By William Cray
The CIAB (Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers) Commercial Property/Casualty Market Report for Q2 2021 showed that out of your standard insurance lines (Auto, Property, General Liability and Work Comp), Excess/Umbrella coverage is leading the way from a premium increase standpoint. This means that the umbrella line of your commercial insurance program is taking the biggest increases compared to other lines of coverage.
This news likely is not shocking for those of you making the insurance buying decision. Some of you have seen very large increases in your umbrella premiums over the last 12-24 months.
The umbrella market has been heavily disrupted by large lawsuits hitting the insurance industry. The increases are particularly drastic if you’re in the transportation industry and/or your company has a large vehicle fleet. If you’ve experienced a large increase in your umbrella premium, let us know. There ARE other options! Don’t let your current broker tell you there is only one option out there, and you’re stuck taking increases on the chin. We are deploying different strategies when going to market to ensure we bring the best options the market has to offer.
Underwriting capacity is another factor affecting the ability of agents to receive competitive umbrella options. An agent can help offset this aspect by bringing industry knowledge to the table and knowing the insurance carriers best suited to quote your unique risk profile. Additional factors include the amount of business an agent has with an underwriter and the relationship with that underwriter. As the underwriter’s capacity decreases, they need to prioritize which accounts to quote when they can’t get to them all. The underwriter’s trust in their insurance agents is critical in selecting their account load. Lastly, decreased capacity means you need to allow yourself plenty of time to get quotes at renewal – the earlier you can start, the better.
All this to say, expect your umbrella premiums to continue to go up. Don’t wait until you find out what the increase is going to be – reach out to strategize with us today.
