The business owners policy (BOP) is one of the most widely used commercial insurance policies designed to protect small-to-medium sized business owners. While the Insurance Services Office ISO form is readily available, many insurers develop their own BOPs, tailored to different types of businesses, from main street florists to restaurants to contracting businesses. If you’re…
Read any insurance trade journal, and you’ll see articles about how agents can “lead with workers compensation insurance.” Savvy insurance agents can increase their business by targeting employers with considerable workers compensation exposures. Often after the sale of the work comp policy, agents don’t stay as involved as they do on other lines of coverage.…
“I’m an insurance agent, not a lawyer. Why do I need to know so much about contract law?” This is a question almost every new insurance employee asks, especially once they begin taking classes toward a designation. The CPCU 410 Speaking the Insurance Language course contains an entire chapter on contract law. This article will…
The insurance industry has long gone through periods of “hard” and “soft” market conditions. In hard markets, insurance premiums increase and capacity – the ability of insurance markets to accept coverage – typically shrink. In soft markets, premiums decrease, and market capacity typically increases. Many newer agents have never experienced a hard market. The ability…
Many agents struggle to understand business interruption (BI) insurance, also called business income insurance. This important coverage protects business owners if a covered property loss, or in some cases government shutdown, causes them to close their business and reduces them income. This article covers the basics of BI coverage.
Personal lines policies offer liability coverage limits that protect your insureds if they injure someone or damage their property. But with today’s ever-increasing jury verdicts, it’s not hard to see how a minor accident can morph into something that plows through, if you’ll excuse the pun, the $300,000 combined single limits (CSL) on your insured’s…
What does it mean when an adjuster reports that your insured is not “legally liable,” so the carrier will deny the claim. This article explains the basics of legal liability so that you can explain it to your clients.
Coinsurance may be the least mentioned yet easily explainable clause in both commercial and personal property and other policies. You will find coinsurance clauses in many types of policies. These and other policies usually contain a coinsurance clause. Business owners policy Commercial property policy Flood insurance policy Business income policy Dwelling policy Homeowners policy Health…
An interesting post on LinkedIn by risk management consultant Jack Schwartz, managing director at Davis + Gilbert Risk Management, caught my attention. The issue, according to Schwartz is that insurers are increasing the number of warranties placed on property policies, whether these are location-specific policies or smaller scheduled locations.
Flood insurance is, unusual. A flood policy essentially covers one peril but is surrounded by many unusual facts and facets that make flood coverage unlike any other. Agents must understand the uniqueness of flood to more effectively present it to clients. This series on flood insurance is divided into seven parts; following is part 7.…
