Platte City Shelter Insurance agent, Kurt Smart celebrated his 35th anniversary with Shelter Insurance a few weeks ago on May 7. He has spent his entire career as an agent for Shelter.
It has been a memorable time for Smart not only in spending more than a third of a century with the insurance company, but also for moving his business location in November, 2024, to 510 Main Street.
“I tell people it’s the log cabin building up from Sprint Lumber,” Smart said. “I wasn’t looking to move; the building came up for sale and I bought it.”
Smart
He began his career in insurance after his dad told him about an ad in the Kansas City Star that Shelter had posted. He also knew some successful people who were in the insurance business, so he made the decision to jump in.
Since he began his career he believed in the importance of ensuring that people understood all the details of their insurance policies.
“My office really tries to educate people about their coverage on what they currently have and what we would suggest that they add or delete,” Smart said. On the other hand, a lot of people are just worried about price and not so much about how and what they’re covered for, this can be very eye opening when, and if, they have a claim and they have limited or no coverage.”
Coverage, price, how claims are handled and what to expect from an agent are all important considerations that Smart believes people should be aware of when choosing an insurance plan.
“What I mean by what you want in an agent - some prefer to do business with a local agent because they can call or walk in and talk to the agent or staff about what concerns them,” Smart said. “Some people are OK with calling a 1-800 number and talking to a random person.”
Since the insurance business is constantly changing, new challenges in the industry come year by year.
Smart said one of the current challenges that insurance companies are facing is that people believe that the hurricanes in Florida and the fires in California are affecting their rates.
“First and foremost, each state has an insurance commissioner. When a company determines it needs to raise rates they file paperwork with the insurance commissioner in that state, the insurance company is tasked with proving their losses in that state to justify the increase. The commissioner can approve, reject, or reduce the increase. Long story short, what happens in other states doesn’t affect rates in Missouri. Also, Shelter does not operate in either of those states.”
One of the other challenges that the insurance industry faces is people thinking that because their vehicle’s monetary value goes down each year, their auto insurance should also get lower.
“Yes, vehicles depreciate, but 75% of them are repaired instead of being totaled,” Smart said. “The cost to repair vehicles has gone up substantially in the last few years. Also, higher liability claims payouts for bodily injury have gone up.”
For someone who is considering becoming an insurance agent, the most positive characteristics they should have in order to be successful are important.
“They need to have an outgoing personality, also be someone that is proactive and persistent,” Smart said. “They need to be a good listener. They want to network with the people they serve and build centers of influence. They are building a business, so they have to think long-term, it doesn’t happen overnight.”
For Smart, who has been a trusted insurance agent for people in the Platte City area for decades, his career has been very rewarding. He enjoys helping people find the best insurance plans that will suit their needs, and help them feel secure and protected.
“I have a very high retention rate which has led to me having insureds for years, many of them have become very good friends,” Smart said. “I like helping people find what works best for them. I’m very thankful for these relationships I have built over the years.”