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Our Summary

This Simply Business insurance review looks at what types of policies they sell, where they sell them, and the industries they best serve. Simply Business is a Main Street type of insurer wanting to sell insurance policies to service and retail providers in most cities. The company prides itself on literally simplifying the process of buying business insurance. 

Company Overview

Simply Business was founded in 2005 and has grown to have offices in Boston and London. They are an insurance broker, seeking the best policy for the best price for their clients. Their business model focuses on online underwriting to make the process faster and more efficient. They represent high-end insurers such as CNA, Hiscox, Travelers, and Axis to name a few. 

Geographic Representation

You can obtain an insurance policy from Simply Business if you are in any of the 50 U.S. states or Washington D.C. Some products may not be available in all 50 states.

Lines of Coverage

You can get one or more of the five most common business insurance policies from Simply Insurance. 

The types of commercial insurance policies that you can get with Simply Insurance include:

• General Liability: Pays bodily injury, property damage, and advertising injury claims made against you by non-employees
• Professional Liability: Pays claims stating that you did not perform your job to professional standards and the client experienced a loss of some sort as a result
• Business Owners Policy (BOP): Combines both general liability with commercial property insurance into one policy
• Workers’ Compensation: Pays medical expenses and lost wages for employees hurt on the job
• Cyber Insurance: Protects you from the financial consequences of getting hacked

Top Industries Served

Because Simply Business has so many partner insurance carriers, it has a good appetite for a lot of different types of businesses. It is most competitive with construction and Main Street companies. On the Simple Business website, certain business types are highlighted: 

• Beauty and cosmetology
• Carpenters
• Cleaners
• Ecommerce
• Handyman
• Home improvement contractor
• Janitorial
• Landscaping
• Lawn care
• Painters
• Photographers
• Plumbing contractors
• Real estate agent

This is not an exhaustive list and you should fill out an application to see whether or not your business falls in line with Simply Business’ overall appetite.

Premium Costs

Because Simply Business works with so many carriers, its premiums do vary. Besides carrier adjustments for premiums, your industry, company size, and revenues will also affect your premium. Using a broker, such as Simply Business, can help ensure that you get the right policy for the best price. 

Underwriting Process

To get a policy with Simply Business, you need to first complete their online form. This requests information about your company, where it is located, and what it does. You’ll be guided by the questions to choose the type of insurance you need and can apply immediately after you receive a quote. If you aren’t ready to buy, you can get an email reminder of what the quote is so that you can purchase when it is convenient for you. 

AM Best Ratings

Simply Business doesn’t underwrite its own policies, so it doesn’t have an AM Best rating which measures a company’s financial strength. If you want to know how likely the company is to pay your claims, you’ll want to use the Simply Insurance carrier partners that underwrite your policy.

Partner AM Best ratings include:

• Accredited America: A-
• American Builders Insurance Company: A
• Axis: A
• Clear Blue Insurance Company: A-
• CNA: A
• Frank Winston Crum Insurance: B++
• Harborway Insurance: A+
• Hiscox: A
• Markel: A
• NASW: A-
• Travelers: A++
• USG: A+

As you can see, there is a wide variety of ratings, but for the most part, Simply Business deals with A-rated companies or better. 

Complaint Index

Each year, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) gives insurance companies a score for complaints. This complaint index measures the actual complaints against the expected complaints for a company’s market share. A score of 1.0 is the average with scores below being favorable. Scores above 1.0 suggest the company had more complaints than expected. 

The complaint index for general liability for each of the Simply Business companies are:

• Accredited America: No score
• American Builders Insurance Company: 0
• Axis: 0.41
• Clear Blue Insurance Company: 0
• CNA: No score
• Frank Winston Crum Insurance: 24.28
• Harborway Insurance: No score
• Hiscox: 7.77
• Markel: 2.64
• NASW: 0
• Travelers: 0
• USG: No score

Reputation

As expected with an insurtech company, Simply Business has a strong online presence. They have 1,405 reviews on Trustpilot with a 4.1-star average rating. Seventy-two percent of the reviews are five-stars with 16 percent being one-stars. People seem to like the simplicity of the application process. Those who don’t give them high marks cite claims problems and delays. The company is accredited with the Better Business Bureau and maintains an A rating. 

Concluding Thoughts

Simply Business has made it a point to develop a platform that is easy to use and gets business owners the results they want – a policy in minutes. They partner with some top-rated insurance companies, but business owners will want to do their due diligence on the company that Simply Insurance places the policy with. 

Learn more about Simply Business 

Methodology

CommericalInsurance.net employs its own independent research to come up with the details for reviews. We do this so that you can have as many insights as possible about a company so that you can make the best decision for your commercial insurance. We take into consideration the company’s history and where they serve. We want to highlight the appetite that a company has as this suggests where business owners can get the most competitive rates. Where possible, we include premium data. From there, we take into account formal complaints, and financial strength ratings along with public reviews painting a broad picture of the company’s reputation.