Robert “The Insurance Doctor” Intelisano contact information: (917) 359-3985
Paul Edelstein:
Here we go. I’ve got Rob Intelisano, my extremely long time close friend and advisor, also known as The Insurance Doctor. How you doing, Rob?
Rob Intelisano:
Doing well, Paul. Thanks for having me.
Paul Edelstein:
This is great. We’re going to do a Part 2, or Part 1, depending on how this ends up being thrown on the cutting room floor here. But this one is a Part 1, I think, for me as a personal injury lawyer, and for you as an Insurance Doctor, and that’s just auto insurance. Obviously, I represent a lot of people in automobile accidents. I’m seeing them after they’ve had an accident. Here’s what everybody tells me, “You’re going to love this person.” Every single person, somebody calls me up, they say, “Got an auto accident and I got hurt. Wasn’t my fault.” Oh, okay. And I think it’s the case. And then I’m like, “All right, well what kind of insurance did you have on your car?”
I say 95% of the people answer this way, “I had full coverage.” You see, you’re laughing, right? You’re laughing because you know that that’s the most meaningless phrase. There is no such thing as full coverage. I laugh when I hear it too. I’m like, “There’s no full coverage. Can you give me your deck page?” It’s really important for me to know various things on an automobile insurance policy. And I know you know these, so we’ll go through them. There’s no-fault coverage. There’s income loss, wages coverage. There’s property damage coverage. There’s collision insurance coverage. And there’s one that becomes real seminal to me, supplementary uninsured motorist protection, or SUM protection, all the time. So guys come to me, but now they’ve been in an accident. Hopefully they come to you, when we talked earlier today about your job, what you do.
Hopefully they come to you as an independent. You don’t work for any of these insurance companies, and say, “What’s a good idea for me to buy?” Because there’s no such full coverage, right? Doesn’t that happen to you?
Rob Intelisano:
It does. And you hit on a couple of things. There’s the old joke, “What are the three biggest lies?” One of them is, “The pizza’s on its way.” And I think you hit another one, “I have full coverage.” And I have another one when I’m speaking with people as far as certain types of insurance that have to be underwritten, like life insurance, disability insurance, long-term care. And I say, “Well, how’s your health?” “Oh, I’m in great health,” and then they’re on 17 medications. So these are some of the biggest lies.
So they come to me, and actually there’s a big campaign right now with Liberty Mutual, which does irk me, because they’re talking about, “Oh, only get what you need.” They’re inferring that people, like they know what they need. People come, and, “Well, what’s the cheapest policy?” Well, it’s not about the cheapest policy, because when you break a policy down, there are benefits to others, but then there are benefits where you can cash in on your own policy, so to speak.
Paul Edelstein:
Right.
Rob Intelisano:
I know we’ve talked about this many moons ago, when you guys were located in Brooklyn. So yeah, no-fault, for example. Sometimes they call it PIP, personal injury protection. No-fault is important, but each policy is going to have different wording, and you really have to break down that policy and look at the wording.
Paul Edelstein:
Why don’t we just explain. If people watch this, they may not even know what it is. So I explain to clients all the time. Because they say, “Full coverage,” they don’t even know what it is. No-fault coverage is, essentially, if you’re involved in an accident, you are mandated by New York to have the minimal no-fault coverage, which you just talked about. You could have a lot more. Some people should, which is $25,000 per person.
And what that covers you for, in my business, if you’re in an automobile accident, as a driver or a passenger, the car you’re in, irrespective of whose fault the accident was, will pay your medical bills. It’s a really cool thing, a really good thing. It means you don’t have to sue somebody for your hospital, or ambulance bill, or doctor bill afterwards. You’re covered automatically, as long as you have insurance on your car. And that’s where the phrase no-fault insurance comes into play. That’s how you get it, right?
Rob Intelisano:
Yes, yes. Then there are certain policies that will kick in and cover a little bit of loss of income for a covered action as well. There are policies that may pay a thousand dollars a month for X amount a month. So it’s almost like a little bit like a disability income bonus.
Paul Edelstein:
Right.
Rob Intelisano:
Absolutely.
Paul Edelstein:
And you could purchase excess of no-fault, and it’s optional basic economic loss. People call it OBEL. I’m sure you see these phrases, right?
Rob Intelisano:
Yes.
Paul Edelstein:
So you can actually get more of this stuff if need be, right?
Rob Intelisano:
You can, and when you look at the premiums, it’s really not expensive bumping that up. It’s like it’s short premiums. The big money is in comprehensive and collision. I think some of these ancillary benefits are actually just as important as the primary insurance benefits.
Paul Edelstein:
Totally. So you just hit on something that I see all the time, too. People don’t get it. They look at a deck page, and I see collision insurance, and that’s usually the most expensive one. What that essentially means, in my world over here, if you’re involved in an accident and you have collision insurance, then again, it won’t matter whose fault the accident is. If it’s your fault, the other guy’s fault, you’ll have the option of going through your own insurance company. They’ll pay for your property damage, they’ll take care of everything.
That’s a pretty cool benefit, and an easy one when you’re in an accident, because you don’t have to worry about who was at fault, or “Was it partially my fault? Partially this guy’s fault?” And fight with insurance companies. You just get your car fixed, irrespective of that, and that’s great. The problem with that is, as you just said, is that’s usually the most expensive part of a renew automobile insurance policy, and oftentimes it’s not worth it. So if you have a car that’s 10 years old, 15 years old, you could pay more on the value of the car over five or six years, per collision, than the car is worth in total. Have you seen that before?
Rob Intelisano:
Yeah, that’s a really good point you’re making. A lot of times that happens because there was no review, or update, or broker a conversation, in last 10 years. There are certain people that believe in insurance, and certain people who don’t. So if you had, let’s say, comprehensive collision early on with that vehicle, and then you kept that vehicle for eight or 10 years, if you’re not going to drop the collision or comprehensive, raise the deductible to a thousand dollars, it will lower that premium.
Paul Edelstein:
See, you hit on the perfect thing. It’s funny, we weren’t even originally going to talk about this. This is the most basic thing, automobile insurance. And now I’m thinking, “Wow, there’s so many things that happen here.” Again, you and I have talked about it, either you’re going to see The Insurance Doctor before there’s a problem, or you’re going to see the personal injury lawyer after there’s a problem, and you’re going to learn.
So if you’re learning from me about automobile insurance, you’ve probably have had a problem. You’re better off learning from you before there’s a problem. So collision is one thing, to understand how that works, because I’ll see a policy after an accident, and go, “You know, probably didn’t need collision insurance on this 25 year old car. You’ve paid this insurance company, you bought the car from them. It was useless to you.”
And had they seen someone like you, there’s no doubt you would’ve said just what you just said now, “Hey, at some point there’s diminishing returns. You may want to get rid of it altogether, or increase the deductible, this or that.” It’s a financial component. I don’t see these people until they come to me. So collision insurance is really one of the big ones. The other gigantic big one is supplementary uninsured motorist protection. You’re nodding, because you know what that is. I never knew what that was until I became a personal injury lawyer. And then I was like, “Oh, my God.”
Here’s the problem with that one. Let me explain what it is first, because I know you know, all right. So if you’re involved in an accident, with some other guy that doesn’t have any insurance, happens all the time, no insurance, or a hit-and-run, they leave. Even if you’re a pedestrian, and you’re involved in a car accident, or if you live in the city, like you and I have grown up in the city all of our lives. We’re in taxi cabs a lot. They don’t have great insurance. Supplementary uninsured motorist protection covers you in all of these situations, and it also covers any family member that lives in your house. And for me, that’s massive.
That, for me, covers 15 people. Just that one policy. My one car policy covers 16 human beings, because I live in a giant three-generational extended family. So this is the most incredible coverage ever. And the way it works, basically, is if you’re in an automobile accident, in any way, shape, or form, and the person that hits you doesn’t have any insurance, or doesn’t have enough, in other words, has the minimal insurance. In New York, $25,000 is the minimal liability insurance you can have. If you get really badly hurt, and you’re seeing me $25,000 doesn’t do a damn thing for you, nothing. That’s useless.
So the next question I ask somebody is, “Well, can I see your policy?” They say the same thing we just said, “Full coverage.” And I’m like, “Okay, there’s no such thing, and I want to look at it.” First thing I’m looking for is that SUM, supplementary uninsured motorist protection, to see what was that? So many times I see that that insurance coverage is the minimum, while somebody may have an automobile liability coverage way higher; $100,000, $300,000, $500,000, which of course protects their own finances if they were in an accident that was their fault, and someone like me was suing them.
So they’re paying for that. They may be paying for collision, which may or may not be necessary. If they didn’t see somebody like you, they would’ve no way of knowing. Then they have the minimal SUM, and I’m like, “Oh, my God, horrible.” That is my nightmare scenario as a lawyer. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve come across that situation in my career.
Now I’m going to ask you, you’re the broker. If I went to you beforehand, because I don’t like insurance companies, I don’t want to pay them a lot of money. You just said it earlier, you’re like, “Ah, people don’t want to talk about, they don’t want to give them, they think everything’s a ripoff.” SUM coverage. Expensive, inexpensive? Good value, not good value?
Rob Intelisano:
Yeah. So first of all, you said a lot of things here. First thing is, come to me first. I’m not charging a fee, so come to me first. Secondly, not only is there uninsured, but there’s underinsured, which you can collect as well, supplementary uninsured or underinsured, and it’s very inexpensive. If I’m doing a review with a client, and premium’s an issue, which it usually is, “Oh, I don’t want to pay this.” First thing I’m looking at is their deductibles. A lot of times, no one looks at these policies. They probably can barely even find out where they are. If they’re not computer savvy, that’s another issue, because then they don’t have the PDF of it.
So obviously, situations with the $250 deductible, and obviously you want to know what the financial situation is with the client, what type of emergency fund money they may have. But I’ll say, “Look, raise your uninsured. Raise your supplementary uninsured, and raise the deductible, and I can save you a few dollars.” So you’re paying less, and now you have more coverage, and your deductible went from $250 to $500. But if you have a claim, a $250 is not going to make a big difference if you’re having a claim, but it will make a huge difference if you just bumped up your supplementary uninsured from 25, let’s say, to $250,000. That’s a major difference. You’re not paying tax on that claim either.
Paul Edelstein:
I’m telling you the difference between raising an SUM, or the supplementary uninsured component of an auto policy, to make that go from the minimum $25,000 to $100,000 or $250,000, or $500,000, as you said, sometimes costs $25, $50. It’s unbelievable.
Rob Intelisano:
It’s negligibly cheap. Then when I point that out, people like, “Why didn’t my broker tell me?”
Paul Edelstein:
I’m going to tell you something that I wonder if you know. All right? First of all, if anybody went to you, see The Doctor before you have a problem is really a good idea. See The Insurance Doctor before you see me, after there’s a problem, okay? But I’m going to ask you this question. I wonder if you know. This supplementary uninsured motorist protection, that component of your policy, you’re required in New York to have the minimum, all right? You cannot have more SUM than you have liability, because it’s a money loser for the insurance carrier. So that was the law. That’s the law that you were able to get passed. So the SUM can only be the same as your liability coverage.
Rob Intelisano:
We call that upside down-
Paul Edelstein:
There you go. Okay, so there’s a phrase in there. So if you have, let’s say, $100,000 in liability, or $300,000, but you only elect to take the minimal SUM, New York State law, I can’t wait to see if you know this, because it is such a weird arcane thing. It’s such good coverage that the New York State legislature mandated that insurance companies send a policy holder a separate notice if they elect to have the minimum, and they have more liability, explaining to them that they only took the minimum, and that it’s the benefits of SUM.
So basically the law makes the insurance company go to a policy holder, and say, “This is a stupid idea. You probably should have the same.” They almost try to do your job. But you know what happens? Nobody believes when the insurance company sends him a letter, they have to send the letter on special pipe printed letter advising that policy holder. Did you know that they have to send this out?
Rob Intelisano:
I did. I did. And nobody reads it.
Paul Edelstein:
You know everything.
Rob Intelisano:
No, I don’t. But nobody reads it. But I will tell you that If I don’t know the answer, I will find the answer. And that’s another thing, when someone comes to me with a problem, if I don’t have a direct answer, I’ll find him that answer, and quickly. But also, New York state law, a lot of people don’t understand, New York’s insurance is regulated by state, all right? So what I explain this the people, you have FDIC. The banks are federally regulated, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. So everyone’s got the same rules. The stock market has FINRA, all right? SEC. These are national rules. The insurance industry is regulated by state. So each state’s got different rules, different products, sometimes the phrases are different.
In health insurance, the network, it’s the same company, but it’s called something different. New York is the most highly regulated state in the country of the United States. And what that means is New York requires higher what’s called reserve ratios, cash reserve ratios. What that means in English is that if company A has to keep more cash on hand to pay off their liabilities, that’s going to hurt their profit. So New York State has the lowest profit for the insurance companies.
Next time you see names of insurance companies, take a look, because most insurance companies will set up a subsidiary just for New York, like Jackson National Life of New York. This way those poor profitable numbers do not count against their stock bottom line, because it’s a separate subsidiary. One of the benefits of being in New York for the clients, the customer, is that you have more protection than anywhere else. But one of the detriments is that the products aren’t as good.
When I’m meeting with a client, insurance or whatever it may be, one of the first things I’ll ask them, we’ve been doing this for many, many years, is, “Okay, you’re located in New York. Do you have your Jersey Shore house, your Pocono spot? Do you do snowbirding to Florida? California? Arizona? Do you have a business address, or another home, outside New York state? Because if you do, that opens up a plethora of additional products that we can find for you, that they do not have in New York because the compliance is so difficult.”
Paul Edelstein:
Man. Well, if anybody’s listening to this, and you’re not convinced now that you could see The Insurance Doctor, Robert Intelisano, before you have an issue, I don’t know what would convince you. But now we talked a little bit about auto insurance. Boy, you went, you did a deep dive as to why this happens from the insurance company perspective. So you really have insight into it far deeper than even than I certainly do. But the bottom line is, see The Insurance Doctor before you see the negligence lawyer. That’s all I can tell you.
Rob Intelisano:
I could tell you that it’ll be painless. I don’t bite, and you’re not going to get any shots. So we won’t be drawing blood.
Paul Edelstein:
And no one will sue you. All right?.
Rob Intelisano:
That’s it,
Paul Edelstein:
Doctor, you are the man. Peace, and we’re out of here again.
Rob Intelisano:
All right, man. Enjoyed it.
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