5 Policy Renewal Prep Tips to Control Your Insurance Premiums: What you Don’t Know Could Hurt Your Wallet

So, your insurance policy for your moving and storage operation is up for renewal. What can you expect? Unfortunately, you can count on commercial auto insurance premiums to go up. Why? The simple answer is that the average claim payment in commercial auto liability increased by 39% between 2019 and 2023.

This spike is due to factors beyond the insurance industry’s control:

• General Inflationary Pressures
• Supply Chain Disruptions
• Higher Tariffs
• Increased Claim Costs
• Litigation and Legal Costs
• More Severe and Higher Frequency of Auto Loss

Additionally, the reinsurance market is having a significant impact on the commercial auto insurance market, particularly due to factors like rising loss costs, social inflation, and increased litigation costs. Reinsurers are tightening terms and reducing capacity, leading to higher premiums and potential coverage restrictions for businesses, especially those with large fleets or poor loss history. 

MOVER’S CHOICE is committed to helping our customers have more control over insurance premiums. Follow this 5-Step Checklist to help make your risk profile more attractive at your insurance renewal.

5 Tips for Insurance Renewal Prep

1. Assess your Loss Runs Early

• Order Loss Runs 120 days before policy expiration date. Review any open or outstanding claims that can be reduced or closed with your insurance carrier or adjustor.
• Order Loss Runs again within 90 days of your policy expiration date, once those claims have been closed or reduced.
  • If some drivers who had claims are no longer with your firm, inform your broker.For drivers with claims who are still driving for you, be prepared to indicate the training or remediation you have done to prevent reoccurrence. 

2. Validate Driver Qualifications

• Prepare an up-to-date driver list including name, date of birth, state of license, and license number.
• Run MVRs on your drivers 100 days before your renewal so there are no surprises involving expired or suspended licenses or expired CDL requirements when presenting the driver list to your carrier.
• Review your FMCSA scores and CAB Report with your insurance agent/broker and be able to review violations or issues that have arisen over the last year; address these items and their remediation in your renewal packet. Underwriters look at the overall rating, any out of service scores and severe violations. They will match the data contained in the report to the application for insurance, so it is important to keep up with proper reporting of changes in operations including vehicles and drivers.  

Tips for improving FMCSA Scores

• Review the report and make sure the information is accurate. 
• Set up a regular vehicle maintenance program and conduct vehicle inspections weekly to make sure the vehicles’ systems are all operational.  
• Drivers should conduct pre-trip vehicle inspections.
• Maintain a record of these and your own vehicle inspections and maintenance, and instruct drivers to report any problems immediately.
• Train drivers on the issues that will produce violations including severe violations. Mobile phone usage is one on the most commonly seen severe violations and distracted driving is one of the leading causes of accidents.
• This report will also show related entities and when vehicles are being shared. We caution you against sharing vehicles as it does have coverage implications that could lead to coverage problems. 

3. Get Financials in Order

• Obtain an updated financial statement from your CPA or tax return from the prior year to include and address any late payment issues that may appear on credit reports.
• Document total revenue, separating  transportation revenue, mileage and payroll for all operations.
• Address any change in your operations in the way of new shippers with whom you are doing business, including routes and miles. Set routes and continuous shipper contracts that are consistent are important to point out. Underwriters like shippers who are Fortune 500 and represent a good payment history to their carriers. If you have great shippers and are proud of hauling for them, make it known to the underwriters.
• Compile complete equipment, asset list and terminal property information including COPE (Construction of Premise, Occupancy of any Other Neighboring Tenants, Protection and Exposure/values).

4. Document Liability Status

• Document safety protocol measures you have in place, such as ELDS and telematics; controls on trucks; background checks and drug screening of driver assets (whether they are employees or contractors); and truck and cargo theft prevention, especially if you are hauling any high value or target commodities like firearms, tobacco, electronics or pharmaceuticals.
  • ELD dashboards displaying driving behavior, truck GPS tracking and front or interior cab cameras may get you better insurance rates, terms and conditions.
  • Telematics monitors driver behavior in real time, reduces costs, enhances safety and can lead to lower insurance premiums for fleets. 
• Gather trailer interchange agreements and other legal documents that extend or push liability to you or your drivers and ICs. Be able to provide a copy of your company safety policy, contracts with independent contractors, and lease agreements. Have your insurance broker and attorney review these agreements to confirm that documented liability and coverage follow the intent.

5. Assess Renewal Application Health

• Schedule a pre-renewal call or appointment with your insurance broker to go over these items so that your renewal application looks sharp and the information is complete and well organized.

Terri Moran

Insurance industry veteran Terri Moran leads the underwriting and operational strategies for the MOVER’S CHOICE program. Throughout her career, Terri has held roles in leadership, underwriting and marketing with national insurers. A staunch industry advocate, she has served as a member of the WSIA Internship Committee, working to attract young professionals to career opportunities.

In her spare time, in addition to enjoying her family, she is a Member and past Chair of the Board of Directors for the Surplus Lines Association of California.