Hiscox Insurance is a name you’ll often see pop up if you Google some forms of business insurance. In this post, I’llexplainn the pros and cons of using Hiscox for your business insurance.
Hi, I’m Gordon Coyle. Welcome to my blog, where I discuss the risk and insurance issues that business owners face. My goal is to educate and inform business leaders so they can make better decisions about risk.
Who is Hiscox Insurance?
Okay, so let’s start by asking who Hiscox is.
Hiscox is a well-established insurance company founded in London in 1901 and doing business in 14 countries around the globe. They are a well-known player in the small business market and the specialty insurance marketplace, writing many Professional and Management Liability lines.
In fact, we broker Hiscox policies all the time in the management and professional segment of the business. AM Best rates them A+, so they’re a very strong financial underwriter.
In the small business market, they have an online human-less portal where business owners can get quotes quickly depending on their business operations, location, and policy type.
In my opinion, Hiscox’s “pros” are on the E&O, D&O, and some Cyber policies where a broker is involved so that the buyer is guided in customizing the policy. Hiscox is often a competitively priced insurer in these segments where we use them, and their policy forms are generally very good.
Danger for Do It Yourselfers
I often see not such great results or “cons” from Hiscox when a buyer goes online and does it themselves. I’m not sure where the breakdown occurs, but in many instances, when we’ve reviewed Hiscox policies that an insured bought directly online, it’s usually a mess.
Incorrect coverages are purchased, limits of liability are low, the scope of coverage is limited, and in some cases, the policy purchased is entirely inappropriate for the business that purchased it.
I’ve seen that the business owner goes online and doesn’t correctly classify their business operations—they guess at the closest classification they think will work and proceed with the quote.
In one recent situation, the buyer was purchasing an E&O policy. They selected a classification from a drop-down menu that was somewhat close to the professional services they offered to their clients and proceeded with the quote process. The resulting premium was super competitive, and the client hit the buy button.
Unfortunately, the description of “covered services” the buyer selected wasn’t accurate, and when the policy was issued, it contained exclusions for what the insured actually did. So, they got a really cheap policy from Hiscox that didn’t cover the business operations.
Fortunately, they never had a claim, but it wouldn’t have been covered if they did.
Who’s Fault is That?
Rather than trying to place blame, I’d rather say that this is the problem with buying insurance online without human intervention. The average business owner doesn’t understand the complexities of business insurance, and this leads to real problems.
The bottom line is that fast and easy quoting with many human-less interaction platforms online yields unpredictable results. Compounding this is that buyers never read most insurance policies because they are complex and a bit overwhelming.
Unfortunately, the details in that policy govern coverage when a claim happens. If an insured’s activity is excluded, there was a misunderstanding in the policy rating, or there was a misclassification that limits or precludes coverage, then a claim will not be covered.
It’s sort of a buyer-beware scenario. If you look online at legit review sites, you’ll see lots of complaints about uncovered claims. I suspect many of those complaints could have been avoided if an agent or broker had been involved in the transaction.
Here’s the Bottom Line on Hiscox
Hiscox is a good company; how you get a policy from them may be the key to avoiding problems. I may sound self-serving as an independent insurance broker, but if you’re a business owner and need to buy business insurance – don’t go it alone and buy online – from anyone. Your business is or will be your most valuable asset and deserves proper protection. Don’t risk being covered because you think buying online is easy, fast, and cheap. Usually, using a qualified broker like The Coyle Group doesn’t cost more.
I hope that the review is helpful. If you’re ready to purchase business insurance the right way, we’d love to hear from you. You can click the “Let’s Chat” button above and we’ll get back to you very quickly for a conversation.
