Tacit renewal is convenient and expensive. These are the checks we make before sitting down with the market, and that any company can start doing on its own with ninety days' notice.
Start ninety days before, not thirty
Presenting a well-documented risk takes time, and the market responds worse in the last week. With ninety days there is time to update sums insured, correct protection measures and request real alternatives. With thirty, there is only time to accept what comes.
Sums insured and values
Review the building sum insured against the current reconstruction cost, the machinery added during the year and the valuation of stock against its peak, not its average. Also check if the indemnity period for loss of profits still matches the actual replacement time for your critical machinery.
Limits, sublimits and scope
Sublimits are where surprises hide: employer's liability, product recall, damage to neighbours, social engineering fraud. Also review the geographical scope if you have entered new markets during the year, and the corporate perimeter if you have established or acquired companies.
Claims history, with context
Prepare the history of the last three to five years accompanied by the corrective measures adopted. An explained and corrected claim weighs much less in negotiation than the same figure presented without context. This is the lever that gives the most results and is the most neglected.
What you can retain
Increasing deductibles in high frequency and low amount risks almost always improves the premium more than it costs to assume those damages. It is a treasury decision that should be made with numbers on the table, not by intuition or habit.
