PRESS RELEASE

 

 

Contact:          

 

Glen Sider

National Equipment Register (NER)

212-297-1805

gsider@NERusa.com

 

FCCI Joins Industry Effort to Combat Theft

Release Date:   July 28, 2006  

FCCI Insurance Group (FCCI), a leading provider of comprehensive property and casualty insurance for the commercial business owner, announced today that it has partnered with the National Equipment Register (NER), an industry initiative created in 2001 to prevent heavy equipment theft and increase the recovery rate of stolen construction and agricultural equipment.  FCCI now joins hundreds of heavy equipment insurers who contribute data to NER’s national databases which contain millions of detailed equipment theft and ownership records.  NER also provides officers with a 24-hour police hotline, staffed by equipment experts, to help law enforcement identify stolen equipment and link it to the true owner – usually an insurance company.

Keith Samuelson, Claim Manager at FCCI explains that “From our point of view, there are three reasons to become NER members: the first is to help us recover more stolen equipment, the second is to help our underwriters and risk managers better serve our clients, and last but perhaps most important, to help support an industry effort that is long overdue and already beginning to take the advantage away from the thieves.  We hope that any equipment insurers not yet supporting NER’s efforts will seriously consider doing so since the more insurers involved in this national program, the more successful we will all be.”

Keith adds that “The theft of construction and agricultural equipment has a significant impact on our loss numbers, so the decision to join NER is made even easier given that there is no annual membership fee.”

David Shillingford, president of NER notes that “Although FCCI is not the first insurer to join they are certainly in the vanguard as NER continues to develop its services.  In 2006 we expect the few equipment insurers who are not yet participating to come on board as we are adding a number of services which will only be available to our member insurers.”

 

More information about NER can be found at www.NERusa.com