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WHEATON, Ill., November 4, 2005—Insurers using
farm insurance programs developed by the American Association of
Insurance Services (AAIS) will soon have access to a Web-based farm
property valuation service.
At no additional charge, AAIS will provide
insurers
that use its Farmowners or Farm Properties programs access to the Farm
and Ranch Estimator, a Web-based application for valuing farm
dwellings and outbuildings developed by e2Value, Inc., Stamford, Conn.
(www.e2Value.com).
Access to the Farm and Ranch Estimator will be provided through AAISdirect,
AAIS's own service for providing desktop access to forms, manuals,
bulletins, and other information over the Internet. (AAIS farm
affiliates will be notified when the e2Value service is accessible
through AAISdirect.)
AAIS is a national advisory organization that
develops policy forms and rating information used by more than 600
property/casualty insurers through the U.S. e2Value specializes in
providing Internet applications for estimating values for residential, commercial, and farm structures.
Property valuation is uniquely challenging for
farm insurers because of the variety of structures on farms
and the differing conditions of their upkeep. The Farm and Ranch
Estimator allows users to value both dwellings and farm structures
within one valuation tool, and it allows users to determine either a
replacement cost or actual cash value for a building.
The application incorporates cost data for major
components of construction--walls, roofs, plumbing, and HVAC--as well
as agricultural structures and fixtures, such as corn cribs, silos,
slurry tanks, generators, scales, and specialized equipment for
livestock.
"The greatest challenges to effective farm
valuation are the many different types of buildings a farm can have,
and the wide variety of fixtures within those buildings,"
says Todd Rissel, Chairman and CEO of e2Value, Inc. "Given the
diversity associated with farm property, it is important to have
current and exceptional information available and easily accessible for every type of farm."
"Other methods we've used did not have the
breadth of selection of building types that e2Value offers," says
Sherry Taylor, Director of Farm Lines Underwriting for SECURA
Insurance, Appleton, Wis., which uses the Farm and Ranch Estimator.
"We expect e2Value to provide a more consistent method of
valuation across our book of business."
"We are pleased to be able to enhance our
farm products by making this service available to our
affiliates," says Joyce Tignino, AAIS Vice President of Marketing
and Industry Relations.
For more information on affiliating with AAIS for
use of its Farmowners or Farm Properties programs, contact Rick Maka,
Director of Marketing, at rickm@AAISonline.com or by calling 800/564-AAIS.
For more information about e2Value, visit www.e2Value.com
or contact sales@e2value.com or
888-371-2788.
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