New Trends in Insurance: How These Commercial Insurances Are Innovating
After analyzing the commercial insurance products provided by the market, the foreign selection website money.com selected the best commercial insurance companies in the market. The selection is based on four dimensions: coverage, type, and size of business covered, and ease of applying for policies and filing claims. This issue of Baoguan brings you the analysis and commentary of these excellent companies.
Entrepreneurship is exciting, but it is also risky. For companies that are still in the start-up stage, once the company experiences relatively large fluctuations, the entire company and assets will be severely hit. At this time, if there is special insurance to escort the enterprise, it can often play the role of stabilizing the sea.
There is such commercial insurance in foreign countries, which is specially used to protect enterprises. It functions much like auto insurance, life insurance, or health insurance, and is designed to protect against unexpected events that can have economic consequences for a business, such as natural disasters, fires, accidents, lawsuits, deaths, and more.
Just like car insurance or life insurance, we don’t want a claim on this policy, even though we have the corresponding policy. In the event of an emergency, this policy can often provide adequate protection.
About 20% of businesses fail in their first year, and another 10% will fail in their second year, according to business employment dynamics data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That said, with 30% of businesses not making it through their third year, having commercial insurance doesn’t protect your business from market volatility or mismanagement, but it can help protect your business from property that might arise from failure and legal claims.
The more important part of commercial insurance is property insurance, which includes insurance for the company’s house, car, and other finances. This part is also relatively familiar to us, and the other very important part is the protection of commercial liability, which is usually referred to as a third party. Insurance.
Because it covers claims brought by others other than the insured, this insurance protects the business from lawsuits or other lawsuits brought by employees, customers, and visitors. This protection is especially important for professionals such as doctors, architects, lawyers, engineers, and accountants.
Given the increasingly important role of commercial insurance in the modern economy and society, recently, the money.com website has selected commercial insurance companies that have performed well in different fields recently. It is believed that the practice of these foreign counterparts will also have new inspiration for the development of China’s insurance industry.
Best Business Insurance List
Hartford: Best Overall Pick
Company Profile: Hartford Financial Group, headquartered in Hartford, Connecticut, USA, has 17,500 full-time employees and is one of the largest insurance and financial services companies in the United States, mainly providing life insurance, auto insurance, home insurance, commercial insurance, as well as investment products, annuities, mutual funds, college savings plans, and other services in auto and home insurance, business property, casualty insurance, reinsurance and a variety of life insurance, investment products, employee benefits, retirement plans and debt funds for charities Leading.
Business Features: Hartford differentiates itself from its peers through its Business Owners Insurance (BOP) which combines general liability, business property, and business income insurance. It’s worth mentioning that the insurance product also includes coverages that other insurers charge extra for, such as coverage for loss of income, bodily injury, or property damage due to fire, devastating natural disasters, or burglary. In addition to the guarantees described above, business owners can purchase additional services to cover risks such as data breaches and the loss of valuable paper records.
Advantages: Covers a wide range, including online quotations for 24 industries and 51 occupations; claims are highly intelligent, and claims can be submitted online.
Cons: No live chat to assist with insurance application; no insurance available in Alaska and Hawaii.
Nationwide: Best General Applicable Insurance
Company Introduction: Nationwide Insurance Company is a large American insurance and financial services company headquartered in Ohio, founded in 1925. The company started selling fire insurance in 1934, and it was widely supported by users. Over the next few decades, the company continued to expand and expand its reach throughout the United States.
Business Features: Like most large commercial insurers, Nationwide offers a wide range of insurance products, including business owner insurance, business liability insurance, commercial property insurance, and commercial auto insurance. What makes this insurance company stand out, however, is its flexibility to nest other insurance products within general liability coverage. In addition, Nationwide offers additional coverages such as business crime, business income, inland marine, and builder’s risk.
Pros: Claims can be submitted online; the company has an A+ rating for financial stability and the ability to pay claims.
Cons: Live chat is not supported to assist in applying for insurance.
Progressive: Best Commercial Auto Insurance
Company Description: American Progressive Insurance – as its name suggests – has been an innovative force in the American auto insurance industry since it was co-founded by Jack Green and Joe Lewis in 1937. Progressive is divided into three business units: Personal Vehicle Insurance, Commercial Vehicle Insurance, and Other Liability Insurance.
Business features: According to the National Association of Insurance Commission, Progressive is the No. 1 commercial auto insurance company in the U.S. in terms of direct underwriting premiums. The most comprehensive on the market, which includes the advanced commercial vehicle, sport utility vehicle, motorhome, bus, and limousine insurance, as well as car trailer, cargo, flatbed, and public trailer insurance.
The company also offers premium discounts to customers who have no bad driving record, have 12 consecutive months of auto insurance coverage, have active general liability or business owner insurance, have a commercial driver’s license, have experience as a business operator, and have fully paid the policy client.
Pros: Wide range of premium discount options; A+ rating for financial stability and ability to pay claims; support for online claims filing.
Disadvantages: Live chat is not supported to assist in applying for insurance; policies are underwritten by a third party, which may affect the quality of customer service.
CyberPolicy: a platform that offers multiple policy options
Company Profile: CyberPolicy was established in California, USA. It has a professional team with diverse backgrounds and a wide range of talents, dedicated to promoting the development of the insurance industry in a better direction.
Business features: In terms of business model, CyberPolicy is a commercial insurance intermediary platform. Users can obtain fast, accurate, and affordable quotes according to their specific needs. It works with several of the largest insurers in the industry: Chubb, Hiscox, AmTrust, Liberty Mutual, Nationwide, and BiBERK. If you want to buy insurance quickly and compare options, CyberPolic provides you with convenient one-stop shopping. And what it offers isn’t expensive: General liability coverage starts at $20 a month.
CyberPolicy is also a useful site for consumers who are unsure of what kind of insurance they need. He will help consumers identify their most pressing insurance needs by having them fill out a questionnaire until a choice is made.
Advantages: Provides premium discounts with multiple insurance products; can compare quotes from different insurance companies; can complete the entire insurance process online.
Disadvantages: Provides insurance that applies to the entire United States, but policies vary by state; claims must be submitted directly through the claims department of the issuing insurance company, not through CyberPolicy.
Thimble: Best Insurance for Small Businesses
Company Description: Founded in 2015, Thimble is a digital platform that provides flexible short-term insurance to small businesses and freelancers. The company initially offered coverage for drone pilots, including general liability, professional liability, and aviation liability. Later, due to the needs of customers, the team continued to increase the insurance for different types of enterprises. At present, its products have covered more than 100 industries.
Business Model: Thimble offers general liability and professional liability insurance that is unique in its efficiency and breadth of coverage. Specifically, it can provide instant online services. As long as customers need it, professionals can provide services at any time, and Thimble provides services covering more than 100 kinds of small business insurance.
Pros: Customers can extend or suspend ‘monthly use’ coverage on-demand, or buy ‘on-demand’ coverage on an hourly, daily, or weekly basis; Thimble underwrites policies by partnering with major insurers Markel and Global Aerospace.
Disadvantages: No relevant insurance in New York State, Washington State; no support for telephone service.
Hiscox: Best Small Business Insurance Services Platform
Company Profile: Hiscox operates a wide range of insurance businesses, including marine insurance, commercial insurance for small and micro enterprises, art insurance, special kidnapping and redemption insurance, terrorism insurance, aviation insurance, and reinsurance. Wait. In 1996, Hiscox Plc was established to carry out insurance business independently outside Lloyd’s in addition to underwriting in Lloyd’s. In 1997, Hiscox Plc was listed on the London Stock Exchange. In 2000, Hiscox launched its online insurance business, becoming the first online insurance company to provide insurance for middle- and high-income families. Subsequently, Hiscox launched an insurance business in 14 countries including the United States, Asia, and Europe.
Business Model: Hiscox is a great option for entrepreneurs who are self-employed or running a company with 5 or fewer employees. This insurer can offer discounts of up to 5% if the policy covers only business owners or general liability coverage for home-based businesses with five or fewer employees. In addition, there is another 5% product bundle discount.
Advantages: The coverage of the online application covers approximately 180 occupations in 9 industries; supports the online filing of claims; is rated A for financial strength and ability to pay claims; offers premium discounts.
Cons: No online customer service; no insurance in Alaska.
Protective summary
At present, the penetration rate of commercial insurance involving enterprises is relatively high in foreign countries, but the domestic awareness of this aspect is relatively weak. Interestingly, after the Ruixing fraud incident was exposed, the market began to discuss this type of insurance, and many listed companies began to purchase corporate liability insurance.
The most typical is the director’s liability insurance, which is a sub-category of the liability insurance business. The full name is Directors and Officers Liability Insurance (D&O Insurance), which refers to the company’s directors and senior management. When a person is exercising his power, if a third party suffers an economic loss due to his fault, he should bear the risk of corresponding economic compensation liability by the law and transfer it to the insurance company, and the insurance company will bear the economic compensation liability according to the contract.
According to incomplete statistics, from January to June 2020, 94 A-share listed companies announced that they would purchase director liability insurance. In contrast, in 2019, the number of A-share listed companies that announced that they would purchase directors’ liability insurance was less than 40. Among them, in April after Ruixing’s fraud was exposed, 60 A-share listed companies announced that they would purchase directors’ liability insurance.
In terms of the insured amount, most listed companies are willing to pay an annual premium of 100,000 to 300,000 yuan, and the required compensation limit ranges from 10 million to several hundred million yuan. This means that listed companies pay more attention to the risk management of directors and supervisors, and regard insurance as a tool for risk transfer.
We also believe that with the gradual improvement of legal awareness of domestic companies, there will be more and more commercial insurances similar to director liability insurance in practical applications in the future. In the exploration of such insurance products, insurance companies still need to take further.