Good News for Insurance Buyers!

The soft cycle for commercial property/casualty insurance got even softer in the first quarter of 2008, according to the latest Commercial Market Index Survey by The Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers, with three-fourths of the agents and brokers reporting that renewal premiums for their small and medium accounts were down 1-20 percent compared with fourth quarter 2007. See full article HERE.

The insurance industry refers to premium pricing cycles as being hard or soft. Hard markets occur when capacity ($) is tight — premiums go up, underwriting standards are more strict and coverage terms constrict. Soft markets occur when there is excess capacity ($$$) — lower premiums, looser underwriting standards, and broader coverage terms. Our goal at Diversified is to beat the market regardless of whether we are in a “Soft” or “Hard” market. We have access to pretty much all of the important insurance carriers and can assume that we will get the best price.

Our strong relationships with the carriers allow us to broaden coverage terms and have our carriers “look beyond the numbers” to properly evaluate the risks of our clients. Superior knowledge of the insurance market and of our client’s risk profile allow us to properly present the risk to our carriers for underwriting. In many ways we pre-underwrite our clients and present a case to the carrier that allows us to get the best coverage and price for our clients. Our goal is to have our clients receive the absolute best coverage without paying a single dime more than is appropriate for the risk.