What manufacturers can do about rising business insurance prices
New challenges in running a manufacturing company make it harder than ever to stay ahead in your business. From a shortage of labor, the growing skills gap, inventory management, the digital transformation of sales and marketing, manual handling and safety concerns automation, changes with robotics, increased global competitiveness, and more.
Whether you are a food manufacturer, plastic manufacturer, apparel manufacturer or others, these challenges make it more important than ever for leaders to ensure they have the right margins, focus company resources where it matters most and work to reduce unnecessary spending that will protect the bottom line. Our team of experts is here to explain what manufacturing leaders can do to lower their insurance costs and ensure they get the best policies at the best price.
Business insurance is a must for manufacturing companies, in large part because of the importance of protection for your property, workforce and more. Health insurance is a great example. It is all about sustainability, but that becomes even harder when you’re competing against foreign manufacturing and your profit margins are decreasing as the cost of operations increases each year.
Commercial insurance doesn’t have to be one of your biggest line items
Most manufacturing leaders don’t realize there are tons of savings to be uncovered for your business insurance policies, including group health insurance – all without having to lose any necessary protections. With rising group benefits, property insurance needs, liability concerns, health insurance changes and more, there has never been a bigger need to negotiate insurance rates to help your organization save money and invest in other areas of the business that support long-term success.
In the manufacturing world, the stakes are particularly high for business leaders protecting their bottom lines. RateCraft understands the needs specific to manufacturing companies, from liability insurance, group health insurance, property insurance – both for your building and expensive equipment, workers’ compensation, commercial auto insurance and more, to name a few.
A great example is making sure you have the right segregation of your workspaces to lower workers’ comp expenses. If your building houses both front office space for billing, customer service and more, as well as a warehouse for production, you should ensure that any communal areas are located in the front office area – think restrooms, breakrooms and timeclock stations. Otherwise, if you’re front office employees have to go through the production area for these needs, you’ll be paying a higher premium to cover them even if they never touch a machine.
Business insurance for manufacturers, necessary but an evil process
Whether you’re aware or not, your insurance agent gets paid more if your premiums are higher – meaning the commercial insurance industry is stacked against you as the buyer. Agents are also incentivized to work with certain carriers, so there is little motivation for them to do any extra leg work to get multiple offers from different carriers and evaluate what pricing really suits your specific needs. What that all boils down to is money left on the table that could be better utilized to support your business operations and future goals.
With all of this in mind, it is nearly impossible to get the lowest business insurance rates with one agent. And, everything is negotiable even if your agent says otherwise. Manufacturers need numerous quotes from a wide variety of business insurance carriers in order to ultimately get the best coverage for your company at the best rate.
Manufacturers Can Get the Best Insurance for Their Companies
Start by getting multiple quotes from your agent, insisting they present options from different carriers and asking questions along the way. You should also consider an unbiased third-party that truly knows the industry. A business insurance advocate can review the quotes, present even more options and assist you in negotiating the best possible policies with your agent. For our team here at RateCraft, our industry experts only get paid if you save money — all while taking no more than two hours of your time. We’re in the business of leveling this uneven playing field by negotiating on your behalf. And it’s proven to work – our average savings per business is 35%, and we’ve even saved clients as much as 74% on business insurance costs.
No matter what you manufacture, business insurance should be top of mind.
- Apparel and Clothing
- Appliances
- Canning
- Book Publishing
- Casket Making
- Computers and Electronics
- Cabinet Making
- Candy Making
- Fabricating
- Die Making
- Food Refining
- Frozen Foods
- Furniture Making
- Grain Refining
- Household Goods
- Plastics and Paper
- Ice
- Publishing and Printing
- Machinery
- Meat Packing
- Tools
- Transportation
- Other