frustrated with insurance

beavis

Member
Jan 21, 2008
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i find it highly annoying that during insurance renewal times you get 100s of brokers calling you for your business, however your insurance company wont even talk to you unless you are dealing with a broker...

there is ony a hand full of insurance companies that will actually provide coverage....there currently is not enough insurance companies for the ridiculous amount of hungry brokers out there....
 
What is even more frustrating is you can't use one broker against the other because as soon as 1 asks the Insurance Company for a quote for your company they will not give another a quote at all. This is something to be very mindful of because you truly want to work with the broker that can actual get things done and will fight for you against the insurance company.
 
The worst thing is that if you ask different brokers to contact different insurance companies there seems to be a block from the original company... almost as if they are telling people "hands off.. this one is mine". It took us 4 years to manage to get an alternate quote that actually saved us quite a bit of money. Our original insurance company seemed to be charging us over the top because we couldn't go elsewhere.
 
I recently renewed my fleet insurance. This year I decided I would have my current broker go head to head with another. I let both of them know this up front. I decided which broker would contact each insurer available to us. In the end I received coverage for some 30% less than what my current broker was quoting. Loyalty within the insurance business gets you nothing. Shop around and let your broker know this ahead of time. Hopefully you will receive a fair premium. If I had done this 20 years ago I may be retired by now.
 
it seems that everyone has the same problem...i told my current broker that their time is running out...they already had since 2-3 months to provide me with a quote worth considering. they gave me one back from our current insurance company which was higher than last years premiums...and we have had no claims this year and have an excellent claim history...clearly no one cares about that sort of thing and only care about the bottom line...since then i've been looking at other brokers...i decided to give some of them the time of day to show me they are willing to work for our business...and its kind of surprising how other people are much more willing to fight and work for you than the people you worked with for almost 10 years.
 
Can anyone post here or PM me their brokers name and info? I am looking for a new one now, one that actually knows what they are doing. My broker is never available, doesn't return calls, and only does call at renewal time.
 
John Enright 613-967-2000 he is in Belleville but is in Toronto 2 to 3 times a week and he isalways available. I know a lot of companies who deal with him and all have seen a savings. He has made a lot of bullshit claims dissappear with a phone call also.
 
Try Ted Sheehan, RIO Insurance 866-682-4746. They specialize in Transportation companies, brokers and carriers.
 
the broker almost doesnt matter. all brokers only have a handfull of markets (insurance companies) they can approach. i'd recommend you go with one of the bigger companies who is established and has been around for a few years...at the end of the day its just sales people
 
Renewal Rates

I was wondering how people are doing with renewals, are insurance rates decreasing or increasing, My broker is telling me I'am looking at a 5% increase with no claims, market is limited and some insurers have had losses. Would like some feed back before I sign my life away for insurance
 
BuBa one

I suggest you call up my broker,

I have been with him for the last 10 years and have got exceptional service, they return calls within 10 minutes for anything. They are very professional.

I just renewed for my small fleet and had an original increase of 5 % proposed through AVIVA.
We have had nothing but a small claim for an electrical fire over the last 10 years.
We have decided to run HAZMAT in the US over the last 2 years and asked our agent for an alternate quote and got a good one from MARKEL slightly higher than the AVIVA quote with no restrictions on HAZMAT class.

Suggested to our broker to scare AVIVA a little by offering them our business but for 5% less than last year or we would go with the higher quote from Markel.

Aviva came back at 3% less than last year, although we are slightly restricted on our HAZMAT.

Our Borker is:

Assuraction Transport Expert Inc.
6300 Auteuil, Suite 420
Brossard , QC. , J4Z 3P2
Tel: 450-672-4646
Fax: 450-672-4647

Contact: Richard Grenier

I do not think the loaction of your broker makes any difference, we have been quoted by brokers from the Toronto and Cornwall areas as well.

I believe that they focus on smaller outfits such as we are with less than 100 units.
 
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I think we are going to join a Captive, I have heard about them but never really explored till recently and from what I can see if you are in business for the long term and have a good record it is a win win because you will actually get a good chunk of your money back if you stay relatively claim free (which is what we all strive for). Our rates are actually going down and we compared our record over the last 5 five years and we would have averaged a 25% rebate. I always thought they where for high risk companies but it is actually the opposite your record and financials are reviewed and you are invited to join.
 
We joined a captive 4 years ago and really seeing the benefit. They are built for good solid carriers with good safety records. They will go over your financials and history on claims and do deny some carriers that dont qualify. We have got rebate check the last 2 years, better to get your mney back for doing a good job on safety than giving it to the big guys like markel than get your 5 percent increase just because!
 
Our broker can be a start for you , give jeff ives a call 1 519 776 7371 the capative name is polaris, we have about 15 carriers involved, fleet sizes 50 and 250 trucks
 
I too have been looking at a captive, they came in at the same price as zurich, but they offer 15% profit sharing. Zur wants to take the profit sharing away. does anyone have any experience with paying insurance on percentage of revenue, or mileage, or flat rate per truck. Any thoughts on this.