A.M. Best Rating

Insurance Company of the West is rated A-/IX/Excellent by A.M. Best Co.

Underwriting Guidelines

Underwriting Criteria

• Risks with California-only exposures are eligible.
• Risks must develop $50,000 or more of estimated annual premium for contractors (other than artisan contractors and landscape contractors), $40,000 or more of estimated annual premium for artisan contractors, and $25,000 or more of estimated annual premium for landscape contractors; otherwise, $25,000 or more of estimated annual premium for non-contractors.
• Risks must be in business with Work Comp history for a minimum of four years and must have current insurance coverage in force. New ventures will not be written.
• Risks must provide written description of any individual loss greater than $25,000, including nature of the injury, cause and current status. All loss data provided should be valued within the last ninety (90) days.
• Risk Management must be:
  • Stable for the past three years with no material change in operations.
  • Experienced in operation’s industry.
  • Safety-conscious and compliant with any and all loss control recommendations.

Policy Term

• All policies are issued as guaranteed cost for a 12-month term. Short-term policies may be available to coincide with a Normal Anniversary Date or as an accommodation to replace business midterm. Retrospective or Deductible programs are not currently available.

Binding of Coverage

• Underwriter will retain full binding authority. Producing brokers do not have binding authority.
• The producing broker may request to bind coverage upon receiving a written certified quotation.
• No verbal representations by any employee of underwriter are valid.
• No backdating is permitted.
• The producer is responsible for collection of the down payment amount as stipulated on the quotation for new business and renewals.
• A copy of the deposit check or confirmation of check by fax/email must accompany the binding request.
• The down payment must be received within 5 business days after the date the request to bind was made or prior to the inception date of coverage if there is enough lead-time. If the down payment is not received within this timeframe, a Rescinding Bind Notice will be issued and the risk will not be re-bound without the underwriter approval.

Certificates of Insurance

• Certificates of insurance may be issued by the producing broker on ACORD certificate forms only with a copy to be forwarded to underwriter for approval. Please do not strike any wording from the approved ACORD certificate form as it will be rejected. Department of Motor Vehicle filings will be generated by underwriter.

Waivers of Subrogation

• Subrogation entitles an insurance company to recover the amount due an insured from a third party who caused the loss. When these rights are waived the Company gives up this opportunity. Because the right of subrogation is important, we want to protect that right, however, we recognize that there are instances where contracts require the Insured to waive their subrogation rights as a condition of the contract award.
• Certificates of Insurance that include request for waiver of subrogation will need to include the following information:
  • Length of Job, start to finish, if applicable.
  • Detailed description of work being performed.
  • Detailed description of Job Name/Job Number/Contract Number, Job Location, etc.
  • Name and address of party requesting the Waiver Of Subrogation.
  • Class codes applicable to the job, class descriptions and applicable payroll. Be sure that payroll is consistent with the description of job, insured’s operation and size of risk respectively.
• All Waiver of Subrogation endorsements are subject to the following charge:
  • For a specific per entity/per job, apply Class Code(s) Rate to Payroll for specific job and multiply the premium developed by 5%.
  • For a blanket basis, multiply the premium developed by 3%.
  • A minimum premium of $50 will apply to each Waiver of Subrogation endorsement issued.
• Backdating is not allowed. If back dating is to be considered then we must first obtain a “No Loss Letter” signed and dated by the named insured warranting that there have been no known or reported losses or occurrences that may give rise to a claim covering the period of time between the start date of the job and the date that waiver request is submitted.
• Blanket waivers may be offered upon underwriting evaluation.

Pro Rata Cancellation

• The policy is cancelled pro rata and the return or additional premium is rounded to the next higher whole dollar when cancelled for any of the following:
• Non-Payment of Premium.
• Non-report of payroll, failure to permit the Insurer to audit payroll.
• Material misrepresentation.
• Failure to cooperate with the investigation of a claim.
• Non-Compliance with loss control recommendations.
• Material change in ownership and/or operations.

Short Rate Cancellation

• The policy is cancelled short rate when cancellation is at the Insured’s request.

Reinstatements and Rescissions

• A policy that has had three cancellation notices sent for non-payment of premiums and/or non-reporting of payroll will not be reinstated, nor will the cancellation notice be rescinded should payment be received prior to the cancellation date.
• Reinstatements and rescissions may be allowed pursuant to the following guidelines and conditions, subject for approval by the underwriter:
  • Money is received bringing the account current.
  • Frequency of Cancellations (3 or less).
• No reinstatement will be allowed 30 days after the cancellation date unless the cancel was a result of a company error. Coverage may be replaced by a new policy, subject for approval by the underwriter.
  Cancellation frequency may result in an increase on the renewal rates.

Final Audits

• Every insurance policy that cancels mid-term or expires must have a final audit conducted.
• The following guidelines determine what type of audit is to be conducted pursuant to the premium size of the account:
  • Estimated Annual Premium (EAP) between $0 and $9,999 are subject to a mail-in voluntary audit to be completed by the Insured.
  • EAP of $10,000 and greater will be subject to physical audit.
  • Final audits for expiring policies will be processed no more than 60 days after policy expiration.
  • Final audits for policies cancelled by company will generally be processed no more than 30 days after policy expiration.

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Submission Guidelines

The following are needed in order to expedite underwriting and provide the most competitive premium quote possible.

Required:

• Detailed description of the insured’s operations.
• Workers’ Compensation Application (ACORD 130). This form must be signed by insured in order to bind coverage.
• Singlepoint's or AARIS' Supplemental Workers’ Compensation Application. This form must be signed by insured in order to bind coverage.
• Four-year payroll history and hard copy loss experience (valued within 90 calendar days of effective date). NOTE: If using State Fund's loss runs, we need the "Loss Analysis Report" loss runs separated by each year.
• Description of any claim over $25,000.
• If mid-term replacement, annual payrolls as well as short-term payrolls plus net rates by code/class for current policy.
• Three-week lead time.

Desired:

• Commercial Insurance Application (ACORD 125).
• Current Bureau XMOD worksheet.
• Current CompLine XMOD history sheet.
• Target premium.
• Target quote date.
• Transmission of submission by e-mail.
• Four-week lead time.

Send submissions as follows:

E-MAIL TO:
submissions@singlepointins.com

FAX TO:
925.416.2051
Attention: Submissions Desk

MAIL TO:
Submissions Desk
Singlepoint Insurance Services, Inc.
5000 Hopyard Road, Suite 328
Pleasanton, CA 94588

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