It’s easy to give when it’s FOUND money!

Collaboration is the key, knowing where to look creates the success!  We are very happy to be giving a check to Junior Achievement with money we created for Baker Electric.  It’s such a winning proposition for everyone it’s just silly not to get started.  We identify areas of cost savings based on subject matter experts in those specific industries and then we get to work to pull out those found savings.  Prior to the work commencing we make an arrangement that IF we located a savings we will both donate a percentage back to the non-profit of the clients choice.

Our specialty is insurance and for most firms we can successfully save them between 15%-60% off their premiums on both property casualty insurance (property, liability, auto, workers compensation, etc.) and group health insurance with a 98% success rate.  That is FOUND money!  We do not alter coverage, and many clients do not even change agents or insurance carriers.  This was fun and we can’t wait to make even more of a difference for other for-profit and non-profit firms.

RateCraft – Baker Electric – JA check Dec 2014(2)

You’ve Been Denied!

Always a good opener, just brings a smile to your face doesn’t it? An emphatic NO comes to mind!

A proposed rate increase on workers compensation was denied by the commissioner, but it did not stop many of the carriers from increasing rates anyways. Are you shocked? Some of the most competitive carriers such as CompWest raised rates significantly, even others that said they were not taking a rate increase did, but other carriers have moved into the market and are playing aggressively.

Got Rate Increase?

However, some business that are seeing their experience modifications going up got denied quotes by many of the insurance carriers this January and fewer quotes mean fewer options. This is often the case in January as businesses can often see the worst rates and fewer options because January is the busiest time of the year for business insurance renewals, roughly 70% of all policies renew in January.

Unlike CPA’s and accountants, they would never take a vacation in April, almost all of the insurance companies allow employees to take holidays, and they have holiday parties where they shut down the office or have a skeleton crew during this time. If your account is not in good order with a low experience modification, few losses and larger premiums you are not the cream of the crop client for many of these busy insurance carriers and you get shifted to the bottom of the pile.

January renewals have always been a problem but there is an easy solution that many businesses are unaware of, change your renewal date! You can choose any renewal date you want. There are some consideration to take into account:

• Is your cash flow good during your alternative renewal date?

• Down payments for insurance can be 10%-25% to initiate coverage.

• Workers compensation experience modification should be positive, meaning below 1.00. Otherwise it will follow you for an extra few months until it catches up with your change of renewal.

• Is that a time of year that you and your staff can dedicate time to reviewing renewal information and quotes?  Think about the preceding 2-3 months as this is when the data is gathered and then presented within 1-3 weeks prior to the renewal date.

• Stay away from the 1st of the month on any quarter if you can – these are other busy times in the insurance industry, and usually for your business as well.

Other News –

Some businesses received a recalculation of their California experience modifier and for some it increased.   The bureau states that most businesses received a lower experience modifier – what is yours now? Also, you can now get your California modification worksheet online for Free from the bureau – anyone quoting your insurance will want or need this to offer compelling quotes
On your behalf.    WCIRB Report

If your experience modification is going up or is over 1.10 you need to get this fixed as soon as possible, when rates go up if you are a business that is experiencing many claims and a higher experience modification you will be the least desirable for the best rates if the market gets harder, you have to be aware of this now and see if there are actions you can take to correct the problem. I am reviewing an agency now that’s claim to fame is lowering the experience modification of businesses and we will see if they can make a difference with these two clients that can really use the help. We will keep you posted.

Are you over-paying for business insurance?  Try our Free Calculator

Insurance Consulting