Maintenance
Part of Commercial insurance quotes renewals: read the policy bundle
What insurance markets expect from you before they quote a renewal
Insurance quotes renewals requirements: what a market needs in a submission, what to assemble first, and the conditions that arrive with an offer.
Before anyone can quote you anything, somebody has to describe your business to a market. That description is called a submission, and its quality decides more about what comes back than any negotiation afterward. A thin submission gets priced defensively, because an underwriter facing gaps fills them with assumptions, and assumptions are conservative.
This page is about what goes into one, and about the requirements that run the other way: what a market asks of you as a condition of the offer it makes.
What to take away
- The submission is a description of activities, values, people, and history. Everything an underwriter cannot see, they assume.
- A complete loss history over several years is not optional and cannot be improvised at the last minute.
- Some requirements are conditions of the offer, not preferences: a survey, a control put in place, an audit right, a warranty.
- What you say in a submission is generally treated as part of the contract, so it is worth being accurate rather than flattering.
What a market needs from you
The list varies by line, but the spine is the same.
What a market asks for
- Legal entity names and structure
- Description of operations
- Locations and states you work in
- Exposure figures by line
- Loss history, several years
- Controls and procedures
- Contracts requiring cover
- Expiring terms and forms
| What is asked | Why the underwriter wants it |
|---|---|
| Legal entity names and structure | The policy names entities, and the wrong one is a coverage problem before it is a paperwork one |
| Description of operations | The sentence everything else is priced against |
| Locations, and any state you work in | Rules, rates, and regimes are state by state |
| Exposure figures by line | Sales, payroll, values, vehicles, records: each line uses a different base |
| Loss history, several years | Read as a pattern rather than as a total |
| Controls and procedures | What you do that makes a loss less likely or smaller |
| Contracts requiring cover | Because they may require wording the market has to agree to |
| Expiring terms and forms | So the offer can be built to compare against something |
Two items on that list are the ones that hold up submissions. Loss history has to come from insurers, which takes time to request. And exposure figures have to be current rather than last year's, which usually means someone pulling numbers from the accounts rather than remembering them.
The reason accuracy matters more than optimism is that an insurance contract is unusual in how much it rests on what one side told the other. The general expectation of good faith runs in both directions, and the practical consequence for a buyer is that a flattering description is a liability rather than an advantage.
What you need before the submission
Work this out for yourself first. A broker can format it; they cannot invent it.
Assemble before the submission
- Exposure listtouch, near, leave, work, drive, hold
- Contracts signed last year mentioning insurance
- Changes since last renewal
- Your own view of what would hurt
The exposure list is also what makes a trade description accurate rather than approximate, which is the subject of the industry guide.
Requirements that come back with the offer
An offer is not always unconditional. Read the conditions before the price.
Conditions attached to an offer
- Subjectivitiesapplication, warranty, survey, financials
- Surveys and inspections with deadlines
- Control conditions that must stay in place
- Audit rights on payroll or sales
- Warranties and representations that must stay true
Subjectivities. Items the offer depends on: a completed application, a signed warranty, a survey, financial information, or confirmation of a control. An offer with open subjectivities is not yet cover.
Surveys and inspections. Common on property and on some liability classes. A survey usually generates recommendations, and some are mandatory conditions with deadlines attached.
Control conditions. Particularly on cyber and property. A stated control that has to be in place, and sometimes has to stay in place, for the wording to respond as written.
Audit rights. Where a premium is based on payroll or sales, the year-end audit adjusts it. Know which basis applies and what records you will need before the year starts, not after.
Warranties and representations. Statements you make that the policy treats as promises. Ask which parts of your submission are being incorporated, because that is the part that has to stay true.
Requirements from outside the insurance market
Two other sources set requirements, and they are not negotiable with an insurer.
Two non-negotiable sources
Signed contracts
- What it demands
- Limit, wording, additional insured
- How delivered
- Endorsement, not certificate
- Where it applies
- Contracts you signed
- Who to ask
- Your broker
Law
- What it demands
- State floors
- How delivered
- State system
- Where it applies
- Auto, workers' comp
- Who to ask
- State insurance department
Contracts you have signed can demand a limit, a wording, an additional insured, or a waiver, and each has to be delivered by an endorsement rather than by a certificate. What the paperwork actually proves, and the order to check it in, is in the renewal reading guide.
Law sets floors in some lines. Vehicle cover has a state financial responsibility floor, described in the commercial auto guide.
Cover for injured employees is a state system, set out in the workers' compensation overview. Nothing here states a figure or threshold from either, because both are state matters that change. Your state insurance department and your state's own agencies are the authorities.
Common questions
How far in advance should the submission be ready?
Well before the point where a renewal has to be decided, because loss runs take time to arrive and markets take time to respond. Working backward from the expiry date, the submission is the earliest task, not the last.
Does giving more information mean paying more?
Not usually. It means being priced on your business rather than on a defensive assumption about it. Where extra information reveals a real exposure, you have found something worth knowing regardless of the price.
Can I use the same submission for every market?
The core of it, yes, and each market will want its own application on top. Consistency between them matters, because inconsistent answers are a problem later.
What if I do not know the answer to a question?
Say that, then go and find out. A guess recorded as a fact is the worst of the three options, and a broker can usually tell you which questions are worth the extra day.
