# Who writes your snow liability insurance policy?



## Ramairfreak98ss (Aug 17, 2005)

We had peerless Insurance for 5 years, no documented/claimed slip and falls. in 2010/2011 season, we had a Walmart through USM, EIGHT from January through March 2011.. 

Peerless declined to renew. We got Montpelier "sp?" to write the snow policy, but literally at a cost of 8x our old policy. Paid nearly an identical rate for 2011/2012 and 2012/2013 seasons, neither season has a reported loss, and now Montpelier isn't insurance snow any longer, so we're dropped.

The insurance agent Mills Ins. or BPI, which apparently deals with a lot of snow contractors, seems to be having difficulty even finding a company to write/quote a policy. 

Our policy after Peerless was a 6 month policy, i didnt care because in NJ, it doenst snow longer than 6 months anyway, but then you essentially don't have a snow policy # for the other 6 months as your issuing bids and they're requiring certs sent to them.

Last year it as a 12mo. policy, but expires 11/15/2013, which is only 3 weeks away. Likely it will put us in a position where we can't shop insurances if even thats possible right now, or would be required to pay them 100% of the policy up front before its bound, by 11/15/2013, or else the old insurance would send out notices to all policy holders that the account is expired and would cause a whole ton of problems for our accounts. 

Not to discredit anyone responding, but generally i'm interested in the guys who have multiple trucks/equipment out during storms, say 4 or more and no more than 30. 

If you don't mind divulging your policy premium amounts in a PM, just let me know how many losses on record you have "if any", and amount or type of accounts and amount of equipment, including the trucks. Thanks


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## RLM (Jan 12, 2006)

I just went trough a little of this, I was able to find coverage, it varies by state I believe. I'll PM you my new insurance brokers info, they do have a location in "downstate".


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## wcb607a (Feb 20, 2009)

$1450 per truck or equipment. condos and residential.


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## grandview (Oct 9, 2005)

I have Peerless also,no problems.You need to look at the sub insurer Peerless collects the money but may not write the policy.


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## Dogplow Dodge (Jan 23, 2012)

Ramairfreak98ss;1657611 said:


> The insurance agent Mills Ins. or BPI, which apparently deals with a lot of snow contractors, seems to be having difficulty even finding a company to write/quote a policy.
> 
> O Thanks


That's who I have, (BIP) and based upon an email I got from them this morning, they are saying they have a couple different companies to choose from. Whom did you speak to there ?


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## fendt716 (Jun 11, 2013)

welcome to hell. just went thru living hell for last 8 weeks. co. we where with did not renew do to not writing snow no longer no claims in last 10 years. lost 5 long time custs. because corp.would not wait any longer. work with 4 different agents to find a new co. fill out paper work agent going to tell you 3 or 4 days for answer more like 2 weeks. one no because of shopping ctr. next one daycare was next one church everyone no township road plowing just loads fun. final outcome maybe road plowing for towns flat 10,000.00 plus 90.00 per 1000.00 of payroll. high risk stuff like shopping ctr. etc. 2750.00 per plow eq. like truck, tractor, garden tracor, backhoe. low risk stuff 70.00 per 1000.00 based on payroll plus 90.00 per 1000.00 based on gross sales. try western world thats one of the cos. do not know the name of the other 2 cos. to paper work shows up. got turn down by at least 12 cos. wish you a lot of luck.


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## Ramairfreak98ss (Aug 17, 2005)

wcb607a;1657665 said:


> $1450 per truck or equipment. condos and residential.


hmm. we've never had it quoted by truck, or maybe i didnt realize it went that way. Now that you say that, im looking over mine, and from last year it shows we had 4 trucks and 2 machines. We actually had 4 machines and 9 trucks then :/

So should i tell them for this policy that it needs to be 9 trucks and 4 machines? Christ its going to triple from the terrible rate it already is.

How do they know which trucks you use and which trucks you dont? Last year we only used 5 trucks at any one point, hardly any snow. I'd hate to pay additional insurance for trucks to sit all year or use them one storm.


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## Ramairfreak98ss (Aug 17, 2005)

Dogplow Dodge;1657752 said:


> That's who I have, (BIP) and based upon an email I got from them this morning, they are saying they have a couple different companies to choose from. Whom did you speak to there ?


Generally Jamie N, I mean we have our personal insurances there for things, home owners now, after switching from terrible Allstate, commercial truck, workers comp, GL, snow, Inland Marine and an umbrella policy.

With all that, we have no binded snow policy needed by Nov 15th.. She did say they had a couple, but still even if there are three, one denied based on prior losses, and two just have not quoted. I can't wait forever. Even so, you mean that in the US, or NJ more specifically, only 3 companies write policies for snow? So ALL of us are using the same 3 companies, peerless obviously as one of them?


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## Ramairfreak98ss (Aug 17, 2005)

fendt716;1657755 said:


> welcome to hell. just went thru living hell for last 8 weeks. co. we where with did not renew do to not writing snow no longer no claims in last 10 years. lost 5 long time custs. because corp.would not wait any longer. work with 4 different agents to find a new co. fill out paper work agent going to tell you 3 or 4 days for answer more like 2 weeks. one no because of shopping ctr. next one daycare was next one church everyone no township road plowing just loads fun. final outcome maybe road plowing for towns flat 10,000.00 plus 90.00 per 1000.00 of payroll. high risk stuff like shopping ctr. etc. 2750.00 per plow eq. like truck, tractor, garden tracor, backhoe. low risk stuff 70.00 per 1000.00 based on payroll plus 90.00 per 1000.00 based on gross sales. try western world thats one of the cos. do not know the name of the other 2 cos. to paper work shows up. got turn down by at least 12 cos. wish you a lot of luck.


wow those #s are scary, worse than we've had for the last two seasons it seems. Two years ago, we paid 25% towards JUST the snow insurance for the season compared to what we billed.. so that goes to show, i know it was a crap year in NJ, but 25% off the top for the snow ins. then commercial truck ins. fuel, payroll, 2k for 36" site stakes, repairs, w/c insurance, gl insurance... we lost our [email protected]@ bonkers that year. All we do is retail sites mainly anyway. Shopping centers, pharmacy stores, convenience stores, supermarkets, storage facilities, "which are lot less risk exposure", but still $2750/truck would put us out of business.


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## Dogplow Dodge (Jan 23, 2012)

Ramairfreak98ss;1657901 said:


> Generally Jamie N,
> 
> With all that, we have no binded snow policy needed by Nov 15th.. She did say they had a couple, but still even if there are three, one denied based on prior losses, and two just have not quoted. I can't wait forever. Even so, you mean that in the US, or NJ more specifically, only 3 companies write policies for snow? So ALL of us are using the same 3 companies, peerless obviously as one of them?


Ditto on J. N. Just got off the phone with her earlier today I'm just hoping that Jamie can get me hooked up for next year, otherwise....I guess I'm out as well. I won't know anything for a while, as there was a documentation screw up there, and I'm actually not insured with them at this very moment, as my policy is still held with Mills. I guess I'll know more once I get the new paperwork giving them permission to review my policy.

NJ, NY CT are all a black mark for the insurance world, as claims against insurance companies make them not want to participate in this market.... thus the pullout(s)


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## Dogplow Dodge (Jan 23, 2012)

Ramairfreak98ss;1657904 said:


> . we lost our [email protected]@ bonkers last year..


Ditto. My costs last year were well above what I brought in, and I have yet to get anyone to sign an annual agreement, as no one here wants to due to the lack of snow...and their previous experiences where they paid and no real services were provided, due to that lack of activity.

BTW.... Say "Hi" to Jamie, as I'm pretty sure she keeps an eye on this site.... or at least has recently since I made my inquiry with her..


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## Ben/Insurance (Oct 22, 2012)

Affordable GL Insurance for Snow Removal is not that hard to find. You just need to know where to look. I can get you a quote in 4 days if you have loss runs. With all due respect to other members of the board, Allstate and State Farm is just not the place to be going to to obtain this coverage. You really need an independent insurance agent. Feel free to reach out to me if you need a quote. 
Ben
[email protected] or 516-233-3515


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