Big Apple Broker Tour
Brandon Laam and Terri Moran spent last week visiting brokers and Moving & Storage companies in and around New York City. Here’s a snapshot of our trip!
First Stop: Brooklyn with The Dorfman Organization
For our first broker visit, we headed to Brooklyn and had dinner with (from left to right) Jen Dorfman & Debbie Trotta from Dorfman Organization, Terri Moran & Brandon Laam from Mover’s Choice.
Kirkwood Insurance
The next morning we headed north to Pleasantville, NY to have a breakfast meeting with Bob Kirkwood, Ron Kirkwood, Diana Kirkwood & Michelle Williams. We were so busy enjoying our meal and catching up, that we missed the restaurant photo op!
Oz Moving and Storage, AHT Insurance & Open Eyes
Back to NYC for lunch that day with (from left to right) Roee Pargament (Open Eyes), Gary Flaherty (Open Eyes), Yoav Oron (Open Eyes), me, Teri, Nancy Zafrani (Oz Moving & Storage) & Eran Sobol (Oz Moving & Storage). Not pictured: Martin Kelly (AHT Insurance) & Leslie Nyland (Baldwin Risk Partners).
SCS Agency, Inc.
Hyde Park was next on our itinerary to visit with the folks at SCS Agency. We had a fun-filled dinner with (from left to right) Brandon, Colleen Raczkowski, Trudi Barton, Anthony Charles, Terri, Bob Goettelmann.
Peter Peterson
Next up, lunch with our longtime friend and Broker, Peter Peterson. It was great to hear Peter’s stories.
From left to right: Peter Peterson, Terri, Brandon.
All Fronts Insurance and Big Apple Moving & Storage
Our last stop was dinner that night with All Fronts Insurance and Big Apple Moving & Storage. From left to right: Karl Osman (Big Apple Moving), Alex Khamish (All Fronts Insurance), Brandon, and Dor Klein.
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2023 has been a challenging year for many of our Moving & Storage customers. Higher interest rates and a cooling housing market have slowed the Moving & Storage business. Our industry and our customers, however, remain resilient. They are finding new and innovative ways to serve their clients: controlling expenses, leveraging technology and diversifying their businesses.
For many of these same reasons, 2023 is an exciting year to be serving the Moving & Storage industry at Mover’s Choice! Our business is evolving and aligning with the industry in significant ways:
- Single Carrier Solution for All Lines — Our recently announced partnership expansion with AmTrust solidifies Mover’s Choice as the most comprehensive, all lines insurance solution for the Moving & Storage industry! For our brokers and customers, this means that we are in the best position to control our customers’ insurance costs through multi-line underwriting. The insurance industry’s decade-long struggle with Commercial Auto pricing, for example, is something we can counteract with other less volatile lines of business like Workers’ Compensation and Inland Marine, rather than having to rely solely on large rate increases to catch up, as you may see more commonly among our competitors.
- Expanded Underwriting Appetite — We know that many of our entrepreneurial customers are diversifying into businesses related to or expanding upon moving & storage services, and we’re here to help! Mover’s Choice has been focused on the moving & storage industry for nearly 30 years, and that focus has not changed, but our ability to accommodate other operations in general freight and other delivery and logistics operations continues to be best-in-class among insurers specializing in movers.
- Pairing Loss Control with Technology — In the coming months, we will be rolling out tech-based loss control services for ALL of our insureds! Unlike traditional loss control services, which are typically provided by way of in-person inspection, we will be connecting smaller insureds with loss control consulting services virtually. These services will be in addition to the Mover’s Choice Online Loss Control Portal and other services we currently provide. More to come on this soon!
- Congratulations, Terri Moran & Sue Ortiz — We are lucky to have many skilled and experienced Moving & Storage Underwriters working hard to keep our pricing as sustainably low and balanced as possible. This year we have two milestone work anniversaries to celebrate: Our fearless leader and Chief Underwriting Officer, Terri Moran celebrates five years this summer! And celebrating 25 years as our longest tenured employee and Underwriter is Sue Ortiz! Please join me in recognizing Terri and Sue for their incredible contributions to our company and industry over the years… and here’s to many more!
Every year brings new challenges to the moving industry and the insurance business. We are so thankful for the support of our customers, our broker and insurance company partners, and all of the vendor partners. Most of all, we are grateful for our employees, friends, and colleagues with whom we are so lucky to work every day. We cannot wait to see what is yet to come for the remainder of 2023, and we look forward to celebrating our 30th Anniversary with all of you in 2024!
Clayton Cavell
Loss Control Resources
Download these handy loss control PDFs to share with your team and drivers.
Forklift Safety
Machine Guarding Safety
Mover’s Choice News
We are Counting Down the Days to the Napa to Sonoma Half-Marathon & 5K!
Please consider giving to Team Mover’s Choice in our Fundraiser for Move For Hunger! Team Mover’s Choice will be turning miles into meals on July 15 & 16. Help us make 2023 Move for Hunger’s most impactful year ever by supporting us in our effort to help reduce food waste and combat hunger!
Staff Spotlight: Meet our EVP of Operations, Gabe Barajas!
Gabe is about to celebrate his 13th year with Mover’s Choice, and he feels extremely “lucky” to work and collaborate with the skilled and experienced Mover’s Choice team members. He especially appreciates the solid leadership and our amazing culture. With a total of 15 years in the insurance industry, Gabe holds his California P&C license and will soon complete his Transportation Risk and Insurance Professional (TRIP) certification.
“The pressures of managing operations is not easy, but I love having the opportunity to make an impact. One creative idea or innovative change can significantly improve efficiency for internal team members, broker partners, insurance carriers and policy holders,” says Gabe.
When asked what industry trends he’s seeing, he noted that the commercial insurance industry seems to be collectively focusing on and prioritizing technological advancements and integration.
Gabe enjoys traveling both domestically and internationally, and competes in adult tennis leagues. He also loves music, studied vocal performance, and has been known to pull off some impressive karaoke duets with our very own CUO, Terri Moran!
Fun Fact: if Gabe could have one superpower, it would be teleportation so he could say “goodbye” to traffic jams and long flights
