With over 65 years in the insurance business under our belts, we have seen a lot of insurance business models come and go. The obvious current competing model is a consumer’s ability to get an insurance quote from a national provider in just a few minutes online. Why talk to an agent when you can plug in a few details and purchase your new policy without having to talk to anyone?
You may or may not be surprised to learn that after dealing with an online national provider, many individuals and business owners are eager to switch back to working with a local agency. There is just something reassuring about being able to speak with someone on the phone who understands your business in the context of where and how you operate. We had two clients who recently switched to Smyrl Insurance for their commercial insurance needs. We hope their stories will provide some perspective on why local agencies like ours always stand the test of time.
The Right Coverage for Your Service Area
Our first client is a plumbing company that does service calls at homes and businesses throughout Philadelphia and the surrounding counties. We provided their general liability insurance, and they were with a national carrier for workers compensation and commercial vehicle insurance. They decided to switch to us for workers compensation to streamline their policies, but they weren’t ready to request a quote on the commercial auto account just yet.
That changed when they ran into a problem with the City of Philadelphia that they couldn’t resolve. Their auto policy was rejected by the City, which prevented them from being able to start a few projects. Their national carrier wasn’t responding to their calls for assistance, and they called us in frustration. They said that none of the Certificates of Insurance for the policies we handle ever seem to have a problem, so could we help them figure out what was happening with the auto policy?
We saw the problem immediately. Since we cover many clients for commercial auto, especially trade businesses that work in Philadelphia, we know the city’s liability requirements. Their policy didn’t have the minimum coverage of $300,000, which is why their Certificate was rejected. We got them a quote for the coverage they actually needed, and we ended up reducing their premiums!
Untangling Workers Compensation Confusion
Our second client is a paving company that was relying on their payroll provider to submit and keep track of their workers compensation premiums. Unfortunately, the payroll company wasn’t doing their part. Not only were they not getting the premiums to the insurance company on time, but they also didn’t send the information needed for the annual audit. The paving company received a cancellation notice for non-payment and realized they had a problem.
Workers compensation, general liability, and professional liability premiums are all based on financial data from the company. Insurance carriers perform yearly audits on sales, payroll, and number of employees to determine renewal premiums. While business owners may rely on various providers to help them gather and report all this information, they are ultimately accountable. An insurance lapse can result in all kinds of problems that business owners simply don’t have time to deal with.
When the paving company called us to get everything under control, they also mentioned that they could never seem to get Certificates of Insurance from their national carrier. One of the most common questions we get asked by potential clients is how long they have to wait for Certificates of Insurance. In our experience, most businesses put Certificate requests on the back burner longer than they intend. We try to turn them around within an hour, or first thing the next business day, so that our clients don’t have to deal with work, permit, or payment delays.
We wrote a new Workers Compensation policy for the company and set them up to make direct payments so that they wouldn’t risk another cancellation. Also, now that they have all their policies with us, we can provide a single Certificate of Insurance that contains all of their coverage anytime they need one. The client is thrilled with how things are streamlined, but also that they have a local agent who will help them stay compliant.
Local Agents Provide Local Service
Part of our job at Smyrl Insurance is taking into account what our clients do and don’t know about insurance. We certainly don’t expect them to have the same depth of knowledge that we have, and we’re well aware that they don’t always know what they need based on their business, size, or service area. They are good at their business. We’re the ones who need to be good at insurance.
We take our time with new commercial clients, whether they have been in business for 5 days or 5 decades. We ask a lot of questions to make sure we fully understand their needs, and then we explain the coverages that we think make the most sense and why. We educate, nurture, and empower our commercial clients about their insurance requirements so that they have a good handle on how they are exposed or protected in every area of their business. We are always glad when clients like the two we just described tell us how much easier we make their lives, but we’re especially proud when they tell us that we’re great at explaining how their coverage works. Insurance works best when you know how to use it!
Whether you’re looking to save money, streamline your coverage and paperwork, or simply work with a local agency that truly understands your business needs, contact us to review your business policies. We serve commercial clients for workers compensation, commercial auto, general liability, property, and other types of insurance in Hatfield, Lansdale, Souderton, Harleysville, and throughout the region in Montgomery County and Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
