Insurance Company, Choosing An
Consideration should be given to a company's capacity to underwrite a particular risk, as indicated by its financial standing, claims philosophy, price structure, agent representation, loss prevention and reduction services, and risk analysis expertise. Information can be gained in several ways:
- Reputation a prospective insured can fairly easily learn something about an insurance company through business and professional associates (lawyer, accountant, banker), through conversations with others in the same field, and by discussions with agents and brokers.
- Financial capacity larger businesses and public libraries often have up-to-date reference books, such as Best's Insurance Reports(available in Life-Health and Property-Casualty editions) giving detailed analyses of hundreds of companies.
- State Insurance Department information about specific insurance companies may be available from the insurance departments located in state capitals.
Popular Insurance Terms
Cancellation of an insurance policy on the date that policy becomes effective. This type of cancellation does not require any fees to be paid to the insurance company. ...
Display of percentage of earned premiums as a function of the time in days for term property insurance policies originally written for one year or longer. These tables are used to compute ...
Retention of all files of policies sold by the agent of record who, according to written agreement with the insurance company, has the exclusive rights to solicit renewals. ...
Rule adopted by the financial accounting standards board that requires that obligations owed to re-insurers under multiyear insurance contracts must be reported as liabilities by the ceding ...
Net income expressed as a percentage of average total equity. This percentage measures profitability by expressing how efficiently invested capital or equity is being utilized. ...
Relationship between occupation of an insured and degree of risk in such coverages as life, health, and workers compensation. Some occupations are more risky than others; for example, a ...
Business interruption insurance in which the insured is indemnified for loss of earnings and payment of expenses resulting from adverse weather conditions. For example, the raining out of a ...
Important means of preventing accidents and injuries. Insurers take corporate safety programs into account when rating workers compensation and other business insurance policies. ...
Coverage for a tenant with a favorable lease (enabling the lessee to rent premises for less than the market value). If the lease is canceled by the lessor because an insured peril (such as ...

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