Large Manufacturing Commercial Property

October 3, 2005

Nuts & Bolts:
General Casualty Ins. Cos. enhanced their commercial coverages and capacity becoming a market for additional manufacturing lines of business. The Sun Prairie, Wis.-based property and casualty insurer is now looking to write accounts with property values up to $60 million. Risks must fall within targeted classes and have adequate private and public fire protection. The company said it would consider increasing those limits to $75 million or more based upon class of business and an underwriting review.

As a regional carrier, they’ve historically written smaller property accounts with less emphasis on manufacturing business classes, however, they’ve become a billion-dollar company with a full menu of services to support this business and are now a market for larger properties striving to grow market share specifically in the manufacturing sector. They also enhanced supporting property coverages and limits, as well as a blanket coverage extension that makes its comprehensive insurance policy more flexible. They partnered with Hartford Steam Boiler to provide enhanced systems breakdown coverage, which can be written directly through General Casualty underwriters and covers a wide variety of mechanical or electrical failure of equipment, machines, computers and heating/cooling systems.

They can write many manufacturing classes, including plastics, food, metalworking, printing, wood products, textiles and paper goods manufacturers. Plastics manufacturing is a new market for General Casualty, and the company is targeting the following classes: injection molding, extrusion molding, blow molding, compression molding, rotational molding, transfer molding and thermoforming.

The company does not write plastics manufacturers that perform calendaring, plastic coating, casting, laminating or reaction molding, or produce foamed plastics, reinforced plastics or fiberglass. It offers commercial customers loss control services, liability and workers’ compensation coverages, local underwriting and 24-hour claim reporting.

Dollars:
A variety of deductibles are available, as well as a variety of limits for specific coverages, increased limits are also available. Per-location property limits vary by class.

Carrier:
General Casualty Insurance Companies rated “A-” by A.M. Best, admitted.

States Available:
Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia and Wisconsin.

Contact:
Jon Borgen, (608) 837-4440.