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When I was a kid going to school, I got my fair share of detentions. It wasn't hard to pull off – being late for class, failing to turn in assignments – you know normal adolescent boy stuff. At the end of the school day, kids would amble over to the auditorium and sit there (unproductively I might add). Believe me, it was no Breakfast Club! Unfortunately, some producers think the Excess and Surplus Lines marketplace is the insurance industry’s detention hall.

I get it. For many of you who live and operate in the mainstream of insurance, writing surplus lines business is like being sent to detention! But that’s not the case at all! I'd rather liken writing E&S insurance to AP English. Hence the reason why my smart sister and a bunch of the smartest people I know work in this business!

Yes, there are differences between the admitted/regulated marketplace and the surplus lines marketplace. The American Association of Managing General Agents (AAMGA) released a white paper stating,

“The E&S market often acts as a “safety valve” by providing coverage for hard to place risks, as well as those that would otherwise be unprotected, or where the amount of premium required to protect those risks would be unaffordable.”

A.M. Best also recognizes the importance of the E&S marketplace,

“Surplus lines insurance continues to afford an open, flexible market in order to adjust to the needs of the insured…with insurance professionals able to develop their own unique policy forms and rates, and maintain the rate flexibility to be more responsive to the customer’s needs and react quickly to changes and opportunities in the marketplace.”

I just returned from a company advisory meeting with 5 other agency principals along with a half dozen company folks. All are highly respected and are some of the smartest people I know. We had the opportunity to provide feedback to this E&S carrier on our perspective of the market and what they could be doing to better support their agents and our industry. Everything from what they should be writing to how they should be using technology. I am always questioning how carriers can do more to underwrite ‘creatively’ (i.e. say ‘yes’ more often).

As an E&S Wholesaler we see all kinds of risks. We have a reputation for being your go-to market for truckers, contractors, dwellings, and restaurants - all pretty innocuous stuff. But there are people out there coming up with new and unusual business models and our job is to help them realize their dream. Like the guy who bought a restroom trailer and hung a big screen TV on the side of it that he takes to college football games. ISO has yet to come up with a classification for this risk, but that’s no reason an E&S carrier should not nor could not find a way to write it. And that is the message we are trying to get across to our surplus lines carriers; we are in the business to write the unusual, unique, and high capacity risks.

It is our job as product experts to help you find an insurance solution for your 'party in a box' type of client! We like it best when that solution is one you can sell and Tuscano can bind! But when that’s not possible, I believe our staff will always be helpful by giving you answers or options. And, that is a great way to find value in your insurance wholesaler.

Have a great Labor Day weekend. As I am sure you know, we'll be closed Monday for the holiday but otherwise we are here to write your unusual, unique, and high capacity E&S business!

See you around!