GPI 440 – Commercial insurance: here are a few basic ideas to cutting your company’s costs.

There are lots of ways to cut your business insurance costs but some have tremendous effect on the cost of the premium.  Consider these ideas and proceed with getting multiple quotes to drive down costs.

Ways to actively cut and reduce your commercial insurance costs:

• Classify your employees into the correct workman’s compensation code to minimize your premium (based upon gross payroll for most employees). There are over 600 possible codes so misclassifying employees has a large monetary impact on your calculated premium.
• Emphasize employee safety programs. Train employees and terminate those who ignore company safety rules.  Reward those employees with excellent safety records. Make it payoff economically for all employees to be and operate proactively safe in your company.
• Buy vehicles that carry cheaper insurance costs. These are easier to repair, have fewer accidents and are cheaper to replace.
• Pay your premiums quarterly or semi-monthly versus monthly and get a discount.
• Increase deductibles when the company can financially afford to chip in on accidents. It makes lots of sense when your company has few accidents.
• The better the credit history, the lower the cost premium will be (if your company is profitable, share your financials)
• Bundle policies together where possible (general liability (GL) and property insurance).
• Manage your internal risks by having an active safety training program.
• Manage your internal risks by installing an effective security system. Teach employee how to religiously set alarms before leaving and locking up the premises.
• Manage your risks by having written, well established, job procedures to minimize hazards.