Should I Switch Insurance Companies?
You’re thinking of switching insurance companies for your business. Maybe you’re shopping for a better price. Maybe your current coverage isn’t good enough. Or maybe your insurer botched a claim that you felt should have been paid.
Whatever the case, know that our online platform makes it easy for business owners to compare and switch insurance companies. If you’re wondering whether you should take the final plunge to change your insurer, we’ve come up with a simple 3-step checklist to help you decide. Read on to find out if another insurer deserves your business more:
Step 1: Review Your Current Policy and Insurer
Review your current policy to determine what coverage you have. Then create a list of all the protections you would like to have in your new policy. This makes it easy for you to compare your existing policy with the new one. If the new insurer offers you a better price but weaker coverage, you’ll be able to make a more informed decision about which policy you’d prefer.
During your review process, ask yourself these 3 quick questions:
Question 1: Is your current insurer meeting your protection needs?
Answer: If the policy you have with your current insurer isn’t providing you sufficient coverage, then you should consider upgrading your coverage to higher limits or more comprehensive terms. If your current insurer cannot provide this higher coverage, or cannot do so at a sufficiently affordable price, then it’s time to consider switching insurance companies.
Question 2: Are your current insurance premiums too high?
Answer: Do you feel you’re paying too much for your business insurance policies? If your current policies are priced too high, you should consider comparing policies from other insurers to see if you could save money. Provide’s online platform helps you save up to 25% on all types of business insurance policies.
Question 3: If you’ve filed claims before with your current insurer , how was your experience?
Answer: Was the claims investigation process smooth or troublesome? Did they pay out your claims on time or did they drag it out? How supportive was the customer service team in your time of need? If your answers to these questions are negative, then perhaps it’s time to give your business to someone else who might appreciate it more.
Step 2: Source Quotes
Once you know all the protections you want to have in your policy, start sourcing for quotes from different insurers.
The vast majority of insurers will not directly provide business owners with quotes due to the complexity of insurance products. You will need an insurance broker to help you with the sourcing process.
Provide is a digital broker that makes commercial insurance cheaper, faster, and exponentially more convenient for business owners. We provide instant quotes for a variety of products, and our prices are up to 25% lower than traditional offline brokers.
Click here to get a quote from our comprehensive product range, or click here to schedule a call with one our expert advisors.
Compare Quotes
Once you have a few quotes in hand, it’s time to see which suits you best.
If you feel you want better coverage, or your protection needs have changed, it’s helpful to rank which protections are most important to you.
Having an expert broker walk you through the pros and cons of each policy is immensely helpful.
Consider total costs: Consider the total costs of switching, beyond merely the quoted price. You should take into account the cost of longevity discounts and multi-policy discounts (if applicable) that you would lose if you switched insurers. If the new insurer offers a better rate even after these discounts, then go ahead and make the change.
Step 3: Cancel Your Old Policy
If you’ve decided to switch insurers, there are a few things you need to take note of.
Ensure coverage is in force: Before you cancel your old policy, check the date on which your new policy will activate. It’s a good idea to align the start date of your new policy with the cancellation date of your existing one.
This helps you avoid a situation where you have a gap in coverage. If a claim situation arises (e.g. an accident happens) and you did not have coverage during that period, you would not be able to file a claim with your insurer.
Give sufficient notice in writing: Insurers will have a clause outlining the number of days of written notice you must provide to cancel a policy. This often ranges from 7-14 days.
Cancelling a policy in writing also provides proof of your cancellation request, and when you made it. This removes all ambiguity from any dispute that may arise later (e.g. the processing department at the insurer forgot to cancel your policy and charges you for next year’s policy).
Check your policy terms: You will need to check whether your policy is pro-rated or short-rated.
A pro-rated policy means that if you cancel a 12-month policy after 9 months, you will be refunded for the remaining 3 months of coverage.
A short-rated policy means that if you cancel the policy before it expires, the insurer may deduct a cancellation fee from whatever refund you were entitled to. Sometimes, these fees can be large to disincentivise customers from switching their policies early. Check your policy wording document to make sure it’s worth switching.
A good broker should be able to answer all these above queries for you, and to handle all the administrative tasks of switching insurers.
Ready to Switch? Choose Provide.
Provide’s online platform makes it easy for business owners to compare the most popular types of business insurance. If you can’t find something you like, our expert advisors will be happy to tailor protection to your exact needs.
Click here to compare business package insurance, or click here to speak with our expert advisors who can handcraft a comparison of any policy type for you.
