If I were looking for commercial auto insurance I would probably want to combine it with my GL (General Liability) or Business Owners policy. In addition, I would probably want 1 insurance broker handling all of my commercial insurance needs. There is so much information required to process these policies, do you really want to give it to 5 different insurance agents? Can you imagine the number of mistakes on everyone’s part? Imagine if you open a new location and you now have to call 5 different places to make a change on workers comp, umbrella, group health, business auto, general liability, professional liability, etc.! No way! Another reason is that you will probably be able to save premiums by way of multi policy discounts and fewer fees.
It might be easier for you to compile a basic list of your information and send it out to a few companies. Don’t go overboard on this though. What you are looking for (or what you should be looking for in my not so humble opinion) is a combination of: a fair price, multiple pay plans that fit your payment abilities, a highly rated insurance company that can pay claims and an office you can handle dealing with. Your shopping experience should be an interview period of sorts for both you and the insurance broker. An insurance broker is not going to want to waste time on someone who faxes or emails all of their pertinent quoting info to every insurance company (every single year) in the city. At the same time, if you find a rate that is 5% less than another quote you have but the cheaper company never calls you back (or is just not very pleasant), is it worth it? If they are not providing great service while trying to earn your business what do you think is going to happen when: you need a certificate of insurance, you need to pay an insurance bill, you need to make a change on your policy, you have a claim, you need additional coverage, etc. Choose someone and move on! Next year, at renewal, if the rate is about the same, great! If it goes up 20%, shop it a little bit...but ask your agent if they can do anything. Whew…now that we have that cleared up!!!
Here’s what you need to send your insurance person for a good start:
Contact info: name, email, phone
Business info: name, address, type of business
Driver info: names, dob, tdl, driving history
Vehicle info: year, make, model, value (if full cov), radius of operation, what is it used for, weight
Coverages: liability, uninsured, full coverage?, pip, rental, towing, hired auto, nonowned auto, are there any filings
They should be able to start processing the information into a quote and call you back to fill in all their gaps. This will be so much faster than dictating all of the above and waiting while they type all the info in. Also, you will be prepared; they won’t have you running from office to office looking for everything. Remember though, don’t expect very many quotes, if any at all, if you blast email /fax and provide specific instructions to simply quote and send back without contacting. They are a business too!
Good luck!
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