If you are a business owner, either a startup or an established business, you may one day type into Google business insurance Progressive or some other derivative of that to see what business insurance costs from Progressive. After all, Flo, the iconic avatar from Progressive’s frequent commercials has probably stuck in your mind and made you think “low cost” or cheap business insurance.
Progressive is a good insurance company. They really dominate the personal auto and commercial auto insurance market, but they actually don’t underwrite business insurance in many states. Meaning if you buy a business insurance policy from Progressive it’s likely going to have another insurance company’s name on that policy in many states.
They do have a bop or business owner’s product in some states, but they don’t have a full complement of business insurance products in all states. In fact, on their website at the very bottom of the page in very small print is a disclaimer that says that certain policies like business owners or BOP policies, general liability, professional liability, and workers compensation policies are underwritten by affiliated and unaffiliated insurers.
So, what’s really going on?
Progressive Insurance Company has an insurance agency that brokers policies for other insurance companies to those business owners who call into their call center or interface with them on the web.
Now, there’s nothing wrong with this business strategy. In fact, it’s pretty smart to trade on your company’s name as a low-cost insurance provider to draw business owners into your website. But you should know that if you buy a policy from Progressive Commercial, you’re probably not getting a business insurance Progressive policy.
Is that bad or wrong?
No, certainly not. Especially if you don’t mind working with a big company in a big call center type of environment.
But, what I want to tell you is that you’re probably better off working with an entrepreneurial firm – after all, you’re an entrepreneur, doesn’t it make sense to work with someone like you? What I’m talking about is finding an entrepreneurial insurance broker with who you can trust and develop a relationship, and who you can speak to about your particular issues and concerns.
Leaving your business insurance up to a call center or to sort of doing it yourself, usually leads to problems – like gaps in coverage which can come back to haunt you in the form of uncovered and expensive claims down the road. There’s no need for that.
Here’s the bottom line.
Everyone is cost conscience and whether you’re looking for insurance for the first time for your startup, or you’re looking to compare prices on your current business insurance. Working with an expert insurance broker that focuses on business insurance isn’t going to cost you more than if you buy it online. If you go to Progressive Business Insurance, and they give you a business owner or general liability quote from an insurance company like Travelers or Hartford, Liberty Mutual, or Chubb, and a broker like me goes to those same insurers – it’s going to be the same price.
The last thing I want to mention is that many big insurance company call centers have a handful of products they sell. If you need something they don’t have – say like an Umbrella policy, or a D&O Policy, you’re going to go to another provider to get that policy or policies. What you want to avoid, regardless of who you deal with is splitting up your account between a couple of agencies, because you’ll miss out on the coordination of coverage which is really important.
Thanks for reading this post, or watching this video, my name is Gordon Coyle and if you’re looking for help on business insurance costs or have a business insurance question, give me a call, let’s chat. No pressure, no sales gimmicks just some conversation to see if I can help you and if we might be a good fit for your business insurance needs. I work in all 50 states and love solving insurance and risk problems and issues for business owners.
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