Declarations

Siren Song

“The fire department is going to be mad at me.”

—A sang phrase recorded by Amanda Gessner, 19, in a Drexel Hill, Pa. convenience store surveillance camera – which led to her arrest for arson charges. Police say she started seven blazes in trash and brush between 3 a.m. and 5:45 a.m. one morning last month within blocks of where she lives in Upper Darby Township.

The Cost of Service

“Why should we impede the ability to give customers the support they desire?”

—Gary C. Rygiel, president of the Professional Insurance Agents of New Jersey, commenting on a Garden State proposal that would allow commercial-lines agents to charge fees for some services not directly linked to buying a policy. Current law prohibits agents from collecting these fees. Agents say the change would give clients more access to advisory services.

Dangerous Trucks

“The size, weight, and height of these large pickups should help them ace the side tests just like the other large pickups we’ve tested. Not these three. They perform worse than many cars we’ve evaluated.”

—David Zuby, vice president of The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, commenting on the unusally low marks given to the 2009 versions of the Chevrolet Silverado 1500, Dodge Ram 1500 and Nissan Titan in side crash tests results this month. Despite higher seats, which normally lessen impact on car occupants, Zuby said the trucks fared poorly in tests.

Theory of Relativity

“The property casualty industry did quite well last year on a relative basis, given the damage to balance sheets. I think it comes out with its model unbroken.”

—Comment on the state of the p/c insurance industry in 2008 given by Vincent (V.J.) Dowling, managing partner of Dowling & Partners, a Connecticut-based institutional stock brokerage specializing in p/c and other lines of insurance. Dowling was one of a dozen panelists during last month’s Joint Industry Forum, an annual event put on on by the Insurance Information Institute.

AIG Probe

“They (AIG) are not under the same controls that other organizations that got (government) money are; but under a new bill that has been passed it will be more involved, what they can and can’t do, and we can look back.”

—Rep. Paul Kanjorski, D-Pa., chairman of the House subcommittee on capital markets and insurance, who said he is concerned that American International Group Inc’s $150 billion federal bailout could be undermining the U.S. insurance market and he is digging into claims that the insurer is driving down prices to win business. Kanjorski also told Reuters that AIG’s pay practices could come under increasing scrutiny.

Topics Agencies Market AIG