Why do many insurance agents avoid writing ghost policies?

The following article is written by SolePro.

Anyone out there like eating their dessert before dinner? Or watching the movie before reading a new book? We’re writing this article to offer a deeper dive as to why workers’ comp ghost policies are unlikeable, and how it’s been improved. If you’re the dessert before dinner type, here are the cliff notes:

1. Ghost policies have a bad rap. Why is that? Because agents typically have to go through the Assigned Risk to obtain these minimum premium workers’ comp policies for their insured.
    
2. What makes the Assigned Risk so gnarly? Many things – including long wait times, carrier turnover, and mid-term audits. Additionally, their prices aren’t always the most competitive.
    
3. Why do many agents typically avoid writing ghost policies? Outside of dealing with the Assigned Risk, the cost of doing business is a huge deterrent. Agents need to streamline writing this type of business. The more you touch the account, the less money you make because of the time spent when it comes to minimum premium workers’ comp. That’s why it doesn’t always make sense to take time writing such small policies.
    
4. So, what to do? Find a way to write them faster. SolePro has created the fastest way to write ghost policies – with instant quotes, an easy online bind, and automated renewals.
    
5. SolePro has created a custom owner-only workers’ comp product called Solo X. It’s a minimum premium workers’ comp ghost policy with a 24-hour accident policy tacked on.

Partners Steve Love and Jeff Valentine were both struggling with how to handle ghost policies throughout their career. They wanted to serve their clients, but they disliked the process that was necessary to get their insured where they needed to be.

While ghost policies exclude the owner from coverage, they didn’t want to leave their clients without any coverage at all. That’s why they packaged the policy with an accident policy, providing coverage on or off the job.

Steve, coming from a workers’ comp focused brokerage, and Jeff, coming from life and health, came up with SolePro, and the rest is history. From the beginning, SolePro’s primary focus was building a workers’ comp product that was a better option than the Assigned Risk. That product is Solo X.

Instant quotes were the first step – less wait time for agents and insureds. Next came an automated website that took out all of the hard work. The online dashboard allows agents to apply, sign, bind, pay, and service all in one place. It’s a quick and easy workflow solution through technology. And it allows agents to work from anywhere. Hello, poolside!

We all know how trying it can be to enter multiple submissions into different carrier portals. But with Solo X, there’s a 95% quote to apply ratio. You can write hundreds of classes of business with SolePro.

Next, there’s a fast appointment. No need to wait days to start writing business. In fact, it seems like one minute you’re registering, and the next you’re writing. That’s because you can easily get set up in a single day.

SolePro has very strong carrier partnerships, unlike the Assigned Risk, where there is carrier turnover every few years. Due to the lack of carrier stability, agents who use the Assigned Risk are constantly rewriting policies. Talk about a headache. If you’re looking for ease of doing business, the Assigned Risk is not the answer.

Finally, SolePro does not require mid-term audits. This is great for you, and it’s even better for the insured. It saves everyone time, and is way less of a hassle.

Hopefully this makes the thought of writing ghost policies a little more appealing. Still unsure? Let’s walk through SolePro’s platform.

Registration is simple. There are no fees and no minimum production requirements. Nice!

Solo X quick quotes are a mere 15 questions in order to get an instant quote.

Everything is automated: Signatures, payments, renewals, you name it.

SolePro welcomes any and all agents with varying degrees of experience. However, even the greenest of agents won’t have a problem with their platform as it is so simple to use.

Questions? Reach out here.