To Our Clients,
You have given our agency the job of insuring what is important to you, and we are honored by your trust. We want to keep you involved in how we did as an agency, as the stronger we are, the more apt we are to live up to your expectations. In addition, we feel that communication is extremely important, so we want you to understand some of the areas that affect the insurance industry that you may not be aware of as the world continues to deal with war, violence, political discord, and more.
Agency News
The agency’s premium volume grew from $106,738,308 at the end of 2023 to $130,477,984 at the end of 2024. Growth of 22.2%. All organic. Well higher than the industry standard, which was in the 10% range in 2024. Other agencies continue to grow, but unlike us, the only way they can do so is to buy other agencies. The best way to grow is to grow organically. Growing by purchasing other insurance agencies is rarely good for the client and leads to service issues!
We know the insurance marketplace continued to be hit hard in 2024 with premium increases, but our agency growth wasn’t at our client’s expense like most agencies. We wrote almost $15M ($14,984,515) in new business. That’s by far the most in agency history. Thank you to all of our new clients for their confidence in us!
Our retention for the year was over 94%, which is outstanding in a year where insureds are simply unhappy (and I can’t blame them) with constant premium increases and the insurance companies changing limits, deductibles, etc. The average agency was at around 84-85% in 2024, so we were about 10 points higher. Thank you to all of our current clients for standing by us and putting your confidence in us!
We were named one of Insurance Journal’s Top 100 Agencies. The Top 100 list is ranked by total property/casualty agency revenue and comprises only those agencies whose business is primarily retail, not wholesale. There are about 39,000 independent agencies like that in the country and we are in the top 100!
Our bread and butter is habitational insurance. Always has been and always will be. What is that? Insurance covering the properties where people live. Community associations like co-ops, condominiums, homeowners associations, and apartment buildings. We wrote 213 new community associations (co-ops, condominiums, and Homeowners Associations) and apartment buildings in 2024. We now insure almost 1,900 community associations and 230 rental properties totaling almost 2,100 habitational properties in New York and New Jersey. Try and find another retail agent who insures that many!
The agency continues to be extremely profitable. We are in trust and always will be. That means we make more money than we spend. Sounds like common sense, right? You would be surprised to know that there are insurance agencies out there who are out of trust. They basically pay Peter with Paul’s money. Over the course of time, this catches up with them.
The Big I named us a Best Practices Agency for the sixth year in a row. The Big I (a.k.a. Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers) is a National Trade Association that strives to provide independent insurance agents and brokers with support to maintain excellence in business and customer service. They hire an independent consultant to review all insurance brokers across the country to see if they qualify. Each nominated agency must submit extensive financial and operational data for review. Any firm that qualifies represents the highest performers based on their growth and operational excellence. This year, only 239 agencies across 46 states qualified as Best Practices Agencies, and we were one of them!
We were named the Best Insurance Agency to Work for in the East by Insurance Journal! In order to be eligible for this award, you must be nominated by several staff members. For that reason, we are most proud to receive it!
Our very own Nicole Eggert was named Outstanding CSR of the Year for the State of New York by The National Alliance for Insurance Education and Research. Last year, she was named as Insurance Journal’s CSR and Account Manager MVP. I don’t think anyone in any agency has done that before!
We continued to get lots of press because of our knowledge in the community association field. Don Schatzle, Kara Ryan, Samantha Tucci, and I were featured in various publications.
We hired a number of new employees in 2024 – We welcomed Jennifer Squitieri, Humma Willis, Erin Miller, Diana Catalano, Lauren Hill, Angela Bozymowski, Freddie Borges, Tanya Bohn, Katelyn De Freitas, and Jason Silva in 2024. Ten new hires seems like a lot, but as we grow, we continue to hire as we want to make sure you continue to receive amazing customer service. I am sure you will get a chance to meet or speak with them in the near future!
Staff members Valerie Roberts and Taylor Duffy had beautiful babies. It was Taylor’s first and Valerie’s second child. Future Mackoul staff members, possibly!
Don Schatzle got married. Christina Basile got engaged, as did Taylor Duffy. We congratulate them all and wish them and their partners long and healthy lives filled with many happy memories!
Courtney Ferretti, Nicole Adam, and Nicole Eggert completed their CPCU (Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter) designations. The CPCU designation is basically the equivalent of a master’s degree in insurance. They joined Sally Dolce, Cheryl Fitzpatrick, Gabrielle Fisher, and myself giving us a total of seven individuals with the CPCU designation. Many agencies don’t even have one person with this designation and we have seven!
Don Schatzle, Kerry Tobin, and Lisa Page completed their ACSR designations. We continue to push our staff to become educated and obtain designations in our field. Knowledge is power!
Hannah Warriner, Kerry Tobin, Ali Perone, Marylou Warriner, Nicole Nestro, Humma Willis, and Lauren Tolan all obtained their Property & Casualty licenses. Unlike some agencies who have unlicensed personnel handling your insurance, you can be assured that everyone who should have a license in the agency, has a license!
Jen Sherman had her 20-year work anniversary with us. She is the third person to have at least 20 years with us, joining Cheryl Fitzpatrick (35 years) and Sally Dolce (28 years). Gabrielle Fisher (18 years), Courtney Ferretti (17 years), Gina Corso (16 years), Nicole Eggert (13 years), Valerie Roberts, Samantha Tucci, Amanda Petrylka, Danielle Klemm, and Sarah Schnepf (12 years), Justin Kraus, Rosie Rall, Lauren Yost, and Eric Eggert (11 years), and Rebecca Scandaliato, Vanessa Cusumano, and Lauren Tolan have all been with us for at least a decade. Not sure too many other agencies have that kind of employee longevity. I would have to think they love it here, and we love having them!
We collected donations for those in need during back-to-school time and Thanksgiving, and several staff members participated in races for charity. We continue to give back to the community!
Commercial Lines:
The insurance industry has been in a hard market for four years now (or is it five?), and sadly, the end may not be in sight. In 2025, Property rates are expected to level off, assuming your building is adequately insured to value, has favorable claim history, and does not contain faulty electric, but Liability, including Directors & Officers Liability and Commercial Umbrella Liability, are expected to continue to increase due to unfriendly Labor Laws in New York and Social Inflation countrywide. Make sure you budget accordingly and read our 2025 forecast!
The staff was able to move 11 insureds from Excess & Surplus Lines to admitted carriers, resulting in better coverage and lower premiums. We are constantly looking out for the best interests of our clients!
Personal Lines
Personal Lines is now entering their third year in a hard market and the end is nowhere in sight. Justin Kraus, our Personal Lines Manager, expects Auto Insurance rate increases in the 15-35% range along with carriers continuing to non-renew and drop out of the New York market. The defensive driving course, which is offered online, is a great way to help reduce some of your insurance costs. This will usually save each driver about 10% off the Liability premiums. In the Homeowners market, he expects to continue to see large rate increases in the range of 10-50%, depending on certain home characteristics. Budget accordingly and read our 2025 forecast here!
The staff was able to move one insured from Excess & Surplus Lines to an admitted carrier, resulting in better coverage and a much lower premium. This is always good news!
Contractor Review Department
Our Contractor Review department, which was formed to help our clients by reviewing the insurance policy for any contractor the board is considering hiring, as well as the insurance section of the contract that will be signed by the two parties, conducted 430 building reviews and 58 unit owner reviews. With the Labor Laws in New York being so unfriendly towards property owners, knowing whether a contractor has proper insurance and that you can transfer the risk could mean the difference between $100,000s of insurance premiums!
Homeowners Insurance Monitoring
Our Homeowners Insurance Monitoring department, which was formed to help associations monitor homeowners insurance for all of the owners (and renters in some instances), signed up 35 new properties containing over 3,000 units. We are now monitoring 45 properties and almost 4,000 units. We continue to look for areas that our clients need help in and try and provide assistance!
Marketing & Technology
We received 20 new reviews across Google, Facebook, and Yelp. We now have 179 reviews with 4.9 stars on Google, 90 reviews with 4.9 stars on Facebook, and 59 reviews with 5 stars on Yelp. All 20 of the reviews this year were 5 stars. Not bad, not bad at all!
We hosted quarterly webinars. 50-100 attendees attended each one. We also created new white papers for our clients covering Rising Homeowners Insurance Rates, Explaining Employee Benefits and Human Resources, Managing Mold, and Solving Common Loss Recommendations. We love teaching, and our clients and prospects love learning!
We finished putting our Mackoul School classes online, and they are all available on demand. Our goal was to allow all of our clients to learn what they want when they want, and now they can!
We began using Artificial Intelligence (AI) in various aspects and plan on using it more in 2025. Not to replace our amazing staff, but to help speed up some tasks. We are always looking for ways to make our service better!
Employee Benefits
Not to be left behind, our Employee Benefits department continued its year-over-year growth with Rebecca Scandaliato leading the charge and helped by Danielle Klemm and Valerie Russo. Specifically in NY, small group (under 100 employees) health insurance is community-rated. That means health insurance companies are required to charge the same price for coverage in select regions regardless of age, gender, occupation, or health status. So, there is no differentiation in pricing from broker to broker. The differentiation boils down to service, and we are the best of the best. Our value-added services have set us apart from our competitors. We provide onboarding and open enrollment portal branded specifically to their company, so their employees can make benefit elections through this portal and have direct access to view benefits & costs, ask questions directly to our employee benefits department, and ultimately enroll in coverage electronically. We also provide an HR Solution, including access to Live HR Support, Compliance Documents, Handbook Builder, and Workplace Harassment Training to many of our insureds. Our clients lean on us when it comes to labor law audits and compliance issues, and we help them whenever we can!
We look forward to another year of earning your trust and helping you insure what matters most to you.
