Manufacturer's Insurance

[evoxse]

Hello!

I'm a fairly new agent and have been working at a small independent agency for some time now. I am, by education and past work experience, a mechanical design engineer. I didn't like the work, and an opportunity at a local agency opened up, so I got into insurance after I got my Texas licenses.

I currently work mostly in the personal lines side of the business, but I'd like to get into commercial. More specifically, I want to get into the manufacturer's and engineer's insurance side, but I have no idea where to start. The agency I work at does mostly small business, like LROs, cleaners, small retail shops, and the such.

My question to yall is how can I get started with manufacturer's/engineer's insurance? That is what I want to focus on and specialize in.

The first goal I've set for myself is to get intimately familiar with the manufacturer's/engineer's products offered by Hartford, as we have access to them. This entails reading the appetite guide and read and comprehend (or at least try to) the policy itself.

Tips? Suggestions? Thank you in advanced!!

 

[reedrhoden]

I would suggest looking into some of the tougher manufacturing risks that your standard carriers would generally decline. There are two reasons for this. One is that the tougher the risk is the fewer carriers there are willing to quote and that means less competition. The second reason is that if you have to go to the excess and surplus market to place it, the carriers will have greater coverage and pricing flexibility. I would look for things like sporting goods, automobile parts, aviation, e cigarettes, baby furniture/beds, etc... It also opens up opportunities for products liability. Good premiums. I'm a wholesaler and write a great deal of both manufacturers GL and products liability. Would be glad to help. If you are in Texas another good one would be oil and gas products, drilling equipment and other things essential to the oil fields. Let me know if I can help.

 

[evoxse]

Yes, please, I'd like some help!

I'd like to narrow the target market down to automotive and aviation. Now, I'm having trouble finding a insurer that offers coverage for the two industries.

Right now, my best option is the Hartford. They target quite a lot of processes that an auto/aviation manufacturer would utilize. Would you recommend that I try and sell through Hartford first to gain some experience? The agency I currently work for does not insure any manufacturers so I have no idea what the rates look like.