We are currently working on an oil and gas distributor that is written with the direct writer Federated Insurance. As most of you know Federated has a special program for this class of business. What is interesting on the account we are working on is how poorly written the pollution coverage is that is placed through Zurich.
I am not saying this is the case with all of the business written with Federated and Zurich but it is worth your marketing time to explore this opportunity if you want to write this class of business.
What we discovered on the account ERMI is working on is that it is written on a sudden and accidental basis, not sudden and gradual.
The sudden and accidental Zurich policy basically says at the insured’s expense they have to prove that the pollution event commenced at a specific time and date during the term of coverage. The pollution event must be discovered by the insured within 7 days of COMMENCEMENT and has to be reported no later than 30 days after being discovered by the insured. If there is a factual disagreement about the pollution event condition the burden of proof rests with the insured at their expense. Zurich has no obligation to defend any claim or pay any loss until they have accepted the insured’s proof.
Also any above ground storage tanks over 110 gallons must be listed on the policy in order for there to be coverage.
The Zurich policy also does not cover natural resources damages caused by MTBE, TBA, Ethanol, TAME, ETBE or DIPE.
ERMI can assist you in writing the site specific pollution coverage, storage tanks and full auto coverage including pollution. If you have standard P&C carriers that can write the rest of the coverage needed by this class of business I feel there is a great opportunity to write business that has this very limited pollution coverage through Zurich.
Give me a call so we can strategize in more detail on how ERMI can assist you to drive our growth and profits.
ERMI, so much more than just a wholesaler.