Hey all.
Little back ground. Been a grunt most of my life. Finally knuckled down a few years back and received License (LS). Work in government. Been there 15 years. Tired of it. Want to start slow and break out a small consulting firm. So, to keep everything on the up and up; I wanted to get some E & O as required. Filled out several forms with various insurance firms. That was 2 - 3 weeks ago. No word back. I'm guessing because I have no prior income from surveying jobs they don't know how to charge for insurance?
I don't get it. I want 500K Professional Liability to start with 5k deductible. How hard is it to give me a +?<?? quote!
Any ideas?
Much appreciated. Mapman.
This is who I use, been with them for several years: http://www.iscofa.com/
Very responsive and really like the staff a lot.
Wes
I second the vote for ISCA. I started out working with my bosses local agent and couldn't get the time of day. She insisted that I fill out the application for Engineering E&O even after I explained that my firm would be Land Surveying only. After I called V.O. Schinnerer directly to get the correct form; someone there gave my contact info to Carol Hiatt with ISCA and the rest is history. They specialize in E&O and understand what we do and what we need. Candice Tickle (Carol's daughter) runs the show these days and knows how to make things happen.
I also agree. I am with ISCA now. They are $1000 cheaper than Schinnerer for the same coverage and they let me make monthly payments. Never could do that with Schinnerer.
+1 :good:
I have been with ISCA since I opened shop in August 2007. They were actually E&O Liability Consultants (Carol Hiatt-Huff), when I first started up.
Their entire staff is knowledgable, helpful, and very responsive to any request. I wold at least give them a call. I have been very pleased with their service.
I've nothing against Schinnerer. Through E&O Liability (Now known as ISCA) Schinnerer provided my E&O policy for many years. ISCA has switched me to a different underwriter the past few years to save $$ but Schinnerer was always a good company.
Hey thanks for the info. Will check them out soon. Appreciate the word of mouth.
Which I believe is the best advertising anyway. 🙂
It's not clear if you did this already, but first thing you should do is call them and talk to a rep.
Although, if they aren't responding to a request to take in some money, it isn't hard to imaging how they will respond to a request to pay some out......:-(
> It's not clear if you did this already, but first thing you should do is call them and talk to a rep.
>
>
> Although, if they aren't responding to a request to take in some money, it isn't hard to imaging how they will respond to a request to pay some out......:-(
No, I didn't call anyone. Just did the internet thing and saw an ad in The American Surveyor Mag.
But you have an interesting point. Responsiveness to a quote request should be pretty quick. If not, then a claim may also be just a responsive.
I recommend that you simply go to your town's oldest, successful insurance broker and talk to them. They can get you quotes from a number of companies, and they will probably already know who will give you the best quotes.
Some states have "admitted" insurance carriers, and also have some that are "not admitted." The "not-admitted" ones are often just as good or possibly better than the others.
$500,000 isn't much insurance. You might find that you can get a lot more coverage for a very small amount, especially if you increase your deductible.
There is an absolutely huge range of premiums between carriers for the same coverage.