Tag: Insurance Agent

6 things an underwriter loves to see when quoting commercial insurance.

For most small business owners, purchasing insurance is not one of their favorite things to do. Most business owners would rather be involved in the day to day operations of what their business does to make a profit. Taking a little extra time before you pick up the phone to get a quote can make all the difference in the world when you are offered a quote.  Here are 6 things to keep in mind when speaking with your agent about a business insurance quote.

Small Business Insurance

Have your info.

Everyone wants a quote and they want it quick, but insurance is not a business in which a company can quote a price on the drop of a hat. Proper tax id number, your experience modification rating and accurate payroll figures make the process much quicker for an agent to get a quote from the underwriter. If you don’t have this information a carrier cannot and will not offer you a quote. to save yourself and the carrier some time, have this information ready before you start looking around for coverage.

Safety programs are in place

Safety programs can be expensive and time consuming, but they absolutely benefit your company in many ways. First and foremost, they lower the amount and severity of injuries that occur to your employees. Second they limit the amount of time it takes injured employees to return-to-work. Third it can impact what you pay in premium for commercial insurance. If and when you have an injured employee, your insurance agent can negotiate on your behalf with your insurance carrier to not raise your rate on premium because of the claim. If a detailed safety plan is in place the carrier might see this one incident as more of an outlier and not a sign of how the business operates. If there is not a safety plan in place your business is much more likely to have your rates go up or be dropped by your carrier altogether.

A thorough and accurate website

The accuracy of your website is extremely important. Your agent is going to have a conversation with you about your operations. During this conversation it is important to tell him not only what your business does, but more importantly what your business does not do. Your website needs to match up with this description.  If you run a landscaping business that does not work on trees, but your website offers tree services than an underwriter is going to wonder what else you are not telling them. This is a great way to get a higher premium or more likely be denied coverage altogether.

A detailed payroll history

I know you may not like giving away too much information about your business, but the more accurate this number is that you give to your agent the more accurate your quote will be.  This will all get straightened out during an end of term audit, but it is best to prevent over or underpaying on premium by giving accurate numbers to your carrier up front.

Don’t be a rate jumper

A business who seems to change carriers every year at the slightest drop in premium. Carriers want to establish a long term relationship with a customer. If you have several carriers over the last few years it may be a red flag that those carriers dropped your business or that the carrier may only have your business for one term. Unless your payroll is extremely high it may not be financial sound for them to quote you.

 

Don’t forget, in the end they work for you

If you forget a few pieces of information that are necessary for a quote than it might be expected for the agent or underwriter to be a bit frustrated. But never forget that these people work for you. If they make you feel too uncomfortable do not hesitate to walk out and speak with another agency or carrier. Do what you feel is best for your business.

4 tips of inured worker outcomes

Here are 4 ways to improve your businesses injured worker outcomes.

Injured workers are a part of running a business.  If you stay in business long enough, you are going to have an incident where one of your employees is injured. This is not a bad representation of your business, but how you handle the situation can have a lasting effect on your relationship with your employees and your insurance company. Here are four ways in which you can manage and incident where you have an injured worker that are best for your injured worker, your business and the insurance company you partner with. 

 

Take care of the injury, first and foremost

This is simply the right thing to do. The best way to improve injured worker outcomes is to first deal with the injury.   Taking care of the injured employee is also the best thing to do for the insurance companies to help get the injured employee the best medical care and it can help the medical professionals treat the injured employee quickly and cost effectively. 

Report the injury to your agent and carrier

A lot of business owners may not think it is so, but your insurance agent and carrier are on your side. It is in their best interest to help your business and to help your injured worker get the care they need and get back on the job as quickly as possible. They deal with these situations a lot. They can navigate the workers’ compensation system much more effectively than you can. More important than anything is the fact that they cannot help you with these injuries until you notify them an injury has occurred.  Also, documenting the injury allows your business and the carrier to keep track of your claims history. If there tends to be a pattern of injuries, you can address it and the carrier can help you. They interact with business owner across the country in all industries. Chances are they have dealt with a similar situation and can give you some guidance as to how to prevent/fix the problem from continuing to occur. 

Keep your Agent in the loop

Remember your independent insurance agent is on your side. At least they very well should be.  If for instance, you feel your carrier may not be living up to their responsibilities the agent can speak with the carrier on your behalf. Agents interact with carriers very frequently for a number of reasons. They have an established relationship with these organizations and they can more easily get your claim in front of the right person to most effectively solve your problem.   Also, they can only help you when they know an incident has occurred. The longer you go without getting them involved in a claim the more likely the claim is to get out of hand. This means more missed time for your injured worker, a larger cost to the insurance carrier and probably higher rates on premium for you in the future.  Keeping your agent involved can help prevent all of this from occurring. 

Let the carrier take care of the billing

Do not try to take care of the billing yourself. Even if you have been in business for a long time and you think you know the workers comp system fairly well. Things change. A medical facility that you have been taking your injured worker to for years may stop a relationship with your carrier. If you take the injured worker to a medical facility out of the carriers’ network, you may be liable for the costs. The network for workers’ comp is not necessarily the same network for health insurance, even if you use the same insurance company for both policies. It is always best to let your insurance company do what they do best.  

Inland Marine Insurance Coverage

Four things to remember when purchasing Inland Marine Coverage.

 

Inland Marine Coverage is frequently referred to as ‘Floaters’ or ‘Equipment’ Coverage. That is because it is designed to protect equipment that a business owns, leases or rents that is not a vehicle or a piece of property. It is also typically equipment that is going to be transported in some way shape or form. This can include a mower that a landscaping business is transporting to a clients premises or a product being delivered to a customer. Many business owners think this part of their business is covered by their basic general liability policy, but that is incorrect. If they partner with a good insurance agent they know what is and what is not covered by each of the policy they may or may not be purchasing for their business. If you find that inland marine coverage is right for your business, here are four things to keep in mind in relation to this policy.

  • Choose an agent who partners with many carriers and not just a select few. 
  • Determine the proper classification code for your business. 
  • Inventory all equipment that needs to be protected under the policy.   
  • Establish a good working relationship with your Insurance Agent.

Choose an agent who partners with many carriers and not just a select few. 

By choosing an agent who partners with many different carriers you are allowing yourself to let the insurance agent shop the policy for you. Some agents work with only one carrier or just a select few carriers. This means they are not able to make sure you are getting the absolute best coverage at the best price. You can always shop the coverage around to several agents, but wouldn’t your time be better spent running your business. Finding an agent you trust and who knows your industry well can allow you to let the insurance professionals do their job. It allows you to get back to doing what you do best, which is running your business.

Determine the proper classification code for your business. 

Most industries have several classification codes within the industry. Insurance agents and insurance carriers are in the business of analyzing risk. It is in the best interest of their business to always assume more risk until proven otherwise. If you are in a less risky classification code within your industry the agent and carrier are only going to know this if you bring it to their attention. Otherwise they will probably assume your business takes on more risk. This will result in you paying more premium and may cause some claims to not be covered. Now, these mistakes typically do get fixed at the end of term audit, but even when they are fixed you still have been tying up cash into premium you did not owe that could have been used to reinvest in your business. In some cases if you are classified into a less risky class code you will owe more in premium after the audit. In the worst case scenarios your claim may not be covered because you are misclassified and the carrier would not have offered coverage in your higher risk class code.

Inventory all equipment that needs to be protected under the policy.  

It is very important to keep an up to date inventory of all the equipment you want listed under your Inland Marine Coverage Policy. Taking pictures of the equipment is a good idea as well because if there is a claim you will get replacement level value for the equipment that is damaged or destroyed. If you have an expensive version of whatever piece of equipment you are covering the best way to prove that is with a picture. Keeping this information on file with your agent and especially your carrier is crucial when a claim does occur.

Establish a good working relationship with your Insurance Agent.

The better relationship you have with your agent the smoother the process will be when you go to renew your policy and when a claim inevitably does occur. If they know you, your business and what is important to you as a business owner they can better insure your business the way you want it to be protected. Some business owners are okay with excepting some of the risk. Other business owners want to be protect to the fullest limits of the policy. The agent can only attempt to cover your business the way you want them to if you let them know what you expect and how you run your business. This relationship can also come in handy when a claim does occur. If you were combative during the quoting process and then your business has a claim six weeks into your term it does not speak highly of the way you operate your business. On the contrary, if you take some extra time to explain all the intricacies of your business and the way in which you want to be insured during the quoting process it starts off the relationship on the right foot. Later when a claim does occur this process will move through much more smoothly and your agent will be much more likely to go to bat for you with the insurance carrier.