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LIMOUSINE INSURANCE
FIVE MISTAKES You Can Avoid That Can Increase Your
Limousine Insurance Costs
Besides negotiating the best rates how
else can companies keep down
their limousine insurance costs?
According to the National Limousine Association,
since 2002 three out of ten operators have had
premium increases of 25 percent or more. One of
the reasons for these high rates is that a limited
number of companies provide insurance for the
limousine industry. It is considered a difficult class
of business to place.
The companies that do underwrite limousine insurance are
specialists who develop specific programs that
address this industry’s operating issues. That’s why
it is important to have a broker that is a specialist in limousine insurance.
We have access to major companies that provide
limousine insurance while most brokers have
access to a few. Because of the amount of limousine
insurance we handle, our clout and
carrier relationships allows us to negotiate
favorable rates.
How else can companies keep their limousine insurance costs down?
Look at your company the way an underwriter
would. Make sure your vehicles are maintained
properly. Cutting back on maintenance can cost
you more in limousine insurance coverage than you save by
cutting back.
It's also important to report any new
drivers you hire to your carrier. Many insurance
companies require that new drivers be reported to
them. Not making a phone call to report a new
driver can cost you thousands of dollars. If your
new driver has an accident and is not listed, the
insurance company can possibly deny or significantly
reduce your coverage. Before hiring drivers,
many companies review medical, credit, criminal
and driving records. Training is also an important
issue.
What types of coverage are sometimes
overlooked by limousine companies?
Another coverage to consider is Employment
Practices Liability. You may think it is never going
to happen to you, but people are sued everyday
for wrongful termination, sexual or racial discrimination,
or sexual harassment. It's important to
keep detailed employee records, so you can
defend yourself in court in a wrongful termination
suit.
One of the reasons we instituted our MyWave
online risk management program is that it easily
allows clients to generate employee manuals that
spell out policies regarding employee conduct and
issues such as sexual harassment.Having a clearly
stated policy helps, but even if you win a case,
legal costs can be tremendous, so be sure you
have enough coverage
What about Workers Compensation?
About half of limousine drivers
are independent contractors
(ICs), so Workers Comp is an
important issue. One option is
to include the ICs in your
Workers Compensation plan.But
if you feel this is too expensive,
you can require the ICs to get
their own Workers
Compensation coverage.
Even if you get Independent
Contractors to do this, you
should consider a Contingent
Liability policy, which will pay disputed claims and
prevent a potential Workers Compensation carrier
audit. If your insurance pays an IC’s Workers Comp
claim, they can decide to audit your policy by
reviewing your 1099s for the past three years. The
cost can be devastating.
How else can Capacity help reduce limousine insurance costs?
Besides advising our clients and seeking the best
rates, we have a new free service called MyWave.
MyWave is an online service that has time saving
tools to help manage insurance tasks. For example,
creating employee newsletters, safety programs,
in-house forms, and insurance reports can be timeconsuming
and expensive.MyWave lets you download
easy-to-customize materials. If you have an
insurance question, you can search a library of
thousands of articles.
Or, post your question
to an online forum
tapping the resources
of your industry
peers.You can also
access a complete
OSHA Log reporting
and analysis system.
All of these services
save time and money
- and they are free.
If your HR department
is stretched to the
limit, MyWaveHR helps with answers to Legislative
issues, instant access to articles from Benchmarking
to Plan Design, plus the HealthShop online
wellness education center for your employees.
What are the advantages of working with
someone like you who specializes in limousine insurance?
This interview is for general advice.Every business
is different and requires its own analysis from your
broker. The limousine industry is unique and not
every insurance broker understands it. As specialists,
in limousine insurance, we represent major carriers that write
insurance for your business, which general brokers
do not.
Contact us about limousine insurance.
CLICK HERE to download this limousine insurance article.
CLICK HERE to download our recent Limousine Digest article on "Business Perpetuation Planning"