They are Snorting in Oconomowoc Oconomowoc, in southeastern Wisconsin, closed the high school because of the Swine Flu and I began considering the insurance implications. If a child catches the flu from a classmate, the communicable disease exclusion of the Homeowners would apply to any possible suit. If all of the children in a day care come down with the flu, the parents will have to prove negligence in order to hold the provider liable. Of course, a liability policy will defend either of these suits if they are filed. If a teacher catches the flu at school, don’t expect coverage under Workers Comp; to be compensable, a disease must be an occupational disease. If a business is closed due to the flu, the clean up and lost business income will not be covered under the property policy; there has been no covered cause of loss. I don’t see a lot of insurance implications for the property and casualty carrier but a pandemic could certainly keep a life and health company busy for a while. Let’s hope it turns out to be much ado about nothing. Remember the Y2K scare? Let Google Work For You The yellow pages are going the way of the telephone booth; today businesses head to the Internet to communicate with clients and advertise to the public. You probably have a website and work to promote it but have you gotten your free business listing on Google? It is a local listing that will bring up the name of your agency when someone in your town is searching for insurance. After an Ohio agent told me about it, I did a Google search using “insurance agent Waukesha Wisconsin.” The first three results are paid listings, but all the agencies listed alongside the map of Waukesha are free and only take a few minutes to set up. Do a Google search in your town and discover which agencies come up. Then simply go to www.google.com/local/add to set up your free account. Two thirds of the people who search the Internet use Google and we should all be looking for ways to use it to increase our visibility. Am Fam Steps to the Plate Are your clients still concerned about their responsibility for damage to the car they rent? American Family insureds now have less to worry about. The renter, who is insured with American Family and does not purchase the Loss Damage Waiver, will not be held responsible for down time and some of the other fees normally charged when a rental car is damaged. Talk to an Am Fam agent or call Hertz if you are interested in the details. Need Flood Credits? The Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2004 requires all producers selling flood insurance policies under the federal program to take a three-credit, NFIP approved, flood class. All Van Wyhe Group flood classes meet these requirements. While we do not have any more classroom flood courses scheduled this year, we do have an online and a self study course available. And, for the month of May, the online course is half price. Contact Angela at 800-326-4741 with questions. Quote of the Month: Try not to become a man of success but rather to become a man of value. Albert Einstein We Are:InsuranceCe is brought to you by The Van Wyhe Group, an education firm coaching agents in ways to add value to the insurance transaction. Agents who master adding value attract business rather than chase it. | 
