Over the last 18 months the insurance market has moved into what is known as a ‘hard cycle’ or ‘hard market’ for the first time in twenty years. Preceding this change, general insurance was sitting in a ‘soft’ or ‘buyers’ market’, this meaning that insurers would compete more aggressively, discount if they needed to, and would be prepared to write business that may normally fall outside of their risk appetite. In contrast, in a hard insurance market, insurers will reduce their capacity and willingness to quote competitively, and instead will focus mostly on retaining their existing business with notably higher increases in renewal premium.
We are typically seeing renewal premium increases of between 10% – 20% and up to 40% in some specific sectors. Over the last two years since the pandemic began, it has become increasingly widespread for insurance brokers to not look at “remarketing” their client’s insurance policies at renewal, which is partly due to being in the hardened market and partly due to the impact of staff illness, staff turnover and a lack of resources.
What this means for the buyer is that as renewal premiums are increasing, brokers are often not looking at moving to new insurance providers at renewal due to the ease of remaining with the existing insurer, potentially due to the fact they may be overstretched due to the pandemic and struggling to properly review each client’s needs and policy at renewal. This means buyers are missing out on potentially better cover, terms and most importantly, premium.
One of the key services that we offer at Mitchell Charlesworth Insurance Solutions is a thorough review of your cover, premium and policy terms each year at renewal.
Acting in the best interests of our clients is at the forefront of what we do, and if there is a more competitive quotation that offers covers that are either similar or like for like, we will not hesitate to move your insurance policies to a provider who is offering what is best for our client.
We have recently expanded our team and welcome new account director Alex Jones. We would invite any client to speak with Alex so he can review your insurance needs to see how we can help either save you money, or ensure that you have got the correct cover to protect you and your business.
Contact Alex Jones to the right of this page.
