The Walters Agency Podcast

Bundling Smart: Insurance Benefits and Strategies

• Timothy Walters • Episode 13

Share episode

What Are The Possible Benefits Of Bundling Multiple Policies?

Timothy Walters reveals why insurance companies are so eager to bundle your policies and whether this strategy actually benefits you as much as it benefits them. We dive deep into the mechanics of insurance bundling, exploring two distinct approaches that most consumers never consider when shopping for coverage.

The conversation uncovers the difference between carrier bundling and agency bundling, revealing how specialized coverage needs like manufactured homes often require creative solutions that traditional bundling cannot provide. Timothy shares real examples of clients who saved money by strategically splitting policies across multiple carriers while maintaining bundling discounts through agency relationships. We examine how insurance companies use comprehensive customer profiles to adjust pricing across all policies, sometimes rewarding responsible behavior in unexpected ways.

Perhaps most importantly, we address the hidden consequences of breaking up existing bundles and why that seemingly better auto insurance deal might actually cost you more money overall. Timothy provides practical guidance for evaluating total insurance costs rather than focusing on individual policy pricing, helping listeners make informed decisions about their coverage strategy.

Whether you're managing insurance for your family or business, this conversation provides the insider knowledge needed to navigate bundling decisions confidently. Subscribe to stay updated on insurance insights that protect what matters most, and share this episode with anyone who could benefit from smarter insurance strategies.

To learn more about The Walters Agency visit:
https://www.brightway.com/agencies/tn/knoxville/0237/team
The Walters Agency
7009 Asheville Hwy
Knoxville, TN 37924
423-417-2070

Speaker 1:

Welcome to the Walters Agency Podcast, where insurance meets peace of mind. Hosted by licensed insurance agent and owner, Timothy Walters, we're here to help families, homeowners and small business owners throughout East Tennessee protect what matters most Our mission Creating win-win-win solutions for insurance. Let's dive in.

Speaker 2:

Home, auto and maybe even life. Timothy Walters explains how bundling coverage might offer more than just convenience. Welcome back everybody. Skip Monty, co-host, slash producer, back in the studio with Timothy Walters, licensed insurance agent and owner of the Walters Agency. Tim, how's it hanging, brother?

Speaker 3:

It's hanging, all right, I suppose you know.

Speaker 2:

That's good.

Speaker 3:

Sun's out. I got it blocked because of the glare, but it's a nice day outside, so we're hanging in?

Speaker 2:

Awesome, I'm hanging in there as well. It's Friday, I'm hanging in there as well. It's Friday, I'm excited that it's Friday. So, timothy, I'm excited to dig into how bundling which we hear a lot about commercials on TV from different insurance, unnamed insurance companies, but how bundling could be a smart move for families and businesses alike. What are the possible benefits? Are there benefits of bundling could be a smart move for families and businesses alike? What are the possible benefits? Are there benefits of bundling multiple policies?

Speaker 3:

Oh yeah, no 100%. And I laugh talking about commercials. I just think about some of the commercials. I see they're funny, you know. But yeah, the bundling thing, yeah, it's a real deal.

Speaker 3:

A lot of carriers, especially companies that offer more than one line of business. They like it when people bundle multiple types of insurance with them for a lot of reasons. There's a lot of reasons for that. One of the biggest ones is longevity People who have more than one line of business with an insurance company, or an insurance agency for that matter, they tend to stay longer, or an insurance agency for that matter, they tend to stay longer. And there's again a reason for that because the price points tend to be better when you're bundled up. And again there's the convenience factor. Just having all your stuff in one place is definitely convenient. And again that goes for having it with one insurance company, one insurance carrier or one agent. So I would say there's basically two different types of bundling that I would say. If you're looking at it, there's bundling it all with one insurance carrier, insurance company, like having your home and auto with Progressive or State Farm or Travelers or whatever the companies that do more than one line of business. That's bundling with the company the carrier. Then there's bundling with the company the carrier. Then there's bundling with an agency. So that's like having all of your stuff with an agent, like me, but maybe with different insurance companies.

Speaker 3:

So, uh, for instance, a lot of my com, uh, a lot of my clients who have mobile homes not a whole lot of companies are out there. This kind of surprised me not. There's actually not that many companies out there that do both mobile home and auto insurance. There's a few. I'm not saying that it's not super rare, but it's not as common as I used to think it was.

Speaker 3:

So my clients, I'll have their auto insurance with one company and then I'll have their mobile home insurance with another company that specializes in manufactured homes, because better coverage, better rates than maybe what they could have gotten with a company bundling their home and auto together with that one carrier. So it's a better deal for them. Even though the policies are with different companies, they're still with my agency and a lot of my manufactured home company, for instance, is very specifically, I will offer discounts for clients who have their, of course, their homeowner's insurance with us. But also if I show them proof that the auto insurance is written with a company that is with my agency, then they give them a discount on their home. Even though they don't have, they're not offering that type of insurance, they still give them a discount because they're running their bundle. They're a home and auto with my agency, so that's what you might call the agency bundling. So yeah, there's definitely very clear fits to bundling either with the insurance company or through the agency. 100%.

Speaker 2:

Well, can bundling either one strengthen coverage or fill gaps that maybe standalone policies may miss?

Speaker 3:

Yeah Well, yeah, I mean I would say, if you're bundling, you know an agent or with a company, they're going to have a better, more accurate assessment of your total you know exposure. So if you're talking to an agent, like if somebody's talking to me, and they're just like, hey, I only want to do my homeowner's insurance with you because my auto insurance is elsewhere, I don't want to move it, I always tell them, look, that's fine, you know no problem doing that, but I would at least like to get the information we need to try the auto insurance quotes, because, one, it could be that we end up getting a better value overall, regardless. And then two, sometimes, depending on the company, the homeowners insurance companies will actually adjust their rates depending on information that we would normally collect getting auto insurance. So like driver's license numbers, tenant history, auto insurance coverage.

Speaker 3:

Actually, if they know, hey, this person has higher liability limit than normal, that's actually a green flag for a lot of homeowners insurance carriers because that shows that the client is trying to take some responsibility. You know we talked about that in another episode. You know, auto insurance liability is there to protect you, yes, but also it's you taking responsibility for your actions and protecting your friends and neighbors and insurance companies by and large. Do see, you know higher limits for that kind of thing. So that can absolutely have an effect, you know, sometimes a big effect, sometimes a small effect, sometimes in between, but yeah, it can. So it helps us to get that information regardless. So, yeah, we do like to at least try to bundle.

Speaker 2:

So there are benefits. Are there any hidden drawbacks or limitations to bundling?

Speaker 3:

You know, not really, Of course. There's always things that can happen. So I would say the one thing that I would always advise people to consider is when you do bundle, especially when you're bundling with the same insurance carrier, there's typically a discount involved. You know, it can be a big discount, it can be a small discount with having that bundle together. So if you do end up moving one, so let's say, hey, you had all your stuff together with I'm going to use one of my company's travelers, right, you had your home and auto with travelers. And then you talk to an agent who represents a progressive, I don't know, and they got you a lower rate for your auto insurance for similar coverage. So you move your auto to the new company but you keep your homeowner's insurance with travelers because you like the coverage and all that kind of thing. You're going to eventually lose that discount for having the auto with travelers because it's not there anymore. So there's going to be a change in the price and your homeowner's policy eventually because you're losing that discount.

Speaker 3:

That's like the one. If you want to call it a drawback, I don't even really call it a drawback, it's just a fact of business, right, If you're doing a thing to get you a discount and you stop doing that thing to get you a discount, you're going to lose the discount, Right? A lot of people don't think about that. So I would just say anybody who's watching this, you know, just just consider that when you're shopping, when you're considering bundling or when you're considering breaking up a bundle, you know there could be discount consequences for that.

Speaker 2:

So and I know that I probably know the answer to this Does bundling improve customer service or access to specialized agents or services?

Speaker 3:

I mean not really in my experience. Like I said, I'm an agent so I always tell people one of the services that I offer my team offers is basically taking the burden of dealing with the insurance carriers off of my clients. So if my client is like hey, I have a question about my policy or something's going on that I'm not sure about or I'm having an issue, they say call us. You know, we can try to figure that out for you because we live in this world. I mean, we're more familiar with the lingo, we are familiar with the carriers. A lot of times we have relationships with the people who work for the carriers, like the underwriters and stuff. So, uh, you know, we can a lot of times be a liaison. So I would say bundling doesn't get you any special treatment if you're dealing directly with the insurance carriers because because they legally, you know they have to treat everybody the same per the contract.

Speaker 3:

I'm not sure I've never heard of a carrier being like oh, we have a special, you know, service line for people who have bundled insurance.

Speaker 3:

I'm not saying that doesn't exist, it could. There's a lot of insurance companies out there that I do not have relationships with that I don't have a contract with but I've never heard of that, relationships with that I don't have a contract with, but I've never heard of that Some insurance companies, now, as far as the agents go, some insurance companies will have like special service lines for agents who ride a certain amount of business with them. So as an agent like if I'm, you know, riding a huge amount of business with a company and they do offer, hey, there's a special line for agents who are like this level, right, absolutely, I'm going to take advantage of that because that improves my ability to service my clients. But as far as, like the clients go, I'm pretty sure that's not really a thing, like they're not going to treat you different any differently if you just have one line of business with them as opposed to multiple lines of business, because they're all separate policy contracts anyway.

Speaker 2:

Right, Very good, well, good to know. Great insights, as always, tim. Appreciate the clarity and looking forward to the next time we get together to talk about insurance. Yeah, hey, looking forward to it, skip. Thank you so much. All right, man. Thank you, tim, we'll see you in the next one. All right see you then.

Speaker 3:

All right man.

Speaker 1:

That's a wrap on this episode of the Walters Agency Podcast. Ready to find the right coverage for your home, business or family? Call or text 423-417-2070 for a free 20-minute consultation. Until next time, stay covered, stay protected and keep winning with the Walters Agency.