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STREET WISE Alliance of Insurance Agents of NC
Is Your Agency Worth Anything? By Al Diamond of Agency Consulting Group, Inc.
In This Edition IS YOUR AGENCY WORTH ANYTHING?.................................... 1 HOW TO SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASE BUSINESS .................................... 10 INVITE YOUR CUSTOMERS TO REVIEW YOU ................................ 12 AIANC MEMBERSHIP BENEFITS ... 16
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In bad times and in good times, most owners of independent agencies expect and desire to one day perpetuate or sell their agencies. In many cases, the agency represents a very large, if not the largest, component of the owners’ asset base and an important part of their retirement benefits. You’ve heard us (and many others) say that “MULTIPLES” were as inaccurate method of determining agency value as it would be to try to sell your home for a multiple of your investment in it. But over the years many agents continue to try to establish a ‘rule of thumb’ multiple to try to establish the value of their agency in a transfer to another owner. Most times, they are either cheating themselves or the potential new owner of the agency. Once you have established your agency’s value it is easy to convert that number into a multiple (of commissions, of revenues, of EBITDA, or of anything else you care to use). But it is never valid in the other direction, attempting to establish the value of one agency based on a multiple built on other agencies values. Recently, however, actions of many courts regarding the impact and enforceability of NonCompetition Agreements and NonPiracy Agreements may make any concept of agency value a relatively moot point.
The Basis of Value The basis of value of an agency (or of any business) is actually relatively simple – TO WHAT DEGREE CAN THE BUYER BENEFIT FROM THE ACQUISITION OF THE AGENCY? The “benefit” that a buyer achieves is the financial benefit over time that he expects to achieve from the acquisition. That financial benefit is the amount of actual (after tax) earnings the buyer can expect to make as the result of the acquisition of the seller’s agency. So every buyer tries to calculate the economic benefit of an acquisition. Many buyers, internal and external, use the services of Agency Consulting Group, Inc. to calculate these earnings potential through our Agency Valuation service. We look at every line of revenue and every line of expense to determine how much more money the buyer can expect to make as the result of the acquisition. Because we do so many valuations and mergers and acquisitions, our estimates of value have proven to be quite accurate. The buyer has to determine how long he is willing to give up those additional earnings to pay the seller. Whether the seller holds a note or the buyer borrows the money and repays a bank, the buyer’s cost is based on the additional value to the buyer over the period during which he is willing to allay that benefit to pay the seller. Continued on page 2
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Is Your Agency Worth Anything? Whether the Non-Competition and Non-Piracy clauses are specific or are implied in the hiring process (stated in employee manuals), the expectation of agency ownership of client relationships is the primary basis of value of an insurance agency.
Continued from page 1 If a buyer finds that he could generate $200,000 each year in additional after-tax earnings from the purchase and is willing to give up those additional earnings for four years, he could afford to pay the seller $800,000 for the transfer of the property. After the purchase period, the buyer will enjoy the economic benefit of the acquisition.
Would you buy and agency from an owner when you know that every producer and/or employee could leave and take any clients with them to their new employer?
The Changing Face of Agency Value
Using A Non-Competition Agreement Against An Agency
The basis of both the value and the cost of an agency transfer is difficult to calculate but easy to understand considering the explanation above. However, the key ingredient is the maintenance of the book of business that is being purchased.
Every year we see more courts ignoring the ownership of clients by agencies in favor of trying to establish a “rule of thumb value” to these noncompetition agreements in support of compensation for the theft of accounts. Unfortunately, the agents are often their own worst enemy when they establish a value to the loss of business within the Agreements.
How many acquisitions would take place if there were no expectation of the retention of the books of business? This is why non-standard agencies whose business churns very often have a lower value basis than standard insurance agencies. The only non-standard agencies that maintain a high value are those who have marketing and advertising methods in place to generate continuous strong growth even considering the relatively low retention expectations.
When a Non-Competition Agreement ties a specific number or multiple to the value of lost accounts, you have established the MAXIMUM penalty for the loss of the accounts. Courts can and does force negotiations lowering that maximum based on any number of subjective issues that occur in every such dispute.
One of the key indicators of agency client retention is Employment Agreements and Producer Agreements in which the employees and producers acknowledge that the books of business for which they are responsible belong to the agency. The agency maintains the carrier contracts and relationships, has the systems and ‘brick and mortar’ locations and, most importantly, the service and administrative staff to support the client after the sale. AIANC’s STREET WISE
The Real Value of Damages In actuality, damages in the event of the theft of accounts from an agency should be determined by several categories of loss: Continued on page 4 Page 2
August 2014
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Is Your Agency Worth Anything? Continued from page 2 1. How much agency profit would be lost for the expected remaining lifetime of each lost policy or client? 2. How would the loss of the clients taken affect the value of the agency should you need or desire to sell the agency? 3. Most agents acknowledge that much of their growth comes from referrals. How many referrals will you lose by not having that client base and what is their future value if a book of business (your clients) is taken from the agency? Lifetime Studies A lifetime study determines the average life of an agency’s policies and/or clients. Before the change to 15 year amortization of goodwill by the IRS, values of agencies included lifetime studies in order to justify amortization of goodwill as a legitimate expense to an agency based on the average lifetime of policies within that specific agency. This was a MUCH better and more justifiable (to the IRS) basis of amortization than any industry averages. While this is no longer necessary in agency valuations (since we are all forced to amortize our acquired books of business over 15 years), it is still a valuable thing to know in support of the value of your book of business if some of it is “stolen” from the agency by a former employee. Two simple calculations can be made to ascertain average lifetime of clients. Both are based on the original effective date of the policy (the Original effective date, not the date of any change of carrier, cancel/rewrite, or reinstatements). An Active Lifetime is defined by the average lifetime of all policies currently active in the agency. An Inactive Lifetime is defined by the average life of policies that have left the agency (for any reason). AIANC’s STREET WISE Page 4
If a policy leaves and then returns, he moves back from the Inactive to the Active Lifetime lists. Inactive Policy Lifetimes It is important in many ways for an agency to know the average lifetime of its dead accounts. Doing this study has led to many agencies implementing Recovery Marketing Programs (call us for more information – 800779-2430) that re-markets to dead accounts over an extended period to win them back. Regaining lost clients is always easier and more efficient than soliciting new clients. You will never know more about potential new prospects than you already know about clients who you have insured for many years. Their data in your files does not “stale” for several years and recovering these valuable assets can generate many thousands of dollars of income. It is not unusual for Inactive Policy Lifetimes to be relatively low. We already know that the first few years are the most tenuous for clients with an agency. If you don’t establish strong relationships, the same motivators that cause the client to move to you can be used to move the client away from you. That is why it is so important to use the first few years to build strong relationships between the agency and the client on a number of levels (not just through the producer). Active Policy Lifetime While the lifetime of your dead accounts can be verified as a stable average for your agency, the lifetime of your active accounts is, hopefully, a fluid and growing number. Whatever the average life of Inactive Accounts, it is not uncommon for Active Lifetimes to double or triple that number and continue to grow. Once a client has formed a strong relationship with the agency (in reality or perceptually) only a major change in perception would cause the client to leave you. Continued on page 6 August 2014
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Is Your Agency Worth Anything?
At this point the relationship between your agency and the clients that the producer has solicited is damaged beyond repair. His claim is that it is the clients’ right to choose their agent. It is your contention that the right of the client is not abridged and that the only prohibition is that of your former employee to assume those clients for a reasonable enough period of time adhering to an agreement or enough time that the confidential information to which he had access is no longer current enough for him to replicate your file without active solicitation of the client.
Continued from page 4 And, if you are doing your job properly communicating with your clients, you would know that there was something wrong and would do something to respond and solidify the relationship. Here is where the theft of accounts most disturbs a client/agency relationship. A producer leaves. The day he leaves (or within some period of time thereafter) you get Broker of Record letters from some of your clients naming another agency as the BOR. It happens to be the agency that hired your former employee. Another possibility is that the producer just starts “picking” clients with whom he has been familiar and solicits them away from you without even the benefit of a BOR.
A COMPARATIVE ANALOGY
Either way, you contact your attorney and file for a restraining order claiming that the producer is “stealing” accounts for which he had confidential information gathered while employed by you. He claims that the clients have every right to be insured wherever they want. You agree but point out that the producer had access to information confidential to your agency for which you paid his compensation in expectation that he would honor that confidentiality. Even stronger is a contract in any form in which the employee agreed that the clients belonged to the agency.
AIANC’s STREET WISE
Imagine a farmer hiring a farmhand to tend his herd of dairy cows. The cowhand tends the existing herd and enhances it as new calves are born. The herd responds to the cowhand even though it (including the calves) “belongs” to the farmer who hired the farmhand. Page 6
Continued on page 7 August 2014
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Is Your Agency Worth Anything?
them directly to slaughter), then the extent of damages is much different.
Continued from page 6
The former employee shouldn’t be able to rationalize a limited damage estimate by claiming that most of the cows that perished on the farm died during their first year of life. That shouldn’t matter since all of the cattle taken were alive when stolen. Yes, a few could have perished in their first year, but we can determine the percentage normally lost each year through the farm’s retention records (and adjust for those expected losses).
If the farmhand decides to leave and takes part or all of the herd claiming that there were no fences in the pasture and the cattle could have wandered off to any land they desired to graze, isn’t he still “stealing” the cattle from the farmer? Yes, they could certainly wander off on their own and it’s the farmer’s responsibility to replace the cowhand and keep the herd together. He can’t blame his former employee if the farmer fails to replace him and lets the cattle wander off as they grazed.
The farm’s records will determine the current average and maximum lifetime of cattle on the farm. The future value of the stolen cattle BEGINS with their productivity (profitability to the farmer) for their remaining expected lifetime. This implies that any living calf or cow taken from the farm would have lived AT LEAST as long as the average lifetime of the cattle on the farm (with an adjustment for a percentage expected to perish early using the average lifetime of deceased cattle as their lifetime productivity expectation). All cattle already over the average lifetime would be projected to live to the current maximum lifetime (the average lifetime of the 10% oldest cattle on the farm).
But the case in point isn’t the accidental wandering of the cattle. It is the purposeful theft of the herd by the former employee. The key isn’t the wrongdoing. A court can decide whether a theft took place or not. The key to damages is for how much the cowhand is responsible as the result of his wrongdoing. If he could simply return the herd, the extent of damages is limited. However, if he takes the herd in such a way that they cannot be returned (i.e. he takes
AIANC’s STREET WISE
Continued on page 8
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models for both your production and non-production staff and management.
Continued from page 7
We cannot control the human behavior traits of most courts who wish to side with the individual over an organization. However, our courts are still grounded in the concept of legally binding contracts. If you prepare your agency appropriately you will never need to enforce your agreements because they will be so clear that your employees will not be tempted to steal your business if they move on to another job.
Once the damage is estimated based on the lifetime profit expectation of the stolen cattle, the second level of damage must come from the expected offspring of the cattle taken. The farmer expects a certain percentage of his cows to produce offspring that will also create profit streams for the farm that the theft and destruction will eliminate. A third level of damages involves the value of the cattle once their productivity ends to the farmer. At the end of their productive lifetimes, the farmer would have sold the cattle and gained a further terminal profit from them.
But if they do decide to defy your agreements by taking your only source of value, your clients, the courts will have less latitude to decide in their favor if the agreements are extremely defined in the ownership issues and the ways of adjudicating loss if a wrongdoing is done.
A final level of damages involves the diminished value of the farm, itself, due to the reduction of the herd due to the theft. Should the farmer need to sell his farm, he will no longer be able to get the same price as he would have received had the herd remained intact. We understand that the farmer is not obligated to sell his farm. The farm’s value has, nonetheless, declined as the result of the theft of a part of his herd. The other level of damages addresses the lost income potential of the farmer assuming his continued operation. This measure of damages considers the immediate reduction in value as the result of the action of the former employee.
Agency Consulting Group, Inc. is a consulting practice, established in 1980 and dedicated to the needs of independent agents throughout the U.S. It is headed by Al Diamond, a 32+ year veteran of the insurance industry with agency, stock company and direct writing experience. With its own attorney and Enrolled Agent (tax specialist licensed to practice before the IRS) in addition to agency management specialists, Agency Consulting Group, Inc. is staffed to assist agencies through the maze of business issues toward growth and profit. The firm operates nationally on behalf of independent insurance agents.
A Better Alternative An agency must make clear to every employee that the agency’s value is resident in its client base and that the employee is being hired to enhance or maintain that book of business on behalf of the agency.
www.AgencyConsulting.com
Whether that statement is made in a letter signed and acknowledged by the employee at the outset of his employment, is a part of the employee manual that every employee receives (and signs for) when employed, or is resident in an Employment Agreement or Producer Agreement within the Non-Competition or Non-Piracy section of the agreement, it is a defined agreement between the employee and the employer. Do NOT state the value of any clients lost through wrongdoing. Stating the value of clients limits your loss and will be used by courts who seek the simplest solution to the damage problem, not the total damages done to your agency. Instead, you should indicate the levels of damages that will be used in the event of a wrong-doing by the employee. In this way the employee has acknowledged both the fact that taking accounts is wrong AND how damages will be calculated in the event of a wrongdoing. Call us to review your current agreements within our GPP Analysis (Growth, Productivity and Profitability) of your agency (800-779-2430). This is an automatic part of our analysis as is the analysis of the compensation AIANC’s STREET WISE
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Topics include: Pending Legislation that will forever change the way you run your agency How to be on Page #1 in Google Search in less than one hour How to double your agency income without spending an extra penny New AIANC Member Benefits
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How to Significantly Increase Business by John Chapin You can absolutely double, triple, or even quadruple your business if you’re committed but make no mistake, it’s going to take a gut-wrenching, monumental effort. So if you’ve got the stomach for it, put on your helmet, fasten your seatbelt, and follow this plan. Three Steps to a Massive Business Increase Step 1: Start with what built this country many years ago. In other words, start with a lot of blood, sweat, and tears. No whining, no complaining, no entitlement, just hard work, self-discipline, and a great attitude. Hard work is the reason why the average legal immigrant to this country is four times as likely to become a millionaire as someone born and raised in the country. The most successful people on the planet are still the hardest workers. Michael Phelps, eight hours a day in the pool, Oprah Winfrey, Bill Gates. All very successful and still extremely hard workers. In your own business, you’ve got to work especially hard and put in a ton of hours. You have to push yourself harder than anyone else. You have to be a self-starter. There are no magic bullets or shortcuts. Regarding self-discipline, you have to show up and do what needs to be done whether you feel like it or not, because there will be days when you don’t feel like it. Failure comes from what you fail to do. You have to put your plan together and be committed to work the plan everyday regardless of how your day may be going. By the way, will power does work. If you’re on a diet, you’re either going to eat that donut or you’re not based upon a simple decision that the economy, your boss, or your spouse have nothing to do with. Next, you have to have the right attitude. You’ve got to have passion. You need a dogged determination and a drive to succeed. You have to be extremely persistent. You need a blue collar mentality and you’ve got to be hungry. You have to have a thick skin, you can’t take things personally, and you have to keep getting up no matter how many times you get knocked down.
Along with passion, you need conviction. You can’t fold like a lawn chair or a cheap suitcase when someone comes up with an objection or brings up the competition. You’ve got to belief in yourself, your product, and your service and know that people need you and are better off because of you. Next, you have to be committed. Your attitude must be “all-in”, “failure is not an option”, “I’ll make it or die trying.” Finally, you have to let go of excuses and stay away from negatives and negative people. Where you end up in the future will come down to two things: what you put in your head and who you hang out with. Step 2: Put together a grand plan. You can make your business linear. How many new customers and business from current customers do you need? What actions do you need to take? How many prospects do you need? How many phone calls do you need to make, how many doors do you need to knock on to significantly grow your business? You need annual, monthly, and weekly goals, all broken down to daily activity. Think 80/20 Rule. The only activities that pay you are prospecting, presenting, closing, and account development. Delegate everything else. The fastest way to build business is by calling on people in-person or on the phone. Not e-mail. You’ve got to get out and network, meet people, knock on doors, and ring phones. Your biggest problem is obscurity, no one knows who you are because you are not talking to enough people, so you don’t have enough prospects, and thus you don’t have enough business. Do everything necessary to get a ton of qualified prospects including cold calling. Business and sales is a contact sport, it’s a numbers game. The more people you talk to, the more business you will do, even a blind pig finds corn. When you talk to people you have to get their attention. In addition to your competitors, you’re competing with e-mail, voicemail, the doctor’s appointment, school. Everything. What are you doing to be heard through the noise? Why you? What’s your value statement? What’s your differentiator? Get creative and have a value statement that isn’t based on price and doesn’t sound like your competitor. Continued on page 11
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How to Significantly Increase Business Continued from page 10
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Also, there is no new relationship selling, it is and always has been all about personal relationships. Always work on building and advancing relationships. You want prospects to become customers and customers to become close friends. Stay in touch, communicate often, do more than expected, go above and beyond, and always do what’s right for them.
The Independent Insurance Agent.
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It’s a tough world out there. There are stock market crashes, economic downturns, Boston Marathon Bombings, natural disasters, then you’ve got the personal stuff: health issues, flat tires, family and relationships. There’s always going to be something or someone getting in the way or trying to stop you, the competition and people will be against you. But if your motivation is strong enough and you have powerful reasons why you absolutely must succeed, then you’ll continue to show up every day and swing away, and eventually the law of averages will end up in your favor. Remember, at the end of the day your life and your business are up to you.
Questions? Contact Eddie K. Emmett at eddie@fyiexpress.com or (770) 312-2342. HU
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John Chapin is a sales and motivational speaker and trainer. For his free newsletter, or if you would like him to speak at your next event, go to: www.completeselling.com John has over 26 years of sales experience as a number one sales rep and is the author of the 2010 sales book of the year: Sales Encyclopedia. For permission to reprint, e-mail: johnchapin@completeselling.com. 508-243-7359 - 24/7
Current members can get the information on up to 200 of these risks within a 30 mile radius. Want to try? Are you a member in Good Standing? Send your type of commercial risk and zip code to eddie@FYIExpress.com.
AIANC’s STREET WISE
johnchapin@completeselling.com LINKEDIN: once logged in find me under: johnchapin1 FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/johnjchapin TWITTER: http://twitter.com/johnjchapin
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Invite Your Customers to Review You
“Please know that despite the fact that wedding couples love Hudson and our inn, your friends and families may not,” reads an online policy. “If you have booked the inn for a wedding or other type of event . . . and given us a deposit of any kind . . . there will be a $500 fine that will be deducted from your deposit for every negative review . . . placed on any internet site by anyone in your party.” This tells me the hotel fears for their reputation, and fear can cause a loss of customer confidence. Are they capable of delivering a great experience? And, why would anyone want to sign a contract with a hotel, or any business for that matter, that would require a guest to sign away their rights, and their guests’ rights, to their freedom of speech? I’m visualizing the wedding invitation with a footnote that reads: We love this hotel, but you might not. So, if you don’t, please, please, please don’t post a negative review on the Internet. The hotel will charge us $500 if you do. Thanks in advance, and we’ll see you at the wedding! Contrast this with the hotel I stayed at that has a sign at the front desk that asks you to leave a review on Yelp. That tells me that they have confidence, which gives me confidence. If there is a problem, the staff will probably take care of it. The hotel staff is asking to be reviewed, so they are going to do their best to get a good one. Customers used to talk to their friends over the phone or at parties about their experiences. Now they post on social media networks like Facebook, Twitter, Yelp and others. They have a microphone and can be heard by many. Certain businesses are more likely to be reviewed online, versus others whose reviews may come in the form of discussions with colleagues and friends. Either way, accept that you may be reviewed by the customer. But, even if you’re not going to be reviewed, perform as if you are. Treat every situation, opportunity and interaction as an opportunity to show how good you are.
Recently I read an article about a hotel that had a unique social media clause written into their special event contracts. This hotel was built in the 1830’s and appears to specialize in weddings. The property looks to be quite beautiful; however their social media policy is not. It appears that the hotel is concerned about any negative comments that are posted via social media or any other Internet site. An article from NYpost.com quotes the following online policy from the hotel:
AIANC’s STREET WISE
(Copyright ©MMXIV, Shep Hyken)
Shep Hyken is a customer service expert, professional speaker and New York Times bestselling business author. For information contact (314)692-2200 or www.hyken.com. For information on The Customer Focus™ customer service training programs go to http://www.thecustomerfocus.com. Follow on Twitter: @Hyken
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DATING (OUTSIDE THE FAMILY)
Tips from the Redneck Book of Manners
1. Always offer to bait your date's hook, especially on the first date.
1. Never take a beer to a job interview. 2. Always identify people in your yard before shooting at them. 3. It's considered poor taste to take a cooler to church. 4. If you have to vacuum the bed, it is time to change the sheets. 5. Even if you're certain that you are included in the will, it is still considered tacky to drive a U-Haul to the funeral home. DINING OUT 1. If drinking directly from the bottle, always hold it with your fingers covering the label. 2. Avoid throwing bones and food scraps on the floor as the restaurant may not have dogs.
2. Be aggressive. Let her know you're interested: 'I've been wanting to go out with you since I read that stuff on the bathroom wall two years ago.' 3. Establish with her parents what time she is expected back. Some will say 10:00 PM; others might say 'Monday.' If the latter is the answer, it is the man's responsibility to get her to school on time. 4. Always have a positive comment about your date's appearance, such as, 'Y’all sure don't sweat much for a fat gal.' DRIVING ETIQUETTE 1. Dim your headlights for approaching vehicles, even if the gun is loaded, and the deer is in sight.
ENTERTAINING IN YOUR HOME
2. When approaching a four-way stop, the vehicle with the largest tires always has the right of way.
1. A centerpiece for the table should never be anything prepared by a taxidermist.
3. When sending your wife/girlfriend down the road with a gas can, it is impolite to ask her to bring back beer.
AIANC’s STREET WISE
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More Information about AIANC Membership at www.AllianceInsuranceAgentsNC.com The vehicle took down three trees and two light poles, and dug up the turf in a Minneapolis park. The Lamborghini also paid a steep price. A front wheel was torn off and panels crumpled. Lawless Lamborghini ride means pike to prison By James Quiggle Stashed in David Juntunen’s storage facility for the winter, the sterling silver Lamborghini Gallardo was a dream machine, a $200,000 eye-popper. The feisty road stallion could roar up to nearly 200 mph, powered by an adrenal 520-horsepower, V-10 engine. A client had stored the machine with Juntunen’s Minneapolis-based firm Top Gear Autoworks, which repairs and services exotic European vehicles. Juntunen called himself “Superdave” had to give the Lamborghini a super joyride late one night. Small wonder. An online reviewer wrote: “This thing is so quick, so fast, so loud, and sounds so angry at fullthrottle that it may scare kids, old people, pets, and livestock. But that's just part of its charm.” Juntunen should’ve drank warm milk and gone to bed early. His adrenal road rampage smashed up the car and earned him a criminal insurance-fraud conviction. He squeezed into the bucket seat. He’d enlisted employee Pamela Jean Dupont to join him for the avenue antics late one night. Juntunen had no business driving the car. He was allowed to drive only vehicles with an ignition interlock. He’d been charged with 30 driving-related offenses, including 13 counts of driving after his license was revoked and 10 counts of driving while impaired. His contract with the car’s owner, Minneapolis lawyer Jud Champlin, also was insistent: Juntunen could only pick up and drop off the car by towing it on a trailer. Champlin thus had suspended his collision insurance while storing the cherished Lamborghini for the winter. Juntunen sped down the roadway. He was unfazed by the contractual irritant or that he’d breezily left Champlin unprotected in case of a crash. Which, of course, the fates quickly dealt Juntunen. A police officer was making a DUI arrest and saw the Lamborghini zoom by around 1:45 a.m. A tow-truck driver onsite to remove the DUI offender’s car recorded a partial license-plate number. The Lamborghini was more machine than Juntunen could handle. He lost control about 15 minutes later. It bolted from the road like a feisty colt from a corral.
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Juntunen crept away under cover of night. He had one of his tow-truck drivers quietly haul the woebegone car to his main facility, and didn’t report the incident to police. He filed a claim the next day with his commercial insurer Travelers Insurance. The battered Lamborghini needed nearly $82,500 in repairs, a claims adjuster determined. “This thing is so quick, so fast, so loud, and sounds so angry at full-throttle that it may scare kids, old people, pets, and livestock. But that's just part of its charm. “Travelers began investigating and denied the claim. Juntunen’s excuses collided more than the desolate Lamborghini had. First he said was driving the car from the storage barn to his main facility. Then he shifted gears. His passenger Dupont was the driver and was moving the car to another facility, he lied. She swerved to avoid hitting an animal and careened out of control, he said. With some discipline, Juntunen and Dupont stuck to that lie when further interviewed separately. Still, they bailed on an appointment to give Travelers formal statements under oath. More evidence peeled away their storyline. The crash also happened around 11 p.m., they lied. But the police officer and tow-truck driver who initially spotted the fast-moving car came back to haunt them at trial. They’d seen Juntunen behind the wheel, and around 1:45 a.m. Juntunen even privately admitted to Champlin that the joyride was unauthorized. The lies were in such shambles after the nine-month investigation that Juntunen pleaded guilty. He received six months in the county workhouse and three years of probation. He also must find the money to repay Champlin and Travelers $192,000 total. The speed-soaked excursion doubly victimized Champlin: His car was ruined and his own insurer denied a repair claim because the drive was unauthorized. The park also sustained $10,000 in damage. Juntunen says he’s trying to turn his life around and stay sober. Champlin is skeptical. “He's wasted so much time for so many people,” Champlin said. “I don't want him to be simply able to talk his way out of this.”
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August 2014
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