A.M. Best Rating

Redwood Fire & Casualty is rated A++/XII/Superior by A.M. Best Co.

Underwriting Guidelines

Underwriting Criteria

• Click here for list of eligible codes and classes. Risks with California-only exposures are eligible.
• Risks with California-only exposures are eligible.
• Risks must develop $25,000 or more of estimated annual premium.
• Risks must be in business with Work Comp history for a minimum of two years and must have current insurance coverage in force. New ventures and risks without prior insurance may be considered upon underwriter discretion.
• All bound risks over $150,000 EAP will be inspected by loss control.
• All submitted risks over $500,000 EAP can be pre-inspected by loss control subject to underwriter's discretion. Any risk not approved by loss control will not be written.
• Risks less than $150,000 EAP may be inspected by loss control subject to underwriter's discretion.
• All acceptable risks must have a four-year loss ratio of 65% or less, and/or meet the needed account minimum premium based on underwriter's analysis. Only exceptions to this requirement would be based on one "shock" loss within the four-year rating period, and it can be determined through documentation and loss control that the loss was unusual to the operations or the exposure causing the loss can be controlled in the future.
• Risks over $150,000 EAP and/or risks with an average loss ratio of 65% or higher will have extraordinary underwriting analysis done. This evaluation may include an underwriting pre-inspection, loss control, audited financials, or financial credit report (Experian or D&B).
• 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 four years with no material change in operations.
  • Experienced in operation’s industry.
  • Safety-conscious and compliant with any and all loss control recommendations.
• Risks may have no more than two (2) cancellation notices in a single policy term for nonpayment of premium. A third notice for nonpayment of premium (or any other reason) will require full annual balance as payment prior to reinstatement consideration.
• Final authority of all risk eligibility rests with the issuing carrier. Guidelines are subject to change without advance notice.
• Risk requiring PUC filing or DMV Certificate require a 17.5% premium deposit because of the 30-day cancellation requirement.
• Risks that are currently written by a sister company cannot be considered. Sister companies include:
  • National Liability & Fire Insurance Company
  • Cypress Insurance Company
  • Applied Underwriters/California Insurance Company

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%. A minimum premium of $50 will apply to each Waiver of Subrogation endorsement issued.
  • For a blanket basis, multiply the premium developed by 1%. A minimum premium of $500 will apply.
• 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 $15,999 are subject to a mail-in voluntary audit to be completed by the Insured.
  • EAP of $16,000 and greater will be subject to physical audit.
  • Final audits for expiring policies will be requested no less than 15 days prior to expiration.
  • Final audits for policies cancelled by request of the Insured or by request of the carrier will be ordered upon the effective date of cancellation.
  • Final audits for policies cancelled for non-payment will be ordered 30 plus 5 days after the effective date of cancellation.

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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 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 contractor with split wage class code, current bureau XMOD worksheet.
• 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).
• Five- year payroll history and hard copy loss experience (valued within 90 calendars of effective date).
• 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:
925.283.2051
Attention: Submissions Desk

MAIL TO:
Submissions Desk
Singlepoint Insurance Services, Inc.
3730 Mt. Diablo Boulevard, Suite #100
Lafayette, CA 94549

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Claims

Option 1: The insured has the option of calling in the claim to Redwood's 24/7 Toll Free Claim Reporting line. That number is 866.766.6565. Please have the following information ready when calling:

• Injured worker’s name, address, telephone number, social security number, date of hire, and date of birth.
• Date of injury and a description of the injury.
• Name and address of medical provider.
• Wage information.

Option 1 eliminates paperwork. Once the claim is set up the insured will be faxed or mailed a copy of the completed 5020 (Employer's Report of Injury).

Once the claim is set up at Redwood, the insured will be contacted by the Adjuster assigned to their claim. The insured may contact the Adjuster directly at 800-339-9809.

Option 2: If the insured prefers to fill out the claim forms they may fax these to 626.356.1717 or mail them to Redwood F&C, P.O. Box 7008, Pasadena, CA 91109.

Once the claim is set up at Redwood, the insured will be contacted by the Adjuster assigned to their claim. The insured may contact the Adjuster directly at 800-339-9809.

NOTE: Redwood Fire & Casualty has specified that there is to be no contact between adjusters and brokers. Therefore, all claim status and similar requests are to be channeled through Singlepoint and Singlepoint will reroute requests as necessary. Requests should be in writing and transmitted by mail, e-mail, or fax.

Click Here for Medical Provider Network Info.

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