Insuring your business requires planning and research. Preparing a risk management program for your company can be time consuming and result in sales calls from brokers, agents, and insurance professional. Narrowing business insurers down by initial research into their programs and insurance products can save you time. Here I have compiled a list of business insurance web pages to get you started. This is a direct link list to reputable, national companies that are some of the largest business insurers in the U.S.
The State Farm "Business Owner's Solutions" site offers an agent search feature and access to a .pdf copy of State Farm's "Business Needs Analyzer." The "Needs Analyzer" is a simple two-page worksheet designed to collect information necessary to prepare a risk management plan for your business.
Chubb's page is broken down into several categories: professional & management liability, property & Casualty, and liability products. Below each category is a drop-down menu offering more precise information. There is also an agent search feature.
The Allstate site is very well done. It offers an agent search feature. The site has a separate page for contractors and claims specialized programs for different types of contractors and trades. It is an easy page to negotiate with good business insurance information.
Nationwide has an agribusiness program featured predominantly on its page. If you are in that business, take a look at the information offered on that page. The remainder of Nationwide's offerings are listed "below the fold" and you need to scroll down to find that menu. Not the best layout. The site seems to push life, health, and retirement products more than property and casualty products.
The largest business insurer in the U.S. has a great site with a great deal of information. The site also features online forms and applications. I think too many business insurers stay away from online forms out of fear that brokers will retaliate by not offering products by any company that sells to businesses direct. But, when you are the biggest, that is not a concern. AIG offers AIG Edge, a program for smaller businesses.
USLIG is a Berkshire-Hathaway company. It is widely reported that Warren Buffet, the CEO of Berkshire, once said he did not understand the Internet. I doubt that is true, but the organization of the USLIG website is different. No nonsense. Specific categories. This is the site to go to--after you gather up information elsewhere.
Thank you, Hartford! In looking at the various business insurance sites, I was struck by how many of the insurers did not list their products. The Hartford puts a link right on the front page: "What's available from The Hartford?" The Hartford also has an extensive educational section entitled,
"Learn About Insurance." The site features an
online "Jargon Translator" to help you make sense of insurance policy language. Great site, well done.
Covering a broad spectrum of insurance products and industries and then communicating those products on a web page is tough. The Travelers' site does a good job. There is an agent search feature. There is good information on Travelers' business owner's policy called Master Pac and variations of that policy for different industries.
A web page entitled, "Insurance Solutions," does not really offer much information. Load times on the site are long and the drop-down menus launch a search of the site instead of direct links to what you are looking for. There is an agent search feature and a nice brochure to download.
What is a small business? When purchasing insurance you will find that your company is sometimes described as small, or sometimes large, or mid-sized. Liberty Mutual defines small business right on its opening page and describes that small businesses are sold insurance through their independent agents. Larger businesses are served through brokers. A small business is less than 100 employees or under $75,000 in annual premiums. Not much information to learn about business insurance, but Liberty's products and services are well laid out.
