Builder Coverage? ?Forget It', Says Agent Poll

By Mark E. Ruquet

NU Online News Service, Dec. 6, 3:46 p.m. EST?New York builders are hard pressed to secure liability insurance coverage, according to a survey of independent agents in the state.

The online poll, by the Syracuse-based Independent Insurance Agents Association of New York, also found it is getting harder to find insurance for some other lines and prices continue to escalate.

Their data was collected in an online survey that asked agents to rate the availability of a number of property-casualty insurance lines.

The survey, the association said, reinforces its opinion that there is "a severe crisis in the liability insurance market serving New York's building contractors."

According to the results, 83 percent of the responding agents said that insurance for construction risk was "much less available" and more than 86 percent said that the cost for insurance for contractors as "expensive" compared to two years ago.

Ninety-two percent of the respondents said at least one of the multiple companies they represent refuses to write new construction accounts.

"The crisis in the contractors' insurance market in New York is compounded by a strict liability standard in the state's Labor Law, which can't be found anywhere else in the United States," said John R. Costello, IIAANY chairman of the bard, in a statement.

He added that agents from around the state were meeting this week with their state legislative representatives in an effort to reform the situation.

The survey, conducted Oct. 14 to 28, consisted of 61 questions on a host of insurance topics. The survey received 182 member responses from around the state. IIAANY noted that some agents did not respond to every question because they did not write those lines or did not have the time to complete the survey.

Other lines that agents said have become less available were personal automobile [more than 88 percent said it was either much less or somewhat less available], commercial property [more than 92 percent said it was either much less or somewhat less available], and commercial general liability [94 percent said it was either much less or somewhat less available].

The survey also indicated that more carriers are canceling contracts and not writing lines of business.

In the past 12 months, 91 percent of respondents said some carriers have stopped writing one or more forms of coverage. Forty-one percent that one or two carriers they used stopped writing coverage and 38 percent put the figure between three to four.

Personal auto led the way with 69 percent of the members saying carriers stopped writing the line, followed by workers' compensation at 57 percent and commercial general liability at 53 percent.

Generally, the majority of respondents said rates were increasing anywhere from 11 to 25 percent in most lines.

A full survey summary and the complete report are available at the association's Web site at www.iiaany.org.

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Builder Coverage? ?Forget It', Says Agent Poll

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