looking for a new insurance. company

We do insurance primarily for truckers and I think he is referring to rate adjustments in the trucking insurance industry as a whole. About 12 years ago there were truck premiums around $5K-$7K for ideal risks (non fleet). In general the premiums were not really sufficient to cover the losses, but there was not tons of growth so most truckers were experienced and not getting into many accidents.

Over the last 10 years there has been lots of growth and many inexperienced drivers coming in and as a result the losses for insurance companies have increased more than they predicted. In fact it has been so bad that many companies just left the trucking insurance industry altogether. The companies that remain had to cycle their losses. This basically means increase their rates. Some companies will not cycle their rates even with many losses, but there is a point where if the losses are so great that their financial rating (A, A+, etc) is at risk, they are forced to increase the premium or risk being downgraded below A (which you generally don't want to get insurance from anything B+ or lower). Some companies are starting to loosen up in the last 6 months, but on the whole we are still in a hard market.

Think of it this way, all insurance is cyclical in general. Meaning premiums will always go up and down to maintain their financial ratings. The people in the insurance companies who make this pricing decision are at one of two points generally. They are making a profit and they want to take on more clients, so they reduce their premiums so the brokers and agents can more easily sell it. Or they are recovering from losses and they need to keep "x" amount of cash reserve to maintain their financial rating so they increase their pricing or only take on perfect risks (5+ years experience, no accidents, new equipment, etc)

That being said, don't be afraid to shop around for insurance, but PLEASE, I BEG YOU, READ THE CONTRACTS PAGE BY PAGE BEFORE SIGNING IT. Unlike Auto or Home insurance in the trucking industry your agent has a lot more responsibility to provide you continued service in the form of certificates. When you shop around you should ask if they offer their own self service portal and turn around time for certificate requests. Most companies will not let you switch agents until your renewal.

 

We define the marketplace as a hard market when the number of companies willing to underwrite a specific class of business, in this case commercial trucking for hire operations, reduces, AND the premium per power unit starts to rise in response to less competition and the need to reduce pricing from the base filed rate structure.

 

southwest truck insurance irving tx great people super service good rates been there 4 years

 

im having a problem also finding a good insurance that will insure up to 1million and not cost an arm and leg to get started.

 

I highly recommend Timmermann (Timmermann.com). . Very helpful and I have been very pleased with their service.