At Mitchell Insurance we have experience helping customers just like you. Here are a few examples.
A publicly-traded international company owns a major high-hazard processing facility in SW PA that was insured through the nation's largest privately-held broker. For years, the huge national Broker was unable to get Workers' Comp through any insurance company other than the State Workers' Insurance Fund. Consequently, they had little or no control of their Workers' Compensation costs and their premiums were soon in excess of $650,000. Working together with the local plant management, their loss control team and our resources, we were able to attract several exceptional regional Workers' Comp carriers to the account and get them out of SWIF. This saved them over $100,000 the first year alone. Over the next several years we helped them reduce their claim frequency and severity which made them even more attractive to these great companies and drove their annual costs down by another $200,000 over that time period. We also helped them get PCRB approval for reclassification of one portion of their operation that was lower hazard thus reducing their Workers' Comp cost on that portion of the operation by 67%. They have regained control of their claims and costs and continue to be attractive to the competitive Workers' Comp marketplace.
A local metal-processing facility found their claims were out of control. For several years in a row, their claims were averaging 3 to 4 times as high as similar operations. Working closely with our Risk Management Division (ECRM) we were able to identify several areas that management and the employees could address to help arrest this alarming trend. From their terrible claims, the Experience Mod had peaked at over 2.0 which drove their annual Workers' Comp costs to over $200,000 on a modest payroll. Despite this high XMod, we were able to share with one of our great A-rated carriers the controls that were being implemented and the carrier saved them nearly $40,000 per year. As the XMod improved over the next 4 to 5 years, the annual Workers' Comp costs continued to decrease through the operation of the XMod and the improved attractiveness of this client to the marketplace. Their annual claims dropped from an average of $200,000 to under $20,000 and their lost-time accidents went from six to zero. The net effect is an overall reduction in long-term Workers' Compensation costs of 70%.
A local industrial was insured through the Pittsburgh branch of a major international Broker. They were insured with a top-five national carrier and thought that they were in great company. We were permitted to audit their current program and discovered some significant gaps in coverage as well as some ridiculous pricing. Given an opportunity to properly market this account, we were able to reduce their General Liability premiums by 50% while improving their coverage. Their overall savings were in excess of 35% per year and one of our carriers offered to guarantee those rates for a three-year period to lock in the savings.
Two of our recent client relationships grew out of their realization that the clout that they thought they had through their association or payroll company wasn't clout at all - they were actually subsidizing the costs associated with other participants. The first of these is a chain of retail shops that purchased their insurance from their association. They are a low-hazard class and a quick consultation with one of our Producers proved to them that they could actually cut their costs by nearly 40% by looking to us as their trusted advisor. The second is a major regional wholesale distributor of building materials. They were told that their payroll-based Workers' Compensation plan was the most cost-effective way to buy Workers' Compensation. In consultation with our office, they soon discovered that the convenience of pay-as-you-go Workers' Compensation was actually costing them 25% more than similar plans. We helped them identify a carrier where they report their payrolls monthly and pay premium only on their actual wages for that period. This approach is great for contractors or any other industry with seasonal fluctuations in payroll.
We approached a local professional-services company that had out-of-control claims that stemmed from their round-the-clock operations that involved travel over several states. They maintain a large fleet of vehicles and travel nearly 50,000 miles each week. With that much travel, they were bound to have some claims, but their claims were over double what they would expect. They were in SWIF, which meant that they also had a limited ability to work closely with claims adjusters to get employees back to work in modified-duty positions. We brought in ECRM and the management team realized immediately the opportunity that they had to change their corporate claims culture. A safety committee was established and a real team effort addressed the challenges associated with their on-demand travel needs. Over a period of years, this happy client has grown their operations and reduced their Experience Mod from 2.17 to less than 1.0 while driving their annual Workers' Comp costs down by over $130,000.
Our largest client is in a high-hazard industry and was formerly owned by a Fortune 500 company. They were insured by the largest publicly-traded Broker in the world, but didn't get the attention they needed to control their costs and manage their overall Risk Management. We competed head-to-head with the incumbent and two other publicly-traded Brokerage operations and were the only one to bring in a standard Workers' Comp carrier whose costs were below SWIF. Several other companies proposed Workers' Compensation programs, but, believe it or not, many prominent carriers and major national Brokers often have even higher costs than SWIF (which should normally be the market of last-resort). We generated first-year savings of nearly $200,000 for this valued client and earned the right to manage the rest of their insurance portfolio. Over a course of the next few years, we helped them attract new carriers in several key areas and consolidated coverage to both improve and simplify their Risk Management. They are now full-service clients of our Risk Management and Loss Control Division and we recently attracted a carrier that gave them a loss-sensitive Workers' Comp plan with projected costs nearly 40% lower than those of SWIF. We work hard with our clients large-and-small to demonstrate our care for their Risk Management and insurance needs.
We've recently developed an all-lines relationship with a client that was previously insured through two different bank-owned insurance Brokers. Because of their national reputation, the client assumed that they were provided the best possible coverage, but our analysis revealed that their most critical policies (in this case Pollution Liability and Professional Liability) were virtually worthless because they were written on entirely the wrong form (which excluded the most critical exposures). We also helped them secure the proper policies to allow them to maintain contracts with several key clients that required specific forms of risk-transfer language from all vendors and we're helping them secure coverage to protect them from the potential insolvency of some of these key customers, thereby protecting their income stream and allowing them to expand into additional markets.
Claims time is why people buy insurance and it is where we try hardest to shine. We can refer you to a long list of loyal clients who will gladly attest to our commitment. One client recently had a mysterious fire that not only closed his business, it closed a major bridge, a major highway, and several regional attractions. We were there before the smoke was settled and assisted them with every aspect of the claim process from adjusters, to policy language, to emergency cleanup and even pollution issues. One stunning result of our close work here meant that the insured was able to collect roughly $150,000 more than the total of his building and contents limits. They got themselves back in operation quickly and dramatically improved the fire safety of their facility, which helped us attract an extremely competitive carrier despite the recent loss (which exceeded a half-million dollars). This isn't an unusual case - it's the normal case for us to be very involved in every claim that our clients seek our counsel and help. As soon as we are notified of a major claim, we make every effort to show up, take pictures, document the loss control steps, and assist our clients with every aspect of a prompt and fair settlement. We even have a dedicated Claims Advocate at Keystone that provides cost-free support directly to us and our clients when things get complex or carriers don't see things our way. Unlike Public Adjusters that charge significant fees and often create animosity, our client advocacy approach seeks to settle claims quickly and fairly by increasing the communication and understanding between all parties.
Our sincere desire is to exceed your expectations of a Broker. Tell us bluntly what your goals and objectives are and what you need from the ideal Broker relationship. We can't always save you 99% of your premium cost, we can't always find huge mistakes in your current coverage, and we can't always guarantee that every potential claim will be paid; but we can tell you that for over 160 years we have maintained a firm commitment to both our client relationships and service expectations. With our carrier relationships and the backing our Keystone partnership, we also have access to the resources available to virtually any national or international Broker including Loss Control, Claims Management, Captive formation and management, professional Risk Management, and Client Claims Advocacy. Keystone is the fourth-largest privately-held Insurance Broker in the nation and Mitchell Insurance is one of the oldest, most experienced, and most highly-respected Brokers in the region. How might we help you achieve your own business and Risk Management goals?
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