Business Insurance - Is It the Snail in the Rat Race?

Getting Business Insurance can be a fast and easy process or one of the longest, most tedious. Why is this?  There are a number of factors.  Let me tell you what it looks like from “behind the scenes.”
 
First you call us and say you want to see if you can get some better rates on your business insurance.  We get on the computer and proceed to ask you questions about every aspect of your business. We usually run across a few questions that you don’t know right off hand and we’re stuck.  We can start to filling in the two dozen or so forms but we can’t submit anything until they are completely filled out. 
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In personal auto or home insurance, 90% of people will fit into specific categories that a computer can authorize and issue a policy.  In business there are too many different possibilities and judgements for a computer.  Business insurance is handled by human underwriters.  That’s why it’s important that we fill out the forms as completely as possible.  Frustrating underwriters by not giving them enough information, is not good for business….yours or ours.
 
After we get all the forms filled out, we begin submitting them to different companies.  If you have a simple business that any insurance company would be happy to insure, we could have a quote for you in a day or two.  If your business is more complicated, has more parts to it or is considered more risky, it would look a bit more like the following description.
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• After waiting a week, Company A sends back a request for more information on one part of your business. 
• Another week passes and Company B says that they are sorry but this business doesn’t fit their “appetite.”   Yes, they actually use that word.  Basically they are saying, they can’t insure your business.  We hear nothing from Company C and Company D says they didn’t get all the paperwork, please re-send. 
• Three weeks pass… We start calling Company C to see where we stand.  We leave multiple messages and email, but no one responds.   We call Company D and their underwriter calls back the next day.  Unfortunately we were on the phone with another client and spend the rest of the day playing phone tag back and forth.  The next day we call the underwriter first thing and finally catch them between calls.  The underwriter says Company D would be happy to cover most of your business but they can’t handle one segment of it.  A possible example would be business autos.  Good to know!  Not the best situation but it is possible to cover your business between two insurance companies.  We would just be extra vigilant to make sure nothing gets missed between the two.   So we immediately ask Company B if they would be willing to take just your business autos.  They say that is a possibility and request that we send in a whole new set of forms requesting that. 
• One month….Company B tells us they would be willing to take your business autos.  Great! Between Company D and Company B we have a quote for your business. There’s one possibility for you.  Company A says they will have an answer next week.  Company C finally sends an email saying they will reach a decision in no more than 2 weeks.  Ugg.
• One and a half months….We finally have 3 quotes for your business.  We spend some time with you going over the various coverages and options of the companies and you make a decision.  We all do a happy dance! (Inside of course.)

This description is for a “medium” size business.  As I said, for a “small,” less risky business it could be as easy as car insurance.  “Large,” even more complicated businesses can take 6 months to a year.  If you know you have a complicated business with a large inventory or one that tends to be risky (for example- roofing), start checking on new insurance as soon as possible. Something to keep in mind when you look at your business insurance.

We are happy to help you out with your business insurance needs.  If you would like to know if your business is one that could take some time, give us a call.  We should be able to give you an idea of the timeframe.

​​Posted by: Lara Wilson, Mount Spokane Insurance - MountSpokaneIns.com