It is a rare event indeed to write this letter of appreciation regarding the commercial insurance policy your firm secured for us this past spring. I say rare because the past 3 years have been a huge battle with our previous broker and carrier. As a niche player in the generic plastics market, our company was arbitrarily getting lumped in with larger and perhaps less desirable (from an insurance point of view) companies. We have had a near perfect claims record over the past 18 years and to go through 30-50% annual premium increases was obviously hard to accept. Then to top it all off, in Jan 2004 we were informed by our broker that the carrier (Zurich) was dropping us altogether.

It was at this point that we initially contacted your firm (Mr. Tim deGroot) and began discussions as to how we could make the best of this mess. As our existing broker only offered apologies, it became clear a new approach was needed. That is when Tim stepped up to the task and pitched Zurich on just what kind of plastics business we were in and pushed for hard answers as to how, especially with our excellent claims record, our firm was no longer an acceptable client in their view. He took the time required to visit our facility, understand our processes, assess our risk then made the case to Zurich.

We were pleased to be reconsidered by Zurich as it seemed like very few other insurers were interested without doubling the premiums we had paid in the past year, which were already more than double from where we began only 3 short years ago. So it came as a real shock that not only did Tim’s efforts get us reinstated as a Zurich client but at a 20% reduction from the last year’s premium! Congratulations to Tim and all the people at your firm in the background who helped turn this situation around in a professional and determined manner. Thank-you

George Schnarr
President, Grosnar Industries.