California businesses have many challenges facing them in the coming year when it comes to their commercial insurance, but I wanted to pose this question: Is your
commercial insurance broker working for or against you?
In the current climate seeing insurance brokers visit their clients once a year, usually to deliver their renewal 2 days before the renewal date, is mind blowing. In California, commercial insurance brokers are compensated by the companies we write the policies for but are required to work in our clients best interests. Some of the things I have seen recently are renewals being submitted with out update revenue figures, business plan reviews, employee updates, and the list goes on. It is impossible to provide an accurate
quote for you client with out doing a complete business analysis, this is especially important considering the current
business environment in California. Payrolls are changing, head count is decreasing for some and many businesses are changing their business plan altogether. If you find that your broker is not scheduling quarterly visits or meetings to help make sure you are well positioned, if your broker is not working with you three months before your policy renewals, if you insurance broker is not fully aware of you entire business plan and able to sell your company to the insurance carriers - your broker may be working against you.
Being a California commercial insurance broker, and understanding that the previously mentioned agents are out there, I have constructed a plan that makes sure my clients know I am working in their best interests. My plan builds trust, credibility and helps my clients obtain the best possible coverage while they can also be certain that we have shopped all the available insurance carriers for their particular business.
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Initial meeting - We meet with our clients and do a comprehensive review of their existing coverages from their
general liability,
workers compensation,
professional liability and any other applicable coverages.
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Obtain Loss runs and account history - This step allows us to begin working on behalf of our customers.
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Approach applicable markets - This is where
Arroyo's market access and our unique ability to forge working relationships with our underwriters helps our clients obtain the best pricing.
- Client review meeting - At this point we have been communicating our options with the client at every step and we can now begin to look at the
companies that want to write their business. We compare coverages and make an informed decision about which carrier and what coverages we move forward with.
- Bind policies and Schedule reviews - At this stage our clients have seen our customer service level and we can begin to discuss additional services that our clients have access to without fees.
If you are a California based business, or head quartered in California and you are looking for an commercial insurance broker that works with you and not against you please give me a
call.
Tim Pine
Arroyo Insurance Services
Orange – Los Angeles – Inland Empire
(714) 984-4023 Cell
(949) 340-9664 Direct
(949) 340-9663 Fax
