AFM Resource Blog

AFM is happy to announce the first recipients of our 2024 Agent Incentive Program. Congratulations to Melody Bumgardner, Janie Holliday, and Greg Williams!

In keeping with our Core Value of Continuously Improving, we have been working hard behind the scenes to make this feature even better. After analyzing chat logs, we determined that many of the same questions were being asked time and again by our agents, and the answers to those questions were very straightforward and not specific to any individual situation. With this in mind, we proceeded to develop chat bot technology that uses artificial intelligence to respond to these types of inquiries.

On April 12th, members of AFM’s staff participated both on the course and on the sidelines as volunteers in the Swing Fore Hope Golf Tournament benefiting Little Pink Houses of Hope.

One thing that we hear time and again from our agents is that they love AFM’s website chat feature. Even if we didn’t get this feedback, the chat volumes speak for themselves. We’re happy to provide our agents with several different options to get in touch with us, and we’re glad that this is such a popular choice!

Did you know that AFM will write a modular home on our Select HO-3 program as long as everything else meets our guidelines? For many new-to-AFM agents, this is a question that comes up rather frequently, especially after learning that we no longer accept new business on our Mobile Homeowners program.

As an insurance agent, you’ve more than likely heard that we are currently in what is called a hard market. Since the last hard market was widely believed to have ended in 2003, for many professionals in our industry this is the first real-life experience they’ve had with this phenomenon. So what exactly does it mean?

Claims are an inevitable part of the insurance business. While some carriers may instruct insureds to contact them directly for any type of claims discussion, here at AFM, we do things a bit differently. We want our insureds to call their agent prior to filing any claim. Here’s some major reasons why.

When quoting new business with AFM, one of the steps that must always be taken is to pull Hazard Hub. This is found on the Risks Tab of the quote, under the Hazard Hub Data section. One of the key pieces of information that the Hazard Hub report pulls is the property’s Fire Protection Class.

Did you know that in 2023, the United States Geological Survey’s data reported 21 earthquakes in North Carolina? Most of these happened in the western part of the state, firmly in AFM’s writing territory. Although most of them were either too small in magnitude to easily feel, or happened in less populated areas, the statistics don’t lie: earthquakes are a not-so-rare occurrence in our state.

One of the major elements of quoting a piece of new business is to determine the correct amount of coverage.  Although a declarations page from a current policy or the sales price of a brand-new purchase can be good starting points, you want to be sure that your client is getting the right amount of coverage to adequately protect their property.  Enter the Replacement Cost Estimator, more commonly known as an RCE.  For the vast majority of new business policies, AFM requires an RCE to be submitted at application to support the Coverage A amount that has been requested.