8-hour C.E. Jewelry Insurance Workshop Fills Significant Gap in Agent Education

What agents don’t know about jewelry and appraisal practices can leave agencies, insurers, and customers vulnerable.

Oakland, CA - August 1, 2006 - JCRS Inland Marine Solutions, Inc, the Oakland, CA-based developer of jewelry underwriting and claims mitigation solutions, announces its upcoming schedule for its Jewelry Insurance Workshop. The "Jewelry 101" workshop provides essential training for agents, CSRs, underwriters, and claims adjusters. "Most P&C agents and their companies know very little about jewelry, let alone know how to insure it properly," says JCRS president & CEO David W. Hendry, Jr. "Our 8-hour C.E. workshop is a real eye-opener and covers jewelry and insurance issues and problems most agents were never even aware of," Hendry adds.

Hendry explains that the problem agents and insurers face starts with the lack of useful documentation a jewelry customer receives when purchasing jewelry. The customer then provides this information to the insurance agent. But untrained agents lack the ability to know whether or not the information is adequate, accurate, or complete enough for properly preparing a submission. Typically, the underwriter also knows little about jewelry and the requisite information for insuring it properly. And, if and when a claim is filed against the jewelry’s loss or damage, the claims adjuster is left to work with what little information is available.

"The problem of incomplete and inaccurate jewelry and appraisal information ripples through our entire industry," says Hendry. "What’s more, our audits of closed claims indicate that some insurance companies end up overpaying jewelry settlements upwards of forty percent." The problem is likely quite huge, considering that U.S. retail jewelry sales over the last five years have exceeded $50 billion annually. And, according to Hendry, while exact figures are unavailable, it is believed that about half of all jewelry purchases are uninsured. Of the other half, a significant portion is improperly insured due to lack of sales documentation, questionable appraisal practices, and lack of agent, underwriter, and adjuster training.

Hendry’s goal in making jewelry insurance training available is to help agents and CSRs become aware of jewelry insurance issues, identify potential problems, and improve the submissions process, which will ultimately improve loss ratios, reduce claims overpayment, and elevate customer satisfaction.

About the Jewelry Insurance Workshop: 8-hours Continuing Education Credit; topics include:

• how jewelers do business
• important jewelry industry issues and trends
• what agents need to know about appraisals
• how to identify potential jewelry fraud
• the basics of diamonds, gemstones, and precious metals
• insurance industry issues, problems, forms, and standards

This one-of-a-kind course consistently gets high marks from students (4.3 average on a 5-point scale) and includes a comprehensive Jewelry Insurance Manual. The workshop is presented in a discussion and question-answer format, supplemented with graphics, video, and hands-on exercises using jewelry data and insurance forms. For more information, see http://www.jcrs.com/JCRS_for_insurers/jewelry_101.htm

About JCRS Inland Marine Solutions, Inc.: JCRS is the leader in jewelry underwriting and claims mitigation. In addition, JCRS is the developer of a number of jewelry insurance solutions and initiatives that benefit both insurers and jewelers and their customers, including appraisal standards and forms for documenting jewelry information for insurance purposes. For more information, see www.jcrs.com.