What is Surplus Lines?

The "standard" insurance marketplace provides coverage to most businesses today.  Does the standard market also provide coverage for businesses involved in unique, dangerous, or off-the-wall activities that make it different from any other?  Chances are standard insurance carriers will not cover the risk associated with these unique companies.

Where would this business look for coverage when the standard market cannot meet the need?  The Excess & Surplus (E&S) Lines Market.  The E&S market creatively approaches risks that the standard lines are unable to consider.

The surplus lines business is immersed in current events and trends in the development of new products, new services, and in minimizing the risks of doing business in a world where the unforeseen is inevitable.

Surplus Lines Risks

The people in our industry use their insights and knowledge to anticipate potential risks and to help develop insurance products that provide the protection businesses need to survive and flourish.  Because of our ability to address each risk individually, we are able to craft each policy to fit the unique needs of the risk.  Some examples of the types of risk commonly insured by Excess & Surplus Lines Insurers:

• A developer re-building homes and businesses in hurricane-prone areas
• A sports celebrity that wants to insure his or her legs or hands 
• A school district building a new high school
• A non-profit that seeks to provide food, medical care and education to the Third World 
• A research lab working on a promising, yet unproven new drug
• A law firm specializing in intellectual property work 

All of these are examples of the types of individuals or businesses that could rely on coverage provided by surplus lines insurers when the standard market cannot provide a solution.  Often called the "safety valve" of the insurance industry, Excess & Surplus Lines Insurance provides the protection many businesses require to operate and grow.