
So if you have questions, go talk to your Asian folks because I promise you what, if you think you have coverage, you don’t. You can rent pools, chip. You can rent out your pool for a day to guests if they are looking for a place to hang out and, get some shade and enjoy themselves with some friends.
00;20;12;11 – 00;20;34;14
Kevin Brooks
There’s a platform out there called simply it is. You know, it’s it’s spelled how it sounds. So simply there is actually and this was one that kind of blew my mind. There is a platform called Sniff Spot, a sniff spot where you can rent out your yard to folks for to allow their pets to roam and play for a while on a per pet per hour basis.
00;20;34;14 – 00;20;54;21
Kevin Brooks
So think of it as kind of like a bark park for a fee if you will. Right? These things exist. You can rent out your vacant land to campers to set up shop. There’s a place called Hip Camp for that. That’s another platform. You know, people are renting out their space for people that are looking for additional storage capacity.
00;20;54;23 – 00;21;11;04
Kevin Brooks
On a platform called neighbor, you can rent RVs, chip on a platform called outdoorsy. You can rent your stuff, your exercise equipment, your yard equipment on a platform called burrow. I mean, the list goes on. You get the point. I mean, it’s it’s insane.
00;21;11;11 – 00;21;32;21
Chip Arenchild
And it’s amazing the ingenuity of of this explosion of software. Right? It’s like these, right? This algorithm here’s an idea. Can we scale it up and let it rip? And so you mentioned those things and all of those may not resonate with me, but I certainly know they resonate with a lot of people. And what do you do in a case like that?
00;21;32;21 – 00;21;51;22
Chip Arenchild
I mean, I wanted I would think the insurance industry is probably not even responded at all in the personal lines to taking your equipment and lease it, or renting it to somebody for an hour. And how do you validate that? It’s in good maintenance and things of that nature. I mean, it’s hard enough for a rental yard to cover themselves, and they have policies and procedures to do it.
00;21;51;24 – 00;21;55;19
Chip Arenchild
So what’s the solution there? Is there one?
00;21;55;21 – 00;22;17;13
Kevin Brooks
I think what we’re going to find, Chip, is that the the personal insurance marketplace can only do so much because again, as a rule of thumb, and I and this is a broad strokes comment that, you know, take it for what it’s worth. And again talk to your agent folks, talk to your insurance company. But if you are using a tangible asset to make a fee or to make a profit, I should say, there’s a good chance that coverage will not exist.
00;22;17;13 – 00;22;36;12
Kevin Brooks
And if that’s the case, you need to do your own research thoroughly with the platform that you’re using. Vet out the platform and find out what type of coverage that they will provide, because that’s the platform. I can tell you right now, 98% of the personal insurance companies that we represent in our agency, their expectation is that, again, we talked about it earlier.
00;22;36;12 – 00;22;55;02
Kevin Brooks
Any coverage that they provide will be ancillary, and it’s not coverage that they’re providing for free. They’re still going to charge you, you know, additional fee for that coverage endorsement or whatever the case may be. But the expectation is that it’s going to be ancillary coverage secondary to whatever the platform is providing. So again, it’s a whole new ecosystem.
00;22;55;02 – 00;23;18;17
Kevin Brooks
Chip. I mean, you are finding, there are markets out there for folks in the audience that maybe speak some insurance EAS Lloyd’s syndicates, which is basically a secondary market that takes on anything that nobody else wants. It’s a it’s based in London. Lloyd’s folks, it’s not an insurance company. It is a think of it as a group of underwriters that all operate under the same roof, but they all represent their own respective interest.
00;23;18;19 – 00;23;45;15
Kevin Brooks
And they they get their hands dirty and they get creative and they provide solutions that no standard insurance company, US based or otherwise, is willing to get involved with. So what we’re seeing is these Lloyd’s syndicates are starting to provide solutions for these sharing platforms. And it’s incredible because what it’s doing is it’s it’s creating a sense of of trust and loyalty on the end users perspective or from their perspective where like, hey, you know what?
00;23;45;16 – 00;24;02;13
Kevin Brooks
I’m fine with renting out my house on, you know, Airbnb or Vrbo or I’m okay with driving for DoorDash because I know that they’ve got coverage. So it’s opening up a whole new world of of opportunities in the insurance space that never existed, maybe 2 or 3 years ago.
00;24;02;15 – 00;24;27;15
Chip Arenchild
Well, and I think with this, I’m piling on on top of the great resignation, everything else. Right. There’s more people than ever that are making some extra income doing DoorDash or food delivery. And it’ll be interesting to see as we open back up where that all ends up. So. So if you wanted to put a put a bow on what we talked about today, Kevin, what would be or 2 or 3 things that you would tell our clients as a takeaway, like, let’s make sure you do this.
00;24;27;17 – 00;24;34;16
Chip Arenchild
Besides one. Tell your agent everything that you’re doing, even if you don’t think it’s important. What what else would you put on that list?
00;24;34;18 – 00;24;53;15
Kevin Brooks
Yeah, I mean, again, it’s kind of a repeat of what we already said. But, you know, do do your own research, reach out to to the platforms and find out what type of coverage, set the expectation upfront before you put your tangible assets. And frankly, you know, your, your livelihood, on the line, make sure that you’re having those conversations.
00;24;53;15 – 00;25;16;02
Kevin Brooks
Don’t assume anything. That’s the big number one parents out there. You know, if you have, a child that’s of driving age, it could be a tough conversation, but you need to ask them if they are driving your vehicles. You mentioned earlier everyone’s got a side hustle these days, right? You could be, you know, making six figures on Wall Street and you might still be an Uber driver because you guys have the time and you want to do it.
00;25;16;04 – 00;25;41;00
Kevin Brooks
Ask the questions of your kids if they are using their vehicle for anything like that, any kind of a ride sharing platform or, you know, again, a DoorDash, any kind of delivery service, because I promise you, if that vehicle is titled and registered in your name, which I’m willing to bet that it is, if we’re talking about a 16 through 19 year old child, it’s the old proverbial, you know, your assets are in the trunk, and if something happens, you’re going to be on the hook whether or not you knew that it was going on.
00;25;41;02 – 00;25;47;11
Chip Arenchild
Yeah. Our kids in college. Right. That would be the other one. Right? You know, you never know what your kids are doing in college, so.
00;25;47;14 – 00;26;06;05
Kevin Brooks
Right. Right. And then and then number three adding it. We kind of already said this, but just when in doubt, have the conversation with your agent. I mean, we are this is all we do. I like to think that we are, you know, inherently a good bunch. We want to do what’s right. We know that this this industry is relationship driven, and we want to give you the right advice.
00;26;06;05 – 00;26;25;21
Kevin Brooks
And we recognize that having tough conversations is sometimes a part of that. And we we can’t always give you, you know, good news. But I can promise you there’s only one thing worse than paying a higher premium. And that’s having an uncovered claim. And in a lot of these cases, you’re going to have an uncovered claim. If the insurance company doesn’t know how you’re using these, these tangible assets.
00;26;25;28 – 00;26;46;26
Chip Arenchild
Well, that’s one thing that we don’t want anyone to have to go through, right? No one wins in that situation. So. Right. Well, hey, this has been super enlightening. I appreciate I think everyone who’s been listening appreciates the advice you’ve given us and the just up to date and a quick little synopsis of the sharing economy, what it means, and if you’re participating in it, what you need to do to protect yourself.
00;26;46;26 – 00;26;52;13
Chip Arenchild
So, Kevin, thank you very much. It’s been great to have you back and listen to your thoughts on this subject.
00;26;52;15 – 00;26;58;03
Kevin Brooks
Hey, my pleasure Chip. I appreciate you having me on and, always happy to have another conversation. So invite me back, please.
00;26;58;03 – 00;27;16;26
Chip Arenchild
Yeah, we’ll get you back. We’ll get you back. And so for, again, this is know your insurance coverage with risk Pro net risk per unit. Members across the United States encourage you if you’re if you have any questions around these lines, look up risk Pro net. Take a look to see if there’s an agency near you and you can get some solid advice, just like you just received from Kevin.
00;27;16;26 – 00;27;20;29
Chip Arenchild
So Kevin, thanks a lot. And, we’ll talk to you again. Nice to see you.
00;27;21;01 – 00;27;24;14
Kevin Brooks
Thanks so much. Take care.
00;27;24;16 – 00;27;43;02
Chip Arenchild
We hope you enjoyed this episode of Know Your Risk in Insurance Coverage with Risk Pro Net. For more information about risk Pronate, please visit our website. You can follow us on Facebook and Twitter for insurance insights from everyone at risk. Pro net. We want to say thank you for tuning in and see you next time.
