Who we place with, and what we actually write with each of them.

The Hartford

Technology and managed services, real technology E&O at real limits, and employment practices in the hard states.

Without it — Our number one relationship, and a book written almost entirely through agents rather than direct.

Travelers

Contractor packages, workers compensation and middle market accounts.

Without it — One of our largest carriers by new business premium, and the one whose billing takes the most explaining.

NEXT Insurance

Small contractors, fast, with certificates a general contractor will accept.

Without it — Strong and quick on the small trades — and the form has exclusions worth reading before you rely on it.

Hiscox

Professional liability and small professional services accounts.

Without it — The easiest submission of any carrier we use, and not the cheapest answer on every line.

biBerk

Workers compensation on classes other carriers decline, home health among them.

Without it — Competitive where hard-to-place workers compensation usually goes to a state fund.

Progressive Commercial

Commercial auto with no prior history, claims on the record, new authorities, and non-emergency medical transport.

Without it — The right answer when nobody else will quote you, and rarely the right answer once they will.

Why does it matter which carrier writes my policy?

Because two policies with the same limits are not the same policy. Carriers write different forms. One excludes subcontracted work, another includes a blanket additional insured your contract requires, a third writes your class at all when most will not. Those differences decide whether a claim pays. They also have different appetites, and appetite moves. A carrier that wanted your class last year can be closed to it this year, which is most of what an independent agent is doing when they say they will shop it. The short version: the price is what you compare first and the form is what you live with.

Are these reviews independent if you earn commission from them?

We earn commission on every carrier here, so read them knowing that. What we have tried to do is make each page useful enough to be worth reading anyway. Every assessment is first-hand — what we have seen submitting and servicing these accounts — and every page says where the carrier is weak as well as where it is strong. Two of them are carriers we would talk most clients out of for most risks. If a page only praised, it would not be worth your time, and you would know.

How much do you actually write with each of these?

Enough to have an opinion, and the split is not what most people guess. Travelers and The Hartford are our two largest by policy count and are close to level with each other. Hiscox and biBerk are the next tier, and both are concentrated — Hiscox in small professional and care services, biBerk in workers compensation for classes other carriers price defensively. Progressive is smaller than its name recognition suggests, which is the point of its page. We are not publishing premium or account counts, for obvious reasons. What each page does publish is the CLASSES we place there, because that is the part that is useful to you: it tells you whether the carrier has a real appetite for what you do, and it is not something you can learn from a quote form.

Do you place with carriers not on this list?

Yes, and far more of them. This is the list we use most, not the list we have. Access runs through several channels — direct appointments, a large network, and wholesale brokers for the accounts that need the excess and surplus market. A hard-to-place risk usually ends up somewhere that is not on this page. So the useful question is not whether we have a particular carrier. It is whether the risk gets in front of an underwriter who writes it.

Why go through a broker instead of buying direct?

Six reasons, and the first one surprises people. It does not cost you anything. Broker compensation is built into the carrier’s rate whether or not you use one — buying direct does not remove it, it just means nobody is being paid to be on your side. You are declining the representation, not the cost. Somebody negotiates for you. An agent represents YOU rather than the carrier, which matters most at the two moments that decide whether insurance was worth buying: when the account is being underwritten and priced, and when a claim is being adjusted. Direct writers have neither role available to you. You stop queueing. A certificate, an endorsement, a vehicle added, a limit raised — through an agent those are usually same-day, often same-hour. Through a service queue they are a wait, and you explain your business again to whoever answers. You get the same person. We assign a dedicated account manager from day one, so the person handling your renewal already knows what you do, what your contracts require, and what went wrong last time. Nobody starts from your policy number. We re-shop it every year. Not the same carrier re-rated — a genuine comparison across multiple carriers and products, because the market that was right for you at $400,000 of revenue is frequently not the one that is right at $1.2M. That is the single largest source of savings we find, and it is structurally unavailable if you buy direct. And we will tell you when to stay. If the policy you have is the right one, that is an answer we are willing to give, and it is why the comparison is worth doing at all.