CDS is pleased to announce that its Distance to Fire Station report is now national! You can get the following information:driving distance to local responding fire stations, names of the stations and staffing (career or volunteer) by simply typing in an address.

Use this report to get the premium you deserve! The distance to fire station can add as much as $600 to the price of a single homeowner's policy. Checking this could add thousands in premiums. CDS can also run all of your policies in batch as well.

The distance between a property and the primary fire station directly affects your loss ratio. Regardless of the training, personnel or equipment at a station, if an insured location is greater than 5 miles from a station the chance of a large loss is inevitable.

This report is ideal when evaluating rural locations. For more information, please contact Jamie Munson at 860.854.6125 or jmunson@cdsys.com

In addition, we also have responding fire district boundaries for the following states: CA, FL, HI, IL, KS, MS, ND and VA.

CDS has just updated the RiskMeter Hail report by adding data from 2005. This report is now based on events from 1990 - 2005.

For people who aren't familiar with this report, RiskMeter's hail report gauges the potential for hail damage for any location in the Continental United States. With this report you will receive:

Hscale: This is a number between 1 – 100 that represents the frequency of hail for the last sixteen years. For example the national average is 5.78 (2.28 hail storms per/yr), so any Hscale number higher than that is more likely to have hail.


Hpercentile: This is a percentile score that compares your lookup to the rest of the US. For example, a score of 10 means that it’s in the lowest 10% of all areas in the US, or a score of 80 means that your lookup is in the top 20% compared to all areas in the US.

Storms per Year: This is the average number of storms per year for the area. The national average is 2.28 storms per year.

Hail Score: This is the hail score based upon the number of storms per year. The scores can be interpreted as follows:

0 – No Risk – No Storms
1 – Low Risk – Less than 2 storms per year
2 – Average Risk – 2 to 3 storms per year
3 – Elevated Risk – 3 to 5 storms per year
4 – High Risk – 5 to 15 storms per year
5 – Extreme Risk – More than 15 storms per year

Within the next few weeks CDS will be adding updated data to its Tornado Report as well. For more information please contact Daniel Munson at 617.737.4444 or dmunson@cdsys.com

Complimentary Hail Report
Based upon the new hail model, RiskMeter has put together a report, which includes some very interesting statistics on the frequency and geography of hail. To get a copy, please contact Dan Munson at dmunson@cdsys.com or 617.737.4444

American Association of Insurance Services (AAIS) members can now get home owner territories for the following states: FL, IL, PA, VA and WI. By simply typing in an address, users will now be able to assign the correct territories to their policies. If feedback is positive, we will add more states and lines of business.

To get access to this report, AAIS members will need to log into their AAISdirect account and click on the RiskMeter banner. From there users will be taken to a page, which describes the service. On this page there will be a “Proceed to RiskMeter” icon. Once this icon is clicked on, it will take users to the RiskMeter search by address page.

For more information on this program or other partnership opportunities, please contact James Munson at 860.854.6125 or jmunson@cdsys.com

AAIS Training Information

AAIS is sponsoring web-based seminars to demonstrate features of the "RiskMeter" online risk mapping application, developed by CDS Business Mapping, Boston, Mass.

The seminars, which are open to all AAIS affiliates, will start at 1 p.m. Central time (2 p.m. Eastern) on Aug. 10 and Aug. 17, and last about an hour. Each seminar will have the same content; registrants can select the date they prefer. To register, go to http://www.aaisonline.com/services/webinar.html"

RiskMeter provides online access to more than 30 categories of geographic information related to hazards at a location. The information provided specifies a location's distance from coastlines, fault lines, and flood zones, as well as its exposure to hail, tornadoes, wildfires, crime, and other hazards.

AAIS is currently providing free access to RiskMeter during a trial period to all insurers that use the AAISdirect Internet service, no matter which AAIS programs they use.

The web seminars will feature introductory remarks by Joseph Harrington, AAIS Director of Communications, followed by a demonstration of RiskMeter features by James Munson, Director of Consulting Services for CDS Business Mapping.

To sign up for AAISdirect service, contact Rick Maka, Director of Marketing, at rickm@AAISonline.com or by calling 800.564.AAIS.

Do you want to know the secret on how to immediately increase your sales and underwriting efficiency? It’s easier than you think and CDS will show you how.

All you need to do is put a RiskMeter link on your agent portal. Yes, that’s it! This is no ordinary link though. Behind this link is a hyperlink that will automatically bring your agent to the RiskMeter Web site and log them in. Not only by clicking on this link will they be automatically logged into the RiskMeter, but we can customize the settings (brush clearances, shoreline, rating territories, etc) and messages that the RiskMeter returns. This feature will let your agents know ASAP if a new policy should be submitted to your underwriters.

By allowing your agents to use the RiskMeter to screen risks, both agents and underwriters become more efficient by reducing the number of calls it takes to clear properties. This frees your agents to spend more time selling and allows your underwriters to spend more time reviewing tough cases.

Creating the link is easy! CDS has documentation on how this is done. For more information, please contact Daniel Munson at 617.737.4444 or dmunson@cdsys.com

After the events of the 2005 hurricane season, many insurers learned that floods don't stop at the edge of a 100 year flood zone. That's why CDS Business Mapping has added a revolutionary NEW flood elevation report to the RiskMeter Online. By simply typing in an address, users will now be able to get:

• FEMA Flood Zone
• Distance to Flood Zone
• Estimated Height Above a Flood Zone
• Estimated Base Flood Elevation (eBFE)
• Elevation at a Location
• Estimated Water Depth in a Flood Zone
• Aerial Photo (Optional)

Test Drive the RiskMeter’s Flood Elevation Report for Two Weeks Without Any Obligation!
To get a complimentary flood elevation trial account, please contact Daniel Munson at 617.737.4444 or dmunson@cdsys.com

In the past, a confusing message was returned when running state windpool eligibility reports outside of FL if the property was ineligible. The message has been changed to a simple "Out" to make this much easier to interpret. This means it is not in, but outside of the eligible area. The answers that were given were always accurate, and nothing has changed. We hope this makes things much simpler for users. If you have any questions, contact CDS at 617.737.4444.

CDS will be attending or exhibiting at the following upcoming conferences. Whether you're a customer or prospect, we'd love to meet with you onsite at these exceptional events! Feel free to stop by our booth or if you wish to schedule an appointment, please contact Dan Munson at 617.737.4444 (dmunson@cdsys.com) or Bradley Sherwin at 617.737.4444 (bsherwin@cdsys.com)

AAMGA UFO Annual Conference
Sept 6-9, 2006 *Lake Tahoe, NV

NAPSLO Annual Meeting
Sept 13-16, 2006 *Chicago, IL

American Agents Alliance Conference
Sept 28 - Oct 2, 2006 *Indian Wells, CA

In order to help you utilize the RiskMeter Online more effectively, we are now offering FREE Online training. This is a great way for your organization to have its most pressing questions answered, learn about reading various risk reports and how to utilize cutting-edge features, such as: Birdseye Geocoding, One Click Ruler and Manual Placement. To register for an upcoming Webcast, click on one of the links below or for more information, contact Charles Kane at 617.737.4444 or ckane@cdsys.com

National
Wednesday, August 2, 2006
2:00 pm- 3:00 pm (EDT)
https://cdsys.webex.com

National
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
2:00 pm- 3:00 pm (EDT)
https://cdsys.webex.com

Western States
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
2:00 pm- 3:00 pm (EDT)
https://cdsys.webex.com

National
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
2:00 pm- 3:00 pm (EDT)
https://cdsys.webex.com

Would you like the opportunity to evaluate any one of our risk reports without obligation? You can now! For a limited time you will be able to test-drive any RiskMeter Online report for FREE! Take advantage of this exceptional opportunity to see how a particular risk report can benefit your organization. To add a FREE, one-month risk report to your account, please call 617.737.4444.

Carriers

• Avondale Insurance Associates
• Northern Capital Insurance Company

• AJG (Duluth)
• Debusk Ins
• Mitch Carter & Assoc
• Winn & Company

Having a hard time managing your inbox? You can now receive the RiskMeter eNewsletter via regular mail. To get the latest issue of the RiskMeter newsletter delivered to your office (when it becomes available), please email Paul Ptashnick at: pptashnick@cdsys.com

Dan Munson, VP of Marketing & Sales
Tel: 617.737.4444
Email: dmunson@cdsys.com

Jamie Munson, Director of Consulting Services
Tel: 860.854.6125
Email: jmunson@cdsys.com

Bradley Sherwin, Sales Manager
Tel: 617.737.4444
Email: bsherwin@cdsys.com

Dave Poitras, Account Executive
Tel: 617.737.4444
Email: dpoitras@cdsys.com

Charles Kane, Training
Tel: 617.737.4444
Email: ckane@cdsys.com

If you would like more information on any of the topics discussed in this newsletter, please contact Dan Munson, VP of Marketing & Sales at: 617.737.4444 or dmunson@cdsys.com

Please forward this free newsletter to a friend or colleague who might benefit from it. We only ask that you send the entire newsletter. Thanks!

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