Safety Is Her Policy

From The Morning Call
Safety is her policy
Donna Hosfeld tries to help her insurance clients lower the risks in their lives.
By Christian Millman
Of The Morning Call

August 5, 2002

Donna Hosfeld keeps a collage of photos in her office showing what used to be a nearly new car. It had flipped end over end several times, hitting poles and embankments before landing well off the road.

Amazingly, the 17-year-old newly licensed driver was able to walk away from the crash with only minor injuries.

Hosfeld often gets people to guess what kind of car it used to be. So far, only one person got it right: an auto body technician.

The photos are part of what Hosfeld sees as her job: educating her clients about the dangers of everyday life and how to reduce those risks. As owner of the Hosfeld Insurance Agency in Upper Macungie Township, her opportunities to educate people happen daily.

For example, a 16- or 17-year-old driver with one passenger is 1.4 times more likely to have an accident than if he or she is driving alone. With two passengers, that driver is 2.1 times more likely to crash. And three or more passengers bumps those odds up to 3.9 times. That's all because the driver's attention is less focused on the road when there are passengers, epecially young, exuberant ones, in the car.

"So many of the accidents we have are because of distraction issues," said Hosfeld. Those include talking on a cell phone, horsing around with other people in the car, even fiddling with the radio.

"Driving is very serious business. When you're in the car, you're there to drive," she said.

Hosfeld opened her independent insurance agency in 1998, just as many insurance companies were bypassing the agency system and selling directly to consumers through the Internet and 1-800 numbers. And she's the first to admit those companies do a very good job of it.

"Every time you see a Geico commercial, you hear that you could save 15 percent," Hosfeld said.

The number of independent insurance agencies has fallen over the past few years, according to the Independent Insurance Agents of America. In 1992 there were 46,000, and in 2000 there were 42,000.

To survive against those direct-sellers, Hosfeld knew she would have to do something that they weren't very good at. "Having seen folks visiting the Internet sites and 800-numbers and seeing the service they weren't getting, it just seemed wise to go into an agency," she said.

Now she spends as much time simply asking and answering questions and offering advice as she does writing new policies. "If I had a nickel for every time someone told me that this is the first time anyone has talked to them, I'd be able to retire right now," she said. "People often say, Gosh, you ask a lot of questions' and we do. But otherwise you might miss something really, really important."

For example, a 68-year-old client had income-loss coverage on one of his policies with another company, even though he had been retired for years. He was paying unnecessarily for that, she said.

It's a formula that seems to work: In the four years since she started, she has added two staff members and moved into larger offices to keep up with demand.

And her willingness to ask questions has worked in other ways. Shortly after she opened her agency, she called a man who was looking for a quote. "We were just clicking, like immediately clicking," she said.

A passel of questions later, she determined that they had grown up less than a mile apart from each other. She also found out that he was unattached.

In December 2000, they were married. And, yes, she has his insurance policies now.

Despite the growth of direct sellers, Hosfeld said she thinks there will always be a need for independent agencies, simply because insurance sometimes deals with the most stressful moments in life. And that calls for a real, live person instead of a Web site.

"There's always going to be different kinds of competition," she said. "But the personal side will always be there. People are always going to need that."

By the way, if you are asked, the car in the photos was a Ford Taurus.

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