Laurinda Crenshaw spoke to the Kiwanis club, Tuesday, July 9th about her background, her years as our local State Farm agent and insurance legislation.  She received a Masters in Communication from Northeast now ULM. She begin working as a fire underwriter at State Farm in Monroe and when they began a Public Affairs department she worked there.  In September she will have worked for State Farm for 35 years but 20 years as an agent in January. State Farm appoints agents so there are a lot of people who are waiting on an agent to retire or pass away so they can have an agency. She was fortunate enough to be able to get the Winnfield agency when J. W. Kennedy retired. In 2022 State Farm celebrated 100 years in business. It is the largest insurance company in the nation with 1900 agents. They write 35% of property and casualty insurance in Louisiana. 

Insurance is the most regulated business. The cost of insurance is a reflection of its claims.  State Farm’s auto insurance is priced to lose money. Its money is made in investments. Last year State Farm had $134.8 billion in assets. Those assets are used to pay off claims in big natural disasters.  Last year 28,000 property/casualty claims were paid nation-wide to the tune of $12 million for catastrophic claims. 

It is hard to get homeowner’s insurance in South Louisiana. This affects home ownership because you cannot buy a home if you cannot get insurance. People should sit down with their agent and discuss such things as hurricane deductible, wind deductible, etc. They need to know what insurance they have and what it covers. 

In the Legislature they are trying to change the laws to bring in more companies and insure more people. In insurance reform there is a need for options to non-renew. They also need standards for payment of claims. There was a 20% increase in insurance rates over the past couple of years. One recommendation that Crenshaw would make is for parents to help their children or grandchildren have a good credit rating. A good credit rating can help to lower insurance rates. You can do this by giving them a credit card with small limits that they can pay off monthly or put their name on a loan that needs to be paid so they can build a credit score.

Crenshaw was open to questions throughout her talk and gave the Kiwanis good information. Thanks for sharing this information with us.