Businesses Largely Satisfied with Commercial Insurance
More than half of firms with sales of between $5 million and $100 million are very satisfied with insurers' understanding of their needs and the coverage they offered to meet those needs, according to a recent business survey by the Insurance Research Council (IRC).
Fifty-six percent of respondents said they are very satisfied with the coverage insurers offered to meet their needs. Another 30 percent said they are satisfied with the coverage offered to them. Only two percent are very dissatisfied with the insurance offered to them.
Satisfaction with agents, brokers, and current insurers is also high with these same firms. More than three-quarters (76 percent) of respondents indicate great satisfaction with their agents or brokers. Sixty-eight percent report they are very satisfied with their current insurers. Only about a third (36 percent) of the respondents, however, are very satisfied with commercial insurance companies overall.
Although 73 percent of the respondents are very satisfied with their current insurance coverage, only 39 percent are very satisfied with the price. It is not surprising, than, that companies with sales between $5 million and $100 million indicate the price of insurance is the most common issue prompting them to change from one insurer to another.
More than seven out of ten (73 percent) of those who changed insurers in the last five years name securing a lower premium as the reason. Only nine percent give lack of satisfaction with the service they have received as the reason they have switched insurers. In addition, 69 percent of those who will definitely or probably change insurers in the next two years plan to do so to lower premiums, while just 12 percent plan to change because they are not satisfied with the service they have received.
``For commercial insurers, the good news is that, overall, firms are satisfied with their current insurers,'' said Elizabeth Sprinkel, senior vice president who heads the IRC. ``Ultimately, however, lower premiums are enough for some of these firms to change insurers.''
The results contained in IRC's recently released report, Business Attitude Monitor 2000, are based on a survey conducted by Roper Starch Worldwide. The survey focused on firms with annual sales of between $5 million and $100 million and consisted of 1,206 telephone interviews with individuals most familiar with their companies' purchase of commercial insurance.
For more detailed information on the study's methodology and findings, contact Elizabeth Sprinkel by phone at 610-644-2212, ext. 7568; by fax at 610 640-5388; or by e-mail at irc@cpcuiia.org. Or visit IRC's Web site at www.ircweb.org . Copies of the study are available at $25 each in the U.S. ($35 elsewhere) postpaid from the Insurance Research Council, 718 Providence Rd., Malvern, PA 19355-0725. Phone: 610-644-2212, ext. 7569. Fax: 610-640-5388.