I was with Nationwide for 5 or 6 years for both general liability for the shop and inland marine for the truck. When about 2 years ago they just dumped me. No warning or anything, I found out because my payments had been bouncing back and my bank balance was too high. I scrambled to find new coverage and did through Scottsdale. Who, by the way is owned by Nationwide. Go figure. Anyway my agent sucks and I'm moving to a bigger shop and I have to adjust coverage anyway, so I'm shopping around. I've checked Hiscox and I can't remember the other I called today. I'm going to call Farm Bureau tomorrow. Does anyone have any other suggestions?
Good luck! Insurance on my 4800 square foot office building valued by Hartford at 800k including premises liability went to 12,000.00 per year and I am having difficulty finding any other coverage.
Damn! I thought our commercial auto was high.
See if you can find a broker that will hit up several different places. I went with a farmers mutual insurance place for my oilfield insurance and they are good people and wasn't bad on rates. I think I have kinsdale for gl
Brokers are good. Find an independent broker who can quote several companies. A captive broker is generally tied to only quoting for the company they work for so make sure you ask if they're independent or captive. For the small fee you pay for their commission, you get a lot of bang for the buck IMHO.
Through an agent but Auto Owners is what I am using.
Sound advice. In 31 years of being a small business I've always purchased commercial insurance through a broker that shopped it. Current broker cold called us, we had a meeting and he saved us $20K that year on the bundle - WC, GL, IM and commercial auto. We've been with our current carrier for 3 years so our broker said this year is the time to shop.
I hate brokers. Well, I hate mine. I just logged into my current broker to check when my policy renewed because I'm shopping around. It showed my policy was cancelled, and I couldn't see it. I'm sure it's just a "glitch", but man I'm tired of glitches. What if I needed a COI for a job today? I'd be screwed. I talked to a local Farm Bureau guy on Friday. He's working on a quote. I don't think I'll get it today because it's a holiday for most folks. I'm only putting in a half day today myself. I'll look at Auto Owners too. I have this wierd mentality that if I pay for a service, I should get the service. I guess I'm showing my age there.
Farm Bureau here will not even talk about stuff like that or take on new large truck customers even if they are 100% farm use.
I believe the Farm Bureau federation is run differently in every state. In VA they gladly do commercial auto, inland marine and general liability for many different types of businesses. While I do farm, I also use VA Farm Bureau for my commercial auto (work pickup, single axle flatbed truck, tandem dump truck), inland marine for my construction equipment and my general liability. Rates seem pretty good based on what I see from others.
I have everything from my house, rental,all my trucks, cars, trailers, equipment,and GL, with state farm. They were the only company that would let me just buy more coverage dollars without having a piece of equipment. Like my backhoe never leaves the farm I want to be covered if it caught on fire, but didn't want to pay just for it so they let get a certain amount that would cover all my equipment that goes out every day but that money would cover the hoe imhope all that makes sense
Although I generally don't like brokers in any field, I will say an insurance broker has made it way easier for me to get the right insurance. Here's why: After retiring from my first career, I opened a small prototyping shop with some very basic machine and fab tools in rented warehouse space. I'm a one-man operation but I sub-contract a lot of work to other shops. When I first tried to get insurance through standard agents (not independent brokers), I was pretty much getting rejected with whoever I talked to because I learned later from my broker that I was using the wrong language. For instance, when I would be asked by an agent "Do you make products that other people use?", I would answer yes because I do make 'things' that other people use during field tests. That means I required product liability insurance which is a WHOLE other class of insurance with very high standards and costs for product certification (Underwriters Laboratory, etc.). If I was asked if I had anyone working for me, I would say yes which means I needed another type of insurance for employees. This is not true as I don't have any employees physically working in my space. If I was asked if I had machine, fabrication, production tools, etc., I would say yes because I actually see them on my shop floor. Again, this is just another reason to say no because employees need to be trained, certified, etc. But in reality, no one uses them but me and I can't sue myself for not being trained, etc.. It's pretty much no different than owning a business car for yourself (you don't train and certify yourself on your own business car) but you better train and certify your employees if they drive one of your business cars, even if it's just a simple validation of their current driver's license and signature on a piece of paper saying they will abide by all traffic laws, etc. And the list goes on.... The point is after finding a good broker, they asked the same questions but were also able to translate my answers correctly into the right insurance terms so I could get coverage with the right exclusions. And my broker educated me a bit to ensure I don't cross the lines of my accepted terms so if there was an issue I'm still covered. For instance, when I take on a prototyping project, I have the customer acknowledge the 'product' is a prototype without certifications, etc. so there is no confusion on product vs. prototype in case the customer does something stupid like remove a guard and stick their finger in a fan. Insurance is one of the few industries I will say to use a broker because they can better translate your needs into the right terms.
I think the same could have been achieved with a more personal agent and bit of a conversation, but I do agree you have a better chance of getting your best deal with a broker, they have access to more than just one company. And looking online might get you a good deal until you hit the underwriter and you can count on a 100 unsolicited calls. While it seems more convenient to hop online it is a disaster I used to sell insurance (property and causality) and worked as independent agent shopping multiple companies for my clients. The broker is going trying get you the best fit so is going to go a bit more in depth with you vs the employee at the local insurance office. The employee is going to ask the standard questions and not go in depth with you based on your answers, it is yes or no as you stated. The employee doesn't make any more money if he writes you but If you can get to the actual name on the door, you would likely get a different experience. My state farm agent was the employee that handled my book of business for his boss before state farm offered him the opportunity to open his own office. I still call him directly for most things so I don't have to have the same conversation twice Also with the broker he will shop for you at intervals like CM1995 mentioned.
When I bought my current insurance initially, I was thrilled to talk to a person who spoke my language. She said her dad was a mechanic and she grew up in that world, so she at least had a minimal understanding of what I was saying. That was a first for me. Unfortunately, that's where my "thrilled" state ended. Case in point: when I went to log in yesterday, as I mentioned, my profile said I wasn't insured. I called and emailed my agent yesterday morning, and got nothing. later that afternoon, I sent an email to the "main" email address of that company, just about threatening legal action if someone didn't call back NOW. Well, someone did and yes it was just a glitch. Its just BS like this that drives me nuts. I have State Farm for all my personal stuff - cars, bikes, house etc. They don't do commercial GL in Colorado, I guess. I asked them first back when I got started out on my own 10-ish years ago.
This x100! When I first started looking for commercial insurance a couple years ago I can't remember how many online commercial insurance companies I applied to online only to have a dozen agents call me to 'review' my application before submission. I think all online insurance applications are strictly ways to get your information and not actually let you apply for insurance. One pretty well known company made me fill out a LONG online form along with ID validation and then said I was fully qualified and even gave me a price for the policy without me having to talk to anyone. All I had to do was pay for it by credit card...which I did and thinking "this was easy". At that time, the website then said I needed to call customer service to verify the information. Turns out the online form was nothing more than a lead generator to find real customers with a valid form of payment so an agent could ask the EXACT SAME questions...and then tell me no because I built 'products'. And to be fair, I know there are really good agents out there doing great work for their companies. I just couldn't find one in my neck of the woods.
Might be worth asking again, that old trustee A.I. says they do. I can't remember who I was with before state farm but I had a guy that used to work with in the office shop it for me. Great price but after I started getting more expensive tools for flooring most didn't have serial numbers to "schedule" and started doing snow and ultimately getting in to excavation they were not a great fit. State farm suits all my needs and everything is in one place so I can get multiple things done at once with the same person that knows all my stuff
Well, State Farm is a NO, so is Farm Bureau, Hiscox, Farmer's, Allstate, and Progressive. I could check out Geico I suppose. This is exhausting. Waiting to hear from Auto Owner's. I may just have to keep the crappy insurance I currently have
I looked at GEICO for house they were super high. But I was going to switch my vehicles to them because all of the other companies have this policy. If you let someone drive you vehicle they in turn become a additional insured, ok I am good with that I want them to be covered in case of a accident, but they now have the authority to let someone else drive your vehicle and then that 3rd person becomes a additional insured and so on. Every company I called said the same thing except for the English lizard This is how I found this out. My concrete guy let me use some of his laborers to fill some empty seats in my plow trucks. I took one of them out for the morning with me to show him how I drive and how quickly things can go wrong if you are not careful. I then brought in one of his co workers and took him to go get another truck. After a few hours in a parking lot the plow went down on one truck, and I think their was engine trouble on the other one so I sent them both in the busted plow truck to get the ones car and take my truck back to the house. The one that owned a car was the one I took with me in the morning ( the other was going to be on a big lot and would never have to get on the city streets) so they go get the car and car owner wants to drive his car in case something happens (which I get but didn't know that when I sent them home) so they are leaving the apartment heading back to the house and driver 2 rear ends driver one with my truck not even 100 feet from where they started. Driver 2 has full coverage cool put that on your insurance. I told state farm I didn't give driver 2 permission to drive my truck but State farm paid the claim stating that I gave driver one permission to drive and he was now additional insured and could give anyone permission to drive and they would also be covered under my policy. I said so if I go to the bar and give my keys to my buddy who is going to be the DD and he gets drunk and gives them to someone else and that someone else hits a church bus full of nuns and children and they burn up in the firey crash ( I have no idea why the church is out at that hour but it is the first senerio that came to mind maybe we are day drinking) that my policy is on the hook? Well that is a bit extreme but yes. MIND BLOWN!
To update, I was a flooring installer when state farm first issued my GL policy over the years I have added a couple of skids, a excavator (2)grade control systems which they were happy to insure. In my most recent audit I told the guy I am doing more excavation than flooring and left it at that. Got a additional bill for $33 and went on my way. Last month I got a bill for roughly $400.00 more than normal, reached out to the insurance guy he said they changed my classification to excavation. I said ok I want to be covered and moved on. He tells me today that they will not renew me in November because state farm doesn't do GL policies for excavation contractors. So I will be looking for a new company to ensure my equipment and a GL policy.
One time we had a dozen or more brokers in my area for home and auto insurance. They slowly partnered up. Tozer became Tozer Jones, Harmen became Harmen burchill. Then they all became Miramichi Insurance brokers. They sent my brother a letter telling him he needed his roof redone. He sent pictures, it was fine. They said 25 year shingles, it's been 26. Get it done or they were dropping him. He said by
A plus on good brokers. My new shop (many years ago) I installed a jib crane. My agent listed it as an engine hoist.
My current insurance renews in July. I'm going to stay with them until then, but move to Auto Owner's after that. I gotta say, guys like us don't have alot of options out there anymore, it seems.
i've been outta biz since 15. out of curiosity, what does XCU cost these days based on income?
i had a company called General Casualty. about 2010, they got bought out by QBE. have nothing but good things to say about that company, or my agent. treated me right. in fact, they adopted an idea i suggested. had a history of damn near zero hits on utilities in 35 years, liability claims. i asked what they could lower my policy were i to take a deductible on cable cuts...etc. they came up with a $2k deductible for me....saved a PILE of money.